What do people think about Auction Sniper?

soolin

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?

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!!

You are suggesting that auction sniper have somehow hacked the ebay site? There is no other way that they can guarantee a win.

The opening page of the auction sniper website certainly make no such guarnatee they actually say

" Auction Sniper is an eBay sniper that automates the process of placing your eBay bid in the closing seconds of any eBay bidding auction, dramatically increasing your chance of winning"

Which to me doesn't mean a guaranteed win just a higher proxy bid that your competitors.

Further into the website it also says

"Auction Sniper does all that it can to make sure that your bid is placed, but due to uncontrollable factors we cannot 100% guarantee that we will be able to place your bid. Currently our statistics show that nearly 100% of all Auction Sniper bids have been placed successfully"

That only refers to placing a bid not winning an auction.

I can't see anywhere that auction sniper guarantees a win. As I said before, the highest bidder will always win whether using a sniper programme or by placing a manual bid. There is nothing sinister or underhand about it at all.

Soo

noviceratetart

OK - time for me to climb down off my high horse! Now that I've read all the posts here and in the previous thread [thanks for the link Binxy] I realise that I had misunderstood how sniping programmes work.

It is still an annoying and frustrating experience to be sniped when you really want an item but don't want to pay more than you need to and, furthermore, it looks like you are winning it. Somehow it seems more insulting to be sniped mechanically rather than manually.

Ok, so maybe it's not unethical but I still think that inexperienced traders who know nothing about sniping are at an unfair disadvantage unless or until they become streetwise.

lothlorien

i completely disagree that auction sniper is 'wrong' i have used it many times and 5/10 times i dont win the item simply because someone else's proxy bid was higher than mine. i 'got over it'... if auction sniper was a cheat surely ebay would not support that site.......

Any how thats my POV.

Bubbles

noviceratetart wrote:

It is still an annoying and frustrating experience to be sniped when you really want an item but don't want to pay more than you need to and, furthermore, it looks like you are winning it. Somehow it seems more insulting to be sniped mechanically rather than manually.

Ok, so maybe it's not unethical but I still think that inexperienced traders who know nothing about sniping are at an unfair disadvantage unless or until they become streetwise.

No-one wants to pay more than they need too, this applies to people using sniping software too. I really don't get your point here If you really want an item then surely you just enter the maximum amount that you're prepared to pay for it. If you don't win it's only because someone has bid a higher amount. If you place the same amount as someone who snipes then YOU will win because you've placed your bid first.

You will only be outbid by a sniper if they've bid a higher amount, so I don't see how you can complain, it seems pretty fair to me.

TDIfurby

Sniping is unethical I would say, but then I use the sniping's free 3 snipes a week sevice for times I know I'm nowhere near a PC and can't bid on anything there and then. Generally though I'd sooner put my highest possible bid in (and I mean HIGHEST with no sense of "ooh, just another £5...) with a few hours to go, then if someone else wins it, even at the last minute, I know the better person won and I'll go off finding the same item somewhere else on ebay.

just my 2p worth. Sniping has worked for me as a seller too though - no end of my auctions (and I don't sell much by any standards) make me good money because of sniping. Although often it seems the general ebay public are much happier to bid early on a "non trading" (if you know what I mean) ebayer, than the mass supply companies. Hope that makes sense.

Sofa_Sogood

noviceratetart wrote:

OK - time for me to climb down off my high horse! Now that I've read all the posts here and in the previous thread [thanks for the link Binxy] I realise that I had misunderstood how sniping programmes work.

It is still an annoying and frustrating experience to be sniped when you really want an item but don't want to pay more than you need to and, furthermore, it looks like you are winning it. Somehow it seems more insulting to be sniped mechanically rather than manually.

Ok, so maybe it's not unethical but I still think that inexperienced traders who know nothing about sniping are at an unfair disadvantage unless or until they become streetwise.

I've accepted the fact that I'll be outbidden by snipers (but don't agree with it as I've said before)

BUT, (and this is for anyone to answer ...)

If you all have the same sniping programme - who wins?

It must, eventually, let down at least one out of two snipers?

soolin

Sofa_Sogood wrote:

I've accepted the fact that I'll be outbidden by snipers (but don't agree with it as I've said before)

BUT, (and this is for anyone to answer ...)

If you all have the same sniping programme - who wins?

It must, eventually, let down at least one out of two snipers?

The one who bids the highest always wins and if both sniping programmes place exactly the same amount to the penny then it is the one that places the bid first.

Soo

Sofa_Sogood

soolin wrote:

The one who bids the highest always wins and if both sniping programmes place exactly the same amount to the penny then it is the one that places the bid first.

Soo

Hi Soo

That was one of my sillier questions

I've seen snipers outbid by snipers with (obviously) quicker programmes. I had to laugh when I saw it, even though I lost what I wanted.

So a better question now

Where will it end? Back at manually bidding do you think?

oscardog

As has been said, sniping is worthless if a normal bidder puts in a high offer (best offer) and just leaves it to sit there.

Sniping is designed to beat the "nibblers" who try a minimum raise bid just before the closure.

And yes, I use it when I cannot be around for the end of auction and touch wood it has worked every time.

richto

Last Minute Bidder by Paragon is pretty good for anyone looking for an alternative solution. I use that for all my bids.