Confused re auction sniping

cattie

I've done a bid on an ebay item I'm anxious to secure, but as I may not be able to be around for the end of the auction, I'm now thinking of doing a snipe bid to increase my chances of winning.

However, I'm a little bit confused as I've never actually used snipes on any auction I've already made a bid on & wonder if anybody here can advise me?

What I'm not sure about is, having already entered a bid amount via ebay, whether the snipe site will bid against me on the auction or does it automatically recognise my user name & hold back & only bid on my behalf against other bidders?

Thanks if you can help.

alykatz

There are many snipe sites about gixen and goofbid to name 2.
No if you use a snipe site it wont bid against you. What it will do is place your bid in the dying seconds of the auction.

plumface

alykatz wrote: »

There are many snipe sites about gixen and goofbid to name 2.
No if you use a snipe site it wont bid against you. What it will do is place your bid in the dying seconds of the auction.

I am pretty sure that if you put a bid in via ebay AND by using a snipe then they will bid against each other.

alykatz

plumface wrote: »

I am pretty sure that if you put a bid in via ebay AND by using a snipe then they will bid against each other.

Only in as much as when you sniper bids you will have 2 bids on the item but the price wont rise.

Have done this on occasion when ive put in an early tentative bid then realised ill be afk when the auction ends so have set my sniper with my max.

porto_bello

plumface wrote: »

I am pretty sure that if you put a bid in via ebay AND by using a snipe then they will bid against each other.

No, they won't bid against each other simply because you are using the same eBay ID.

...unless of course, you are using a different eBay ID when you use the sniper website!

Ectophile

I've never understood the obsession with sniping.

I just bid the maximum I'm willing to pay, then log out and wait for the end of the auction. Either I win the auction, or the item sells for more than I was willing to pay.

It makes no odds to me whether the last person to bid was a sniper or not.

arthurdick

Ectophile wrote: »

I've never understood the obsession with sniping.

I just bid the maximum I'm willing to pay, then log out and wait for the end of the auction. Either I win the auction, or the item sells for more than I was willing to pay.

It makes no odds to me whether the last person to bid was a sniper or not.

absolutely spot on...

yoyoegg

I've never understood the obsession with sniping.

porto_bello

Once you've seen a shill bidding ID gently nudging up prices with amounts just under natural price points (4.99, 9.99, 14.99 etc), then you will see the both the value in an auction sniper and danger of showing your maximum price early on.

zerog

porto_bello wrote: »

Once you've seen a shill bidding ID gently nudging up prices with amounts just under natural price points (4.99, 9.99, 14.99 etc), then you will see the both the value in an auction sniper and danger of showing your maximum price early on.

hmm I've just realised that I probably look like a shill bidder

But I only bid .99s when looking for good deals, not if I really need the item, so I don't care if I get outbid by 1p

ballisticbrian

I use snipper bidding because there are users out there who want the item and every time you bid, they just come straight back with a new bid regardless and the price sometimes goes higher than the retail price.