Ebay bidding techniques

[felagund]

Hello!
I was wondering if any of more experiences members here can tell me the way they bid on Ebay?

Do you bid in ther last moments or right away or somewhere in between? Do you bed once or several times?

Last, are there any programs that let you bid in the last seconds of an auction? I heard of a thing called SnipeBid but I am not sure it exists!

Also, how do you filter searches on Ebay?

Thanks a lot!  :)

[dragsamou]

Hello!
I was wondering if any of more experiences members here can tell me the way they bid on Ebay?

Do you bid in ther last moments or right away or somewhere in between? Do you bed once or several times?

Last, are there any programs that let you bid in the last seconds of an auction? I heard of a thing called SnipeBid but I am not sure it exists!

Also, how do you filter searches on Ebay?

Thanks a lot!  :)

Hi Felagund.
I will talk about my Experience.When I really want something I Only bid Once in the last 5 Seconds.There's no program on Ebay that let you bid in the last seconds,I wish  ;)
I will not have to wake up at 7h30 this morning to snipe
an auction that I was looking for.Regarding filter Searches on Ebay,I guess every Members have their technics in regards of their own interest.

[Giediprime41]

 I will give you my theory, or perhaps better a technique of bidding on ebay. "Bid only once, the most you are willing to spend."
You will find that this "top bid" will strech higher, about three or four times if you bid early.
You find yourself saying "well i can go a day or two without food." This is BAD!
On the other hand bidding late has it's bad side also.
You could snipe bid and not win. But it is cheaper.
You find yourself yelling at your computer "why are you guys bid waring over MY auction!"
Whether, you choose to bid with five seconds left, or with ten days.
There's a down side to it all.
As long as you didn't pay too much, you did alright.
MAN, that sounds old!
Darren ;D

[card-guy]

have a look at www.esnipe.com - this appears to do what you want and a colleague of mine has used it successfully

Cheers

Alan

[Archivist]

I've seen these sniping websites before, but no matter how appealing it may be, I can't get past the fact that you have to give them your eBay username and password.

[sylvanstu]

I am always looking for deals there are several different cards i bid on all the time 99.9 % i lose but when i do win you can believe i got a great deal on it. When it's something i really want i'll bid early a price i'm willing to pay. if i get out bid with the auction still on i put in my watch list and go to it with at least 5 minuetes left and decide if i want to pay more but most of my buys are for deals. I enjoy trading more than buying and selling

[sylvanstu]

If anyone has used this bidsnipe e-mail me i'd like to know how it works

[felagund]

Hi!
I tried out the Auction Sniper site and it worked well, I sniped 2 auctions (although the demand was not that strong...)
The prob is that you have to supply them with your pass and that MIGHT hurt. The site did snipe for me, it really placed the bids in the last 3 seconds or so!

[dragsamou]

Hi!
I tried out the Auction Sniper site and it worked well, I sniped 2 auctions (although the demand was not that strong...)
The prob is that you have to supply them with your pass and that MIGHT hurt. The site did snipe for me, it really placed the bids in the last 3 seconds or so!

Hi Felagund.
Don't you have to pay a Fee using that service?

[felagund]

Yep, it's 1% of the Ebay final value of the item and for items that end less than 5$ it's o,25$ fee fixed. They do give you 3 free snipes to try them out!

[Erl00]

I've seen these sniping websites before, but no matter how appealing it may be, I can't get past the fact that you have to give them your eBay username and password.

Right! Same for me.


Anyway, I think I heard Bob mentioning Phantombidder to be the best sniping tool. And Cniper to be a free one.

Regarding techniques, is there anyone who needs a reminder on the famous Jltoolman's one? ;D;D

More seriously, I have read several more or less mathematical demonstration prooving that Snipping optimises your chance to win at lower prices.

I would say that I tend to agree from a short-term perspective, i.e. on a one-of a time auction.

I think other options may work on specific configuration.
Let's take the following situation:
- T&T (or Queensdomain ;D) puts up for auction 30 Summer Magic cards in 30 different auctions
- You know, as most other persons interested into Summer cards that T&T (or QsD) will put another set of Summer cards auctions in two weeks, and will put similar batches of these auctions for months ...

I think therefore that a technique would be to bid as high as it is required to steal 95% of the first set of auctions.

Everyone notices it and talks a lot about your insane financial power and your terrible lack of fun in specialised Internet boards ...

For the second batch of auctions, you bid early, and high as well.

Competitors will therefore spot the auctions, see you're the high bidder everywhere, try their chance on a couple of cards, notice they cannot outbid you, will conclude that you still are no fun at all (i.e. you have bid insanely high on all auctions) and will therefore abandon bidding.

The more you're famous, the less the usual suspects will participate in the auctions ("Bah, another Summer auction led by this guy, I have no chance to win, let's see if there's anything else to bid on).

And thus you end up winning easily all the auctions you want at "normal" prices).

This is a à la Curt_Heiden bidding technique.


Feel free to comment :)
Eric.

[felagund]

Well, sounds good but as for me, I haven't got that much resources...  :'(

I am still struggling to complete IPA and OTJ sets so Summer is still way out of my league.

But, bidding high on specific items can give you a certain aura with a small group of specialized bidders, especially Magic rarities. If you are planning on reselling the cards, it's bad news though. The prices would be too high in the first run and you would need to do many of these just to break even. Or have a very well paid day job...  :(

BTW, how did jtoolman bid? I remember how everything turned out, but did he bid in the last moment or no?

[flaminio]

Anyway, I think I heard Bob mentioning Phantombidder to be the best sniping tool. And Cniper to be a free one.

I've been using PhantomBidder for years now, and don't bid any other way. It's not free, but it's cheaper than just about all the other pay services (flat 50c/win). I've also had many email exchanges with the author, and I trust that he is not going to abuse the fact that his software has eBay logins and passwords. However, this is indeed a level of trust you need to give away -- any web-based sniping software necessarily needs your login and password to work.

There are several client-based sniping software packages that keep everything local, but I don't trust my internet connection enough to run locally. PhantomBidder has three separate servers on three separate links -- the odds of all three dying are remote. Also, with a web-based system, you can bid from anywhere. Summer 2002 I was in Paris visiting Erl00 and dragsamou, and while wandering the streets I stopping in an Internet cafe to check email. I also surfed eBay, found something I wanted, and programmed up a PhantomBid for it. I won the auction at 35,000 feet over the Atlantic. All that power for a mere 50c.

[Erl00]

BTW, how did jtoolman bid? I remember how everything turned out, but did he bid in the last moment or no?

He just put $20,000. Whatever the moment you choose to bid, you typically win with this strategy ;D

[felagund]

He is one rich son of a rich...  ;D

Well, once again I have to mention his grand daughter. Ok, who has sons for sacrifice here?  :D

I think, since he isn't into Magic, that it was a waste of money if it was really intended for his grand daughter, the kid would prefer a small car I guess...

Personally, when I see that I am losing an auction, I keep bidding until I win, it's an impulse that has already cost me lots of money. Does it happen to anyone else?