What do people think about Auction Sniper?

noviceratetart · 16 April 2005 at 3:33PM

I was wondering what are your views on people using Auction Sniper to win ebay auctions?

I am prompted to post this because I am fed up with losing auctions in the last second to bidders who have not previously featured in the bidding history. Personally, I feel it is unethical and unfair and not in the spirit of what i thought ebay was about and makes a complete mockery of the bidding process. Am I alone in this or does anyone else have a problem with it and does anyone know what position does ebay take? [presumably don't care as they get their money anyhow]. Also, does anyone know how to check whether an item has been won using this method?

I lost an item this morning to a suspected auction sniper and the seller [who has been stung herself in the past but had no idea how people did it] is as unimpressed as i am and prepared to refuse to deal with the buyer but we are both relatively inexperienced and don't know whether this is either possible or advisable. Also, to be fair, it is possible that I simply lost out due to sheer inexperience and the winning bidder knew how much/when to bid.

Any advice/opinions welcomed.

Binxy · 16 April 2005 at 3:35PM

You might want to read this then:

previous thread

noviceratetart · 16 April 2005 at 3:58PM

Ah, thanks! Have read some but have to pop out and will read remaining pages on return!

noviceratetart · 16 April 2005 at 4:04PM

Just to clarify.....I have no issue with 'manual' sniping - that's what it's all about and a bit of fun. My problem is with the Auction Sniper who, contrary to what someone in the previous thread said, DO claim 100% success rate unless a technical problem is encountered.

In my particular case this morning, 3 of my bids show in the history with none from the winning bidder in between. Surely this can't be right. Is this strong enough evidence of Auction Sniper being used or are there any other circumstances in which this would happen?

In a normal auction, you can see who is bidding against you. Surely it should be no different on ebay?

soolin · 16 April 2005 at 4:04PM

noviceratetart wrote:

I was wondering what are your views on people using Auction Sniper to win ebay auctions?

I am prompted to post this because I am fed up with losing auctions in the last second to bidders who have not previously featured in the bidding history. Personally, I feel it is unethical and unfair and not in the spirit of what i thought ebay was about and makes a complete mockery of the bidding process. Am I alone in this or does anyone else have a problem with it and does anyone know what position does ebay take? [presumably don't care as they get their money anyhow]. Also, does anyone know how to check whether an item has been won using this method?

I lost an item this morning to a suspected auction sniper and the seller [who has been stung herself in the past but had no idea how people did it] is as unimpressed as i am and prepared to refuse to deal with the buyer but we are both relatively inexperienced and don't know whether this is either possible or advisable. Also, to be fair, it is possible that I simply lost out due to sheer inexperience and the winning bidder knew how much/when to bid.

Any advice/opinions welcomed.

You will find the thread that Binxy highlighted of interest. However, you only lost the auction because someone else was prepared to pay more. The fact that it was a snipe bid doesn't matter.

Also, and I realise that this is only a third hand story, if the seller refuses to deal with someone just because they used a snipe service then the seller is being foolish. They could end up with a non performing seller warning and a negative. Any seller that doesn't recognise that a snipe service is very often used shouldn't be on ebay.

As a buyer I only lose an auction because someone else is prepared to pay more, as a seller I welcome snipers with open arms as they often come in with lovely high bids at the end which is great for my profits.

Soo

soolin · 16 April 2005 at 4:10PM

noviceratetart wrote:

Just to clarify.....I have no issue with 'manual' sniping - that's what it's all about and a bit of fun. My problem is with the Auction Sniper who, contrary to what someone in the previous thread said, DO claim 100% success rate unless a technical problem is encountered.

In my particular case this morning, 3 of my bids show in the history with none from the winning bidder in between. Surely this can't be right. Is this strong enough evidence of Auction Sniper being used or are there any other circumstances in which this would happen?

In a normal auction, you can see who is bidding against you. Surely it should be no different on ebay?

The point with the auction stealer type programmes is that they usually, only bid once at the end of the auction with seconds to spare. They can only win the auction if they outbid the previous highest bidder, they cannot win otherwise. You do know who has bid against you as the winners id will be stated unless it is a private auction. They were not bidding against you during the auction, the bid went in right at the end which is why you didn't know about it.

I could guarantee you that I could win you any auction you chose, all you would need to do is put in a proxy bid for a million pounds. You'd end up paying a fortune for things, but you would have a nearly 100% success rate!

There is nothing illegal or dodgy about sniping, it is just a late, mechanised bid. If you want to win an auction just make sure your proxy bid i shigh enough to beat any snipe.

Soo

devilgirls1 · 16 April 2005 at 5:19PM

I use auction sniper all the time, i disagree that it is 'unethical' beacause i hate sitting at my computer counting the seconds for the auction to end, i use it so i dont have to wait around, i come back to the item when i know the auction has finished.

lots of people place bids at the last couple of seconds using 'manual' bids, i agree with 'Soolin' that if someone else is prepared to pay more for an item then it shouldn't be a problem, a higher proxy guarantees success (unless your up against me in which case my bids are really high and you will end up paying more for the item.....LOL)

danmanchester · 16 April 2005 at 5:51PM

I use an auction sniper for a couple of reasons..and I don't think there's anything unethical or wrong about it! If I lose an auction it's only because someone else valued the particular item more than I did.
Auctions snipers come in handy by placing my automatic bid for me if the auction is ending whilst I'm at work or sleeping!
By placing (a manual) early bid you are only showing your hand to other interested bidders..thus starting a bidding war, which is good for sellers I suppose.

noviceratetart · 16 April 2005 at 8:46PM

No, sorry, I disagree with this assumption. Auction Sniper GUARANTEE to win the item for you. They do not guarantee to win AS LONG AS NOONE ELSE BIDS HIGHER. Somehow, Auction Sniper is giving its users an unfair advantage. After all, if they did not provide bidders with this edge over competitors, they could not claim 100% success rate and why would anyone bother to pay them for their services?

Also, I cannot agree with this mentality that buyers should just accept the situation and 'get over it'. Basically, technical auction sniping is cheating. End of story.

Mrs Angry!!

danmanchester · 16 April 2005 at 8:51PM

nerrrrr ner ne nerrrr nerrrrrrrrrr:rotfl:

stavros_2 · 16 April 2005 at 8:55PM

noviceratetart wrote:

No, sorry, I disagree with this assumption. Auction Sniper GUARANTEE to win the item for you. They do not guarantee to win AS LONG AS NOONE ELSE BIDS HIGHER. Somehow, Auction Sniper is giving its users an unfair advantage. After all, if they did not provide bidders with this edge over competitors, they could not claim 100% success rate and why would anyone bother to pay them for their services?

Although I haven't actually read up on this claim I presume that by 100% success rate they mean 100% success rate in placing the bid that you make. If you set the auction sniper to place a bid 2 secs. before the end of an auction then it won't be too late and thus you miss out on a bid. I am assuming this is what they mean as it is impossible for them to guarantee that you would win even if someone bids higher! If they guaranteed that you win regardless ofwhat someone else bids then why wouldn't everyone just use them and bid 1p?! I think you've missunderstood how snipers work...

noviceratetart wrote:

Also, I cannot agree with this mentality that buyers should just accept the situation and 'get over it'. Basically, technical auction sniping is cheating. End of story.

How is it cheating?! It's exactly the same as bidding late manually

What do people think about Auction Sniper?

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