Sniping - has anyone lost out?

GabbaGabbaHey

VeryTrying wrote:

Can you open two windows at once? Go to the list of items your musthave is in. Right click the mouse on it. Left click on "open in new window".

These instructions assume that the person is using Internet Explorer as their web browser. Firefox allows tabbed browsing, and there is an extension available which will reload a tab at whatever interval you wish.

This means that you can have multiple tabs open on the same auction (e.g., one with a Confirm button waiting to place a bid, another with the auction itself refreshing every 20 seconds, etc).

trace-j

Surely with broadband and fast internet connections, you can just refresh in the closing seconds and submit bids? I've used it and caught out a few snipers. You can submit a bid quicker if you set up you personal settings so that you don't have to type in your passwords.Just a thought

Sofa_Sogood

GabbaGabbaHey? Not sure if it helps but I only use Internet explorer.

trace-j? I'm on dial-up so I tend to just bang in a price I think's the best price, but it narked me today when I was caught out with 5 seconds to go lol. I doubt broadband would have beaten it but could be wrong

I hate snipers

mah_jong

Sofa .... I have got so close to the cut off time I thought I had lost it!

I dont bid until the last minute then I am counting down whilst bidding and press the last button with only seconds to go. Yesterday the screen came bask saying 2 secs to go.... any slower and then it would have gone....but it was so satisfying seeing I had beaten another last minute bidder (sniper I bet!) the price and gone up a fair bit.

I use both IE and firefox.... usually IE for final bidding ,more practised but liking firefox more all the time! And i am on a slow dial up as well !
But if you lost out with your best price..then you have no idea how much they might have bid. Best to keep to your limit and walk away than pay too much!

My question on this subject is.....
I always go for odd bids, and within the last minute yesterday it said I had to increase my bid, so I chose not to bid at all. But its been niggling me that had I put in my bid a wee bit earlier then I might have got it.... are you with me???

So... say .... the item is going for 185.00 at the me..... and I am prepared for a max around the 205 mark . So I type in 206.37 and it tells me I have to bid 210. No...too much....BUT if the winning bidder had only put in 205....would I not have had the edge if my bid was slightly earlier???
Any thoughts?

Sofa_Sogood

mah_jong?

I've only beaten a sniper once (to my knowledge) and that was probably because she was new to sniping and gave me a few extra seconds lol

But it was something I wanted (not needed so don't tell the money savers lol)

I'm tempted to bid over and above, because sometimes I can. But I'd feel deflated - no bargain

They just get to me, because they use a programme that wins them something that they probably haven't taken much interest in. Grrrrrr lol. Bu they're still paying above me aren't they?

But like you said ... how do they know to bid, for example, an exact pound over, for example, 24.52?

It's mad but how does the proxy thing vs the sniper work? (Apart from losing?) lol

Someone better than us two will probs help out

VeryTrying_2

Sofa_Sogood wrote:

mah_jong?

But like you said ... how do they know to bid, for example, an exact pound over, for example, 24.52?

They don't. The last bid showing on screen could have been, say, £21.00 but that bidder's proxy might have been £23.52 (£23 being their valuation, and the 52p being the bit extra to win at that price). You come along and decide you can afford more than the next increment of £1, so put in a proxy bid of £30-and-a-few-pence.

This drives the other person's bid to their max (£23.52), and slaps on the extra increment for you, mostly probably £1, so the winning bid becomes £24.52.

Yes?

nbt

Sofa_Sogood wrote:

Ohhhhhhhh I hate it when there's only a few pence in it. (You can tell I bid for low items )

Do you think it was a sniper?

No, I was outbid with about 6 hours to go. Just wasn't too bothered about winning, at least not enough to go back an d up the bid

BFG_2

nbt,

shouldn't your signature say

NTB : Notoriously Bad Tpyist

Bubbles

I use sniping software and I don't care what anyone says.

I really don't see what all the fuss is about and why snipers get such a bad name?!!

I use it for various reasons:

1. So that I don't forget about an auction. I simply enter the details
and forget about it.

2. An auction might end at an inappropriate time e.g. when I'm in work,
in bed or just away from home.

I don't see it as being unfair. Yeah, fair enough it's probably difficult
to get a bid in after a sniper, but surely people have entered their maximum
bid anyway and if theirs is higher than mine then they've won, which is something that's totally fair and doesn't bother me.

If the two bids are the same then the one that was placed first wins, so the
sniper would lose out in this case.

As some people have mentioned, it's not as much fun as placing a manual bid, but I wouldn't be without it now. If I had to try to remember every auction that I wanted to bid on I'd probably spend half my life sitting infront of this screen lol.

stavros_2

Bubbles wrote:

I use it for various reasons:

1. So that I don't forget about an auction. I simply enter the details
and forget about it....

that made me chuckle