Survivor Items on Ebay
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Survivor Items on Ebay
Caycaye | Monday, December 15, 2003 - 08:39 pm     OK...Sorry...I had to leave for an hour...... To snipe an auction on Ebay at the last minute.....to win the auction.... Is quite simple actually....It does require a little luck, however....This is what I do.... OK...If I want a certain item, and it it like DAYS away from auction end....just so I don't lose track of the item, I may bid a very LOW bid...like ONE increment up from the current bid...ex: If the current bid is $2.50 and the next bid would be $3.00...then I will bid $3.00 to get the auction on my "My Ebay" page.... Then NEVER bid again....NEVER!!!!! Until the auction ending...because all people do that bid before the "end of auction" time is RUN UP THE PRICE!!!! OK....then...let's say the auction ends on Monday night a 11:54 PM....then you HAVE to be at your computer atleast 20 to 30 minutes BEFORE the auction end time.....So, at 11:20 or 11:30...I make sure that I get on the computer and pull up my "My Ebay" page out of my "favorites" folder where I put it a long time ago.... FIRST...you have to decide how high you are willing to pay for the item....THEN, you look to see what the bid is up to now. Let's say the bid is at $26.00 and I would pay up to $75.00 for this item....I will click on the auction item and then press the "negative" sign on the upper right hand corner of the computer and "minimize" the auction....... THEN I go back into my favorites folder and bring up the SAME auction....Notice*****I will have the very same auction up on TWO screens....You can minimize the second one until time gets closer to the end of the auction....but I ususally keep the right hand auction "up" on the screen and keep pressing the "refresh" button.......Meanwhile...while I have time... I minimize the right hand auction....and go back to the ORIGINAL auction I minimized...I will refresh it...and then I will go to "BID" and bid $75.09....(The reason is...that even when people have the same idea as you to go only to $75.00...THEY will put $75.00 and if YOU put $75.09 or $75.02 or ANY bit of pennies OVER $75.00...YOU will win the auction!!!) THEN... get everything ready (enter all ID's and info until you are ready to hit "BID") except DO NOT hit "BID"...Leave the auction alone and minimize it....... THEN go back to the OTHER right side auction and refresh it....OK...keep refreshing like a MANIAC until you have, like, 2 minutes left in the auction....THEN...I start COUNTING DOWN backwards with my computer.....1 min. 49 sec., 1 min. 48 sec....etc...then I refresh and see how close my counting and the computer are....THEN>>>>> THEN...when the auction gets down to 20 (TWENTY) seconds...you QUICKLY minimize the refresh auction site and GO BACK to the first auction you minimized with the "BID" ready to go.........Wait for TWO counts and HIT THAT BID BUTTON.... You should be HIGH bidder with only seconds left on the auction...or NO seconds left...and YOU WIN!!!...By chance someone gets another bid in after you...you STILL will probably win the auction...unless your maximun bid is too low...Alot of time....you win the bid and it is WAY lower than your MAXIMUM bid allowed.....Ebay only goes in ONE increment at a time...and if no one else gets a bid in...YOU will have smoked them, with maybe a winning bid of $27.00 on that $26.00 auction instead of bidding it up to the $75.00 limit....Do you understand??? I KNOW it sounds complicated...but it really isn't... |
Caycaye | Monday, December 15, 2003 - 08:40 pm     Let me know if you understood and it works for you...Try it on a low priced item first...OK??? |
Pamy | Monday, December 15, 2003 - 09:24 pm     Thanks for explaining Cay. WOW!! It does sound complicated, good thing I plan to sell not buy! LOL |
Scorpiomoon | Monday, December 15, 2003 - 10:15 pm     My method if pretty much exactly like Caycaye's. I will describe it in my own words. Once you find something you want to bid on, bookmark the auction. I recommend NOT bidding on it until near the end. I, personally, don't see the value in bidding until the very last moments. To me, bidding early means you're essentially jacking up the price and potentially costing yourself more. As Caycaye said, you have to be at your computer to catch the final minutes of the auction. I open two windows with the same auction in both. So, let's say an item is selling for $10. Based on my experience, most of the time, the person who is the current highest bidder will not have bid much more than what the highest price currently is. So, if the highest bid is $10, chances are the last person's maximum bid was, like, $15. However, sometimes people will make their maximum bid much, much more than what the highest price is. So, even if the highest price is $10, the last person might have placed a maximum bid of $40. If I really want the item, I will take the risk and assume the last person who bid did place a high maximum bid. About 15-20 minutes before the auction ends, I will bring up one of the auction windows. For this $10 auction, I would bid $50. It seems extreme, but if I set my maximum bid really high, chances are I will surpass the last person's maximum bid (by far) and ward off any other snipers out there. (I never thought to add any cents to my bid. Excellent suggestion, Caycaye.) I type in my bid and then am taken to the bid confirmation page. I DO NOT hit the confirm button just yet. Then I go back to the second window. I continually refresh the window as the auction winds down--watching for any other bids. If people are bidding during the final minutes, and the highest bid is crawling closer to my maximum bid, I will go back to the first window, hit the Back button to get back to the auction page and place a new bid. Again, I'd be taken to the confirmation page but, again I DO NOT hit the confirmation button just yet. I go back to the second window and continually hit Refresh and watch the time count down. I love to wait until the last 30 seconds of an auction before I bid. When I see there is less than 40 seconds left, I go over to the first auction window and finally hit the bid confirmation button. Nine times out of ten, I will end up being the highest bidder, the highest bid will be quite less than my maximum bid AND no one else will have time to outbid me. Sniping is less stressful (but less fun) when no one else is bidding in the last 30 minutes of the auction. But it can be scary. If you set an outrageously high maximum price, there is the slight chance you'll have to it or pay close to it. (As example: with the $10 auction--let's say you assume the highest bidder probably didn't make a high maximum bid. So, you bid $50 thinking there is no way the last person bid anywhere near that much. And then, you place your bid with 30 seconds left. You end up being the highest bidder, but the highest bid--the price you'll end up paying is $45! This is because the last person did make a high maximum bid and, while your maximum bid, was more, their bid jacks up the highest bid. I have bid on a ton of auctions. This has only happened to me, maybe twice.) Questions? |
Serate | Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 05:52 am     Caycaye & Scorpiomoon my brother uses a program called Oxygen Sniper and wins most. Can your method beat programs like this? [just incase there's ever something I just HAVE to have]. I do have to add that the only experience with EBay I have had was selling and I just LOVED those that ran the price up. I had to sell NASCAR Winston Cup & Busch tickets and the selling price went from $400 to $900 in the last 15 minutes. Not bad since the tickets were worth $300. [still would have rather been at the races!!!!!!!!!!] |
Pcakes2 | Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 06:30 am     well, I lost jeff . He is now up to over $600. $500 was my max. |
Ryn | Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 09:24 am     Just an FYI - they added a whole new group of items today (total of 84 now). I have also changed the colors on my search page to make it a bit easier on the eyes (at least it seems to be that way to me). |
Pcakes2 | Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 09:49 am     Thanks Ryn. I bid on Jeff's pants, but I am sure it will go over my maximum bid. I'm sure if his shirt is over $600, his pants will bring in more! |
Bob2112 | Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 10:20 am     Sniping programs basically automate the process that Caycaye & Scorpiomoon described above. Caycaye's tip on addind a few pennies is very good and I have won some auctions because of that extra 1 cent. Whether the software or the human wins the auction is mostly dependant on what the maximum bid is. If you are willing to pay $75.09 and the automated software bid will only go as high as $60.00 and the bid increment is $1.00, you will win the bid for $61.00 If the human and the bid software are both willing to bid the same amount, the winner will be the bid that is placed first. This is often the human who is bidding 20-30 seconds (or more) before the bid ends, where as the software will often try to bid in just the last few seconds and would then be too late with an equal bid. If the software is willing to bid higher than your max (or if the existing low bid is really a proxy bid that is higher than your max), then you will lose the auction. The main benefit to sniping is to avoid alerting any bidders that do not use the proxy bidding to the fact that someone else is interested in an item. If the previous high bidder did not use a proxy and you bid too soon, they will receive an email and have the chance to enter another bid which will either cause you to pay more or possibly lose the auction if they bid high enough. Note to Caycaye: You can put an item on your watch list without having to place a small bid. You will then be able to recall it later, similar to what you are doing already. The benefit is that if there are no bids on the item, you don't draw attention to it. Sometimes people are hesitant to be the first bidder on an item, but then go crazy once they see someone might win it for $1.00 |
Keepers | Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 03:14 pm     Thanks so much Caycaye & Scorpiomoon! Now I know how I have lost items in last few seconds - people like you (who are smarter the me)! When I have looked at bid history it just made me mad that someone came in at last few seconds & make their one & only bid at that time & won! I have always used proxy,never thinking about how I am actually raising the price of the time. I have used the pennies over the even amount and won in that way, but too many times I have been "sniped". Now thanks to you two, I can try my luck at being the one doing the sniping. I will definitely give it a try & let you know if it works! |
Caycaye | Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 05:05 pm     Cool, Keepers...et.al....Glad to be of help...My 20 year old son taught me everything I KNOW!!!LOL |
Ryn | Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - 06:27 am     Lol- well I just had a fun tim bidding on several items - I am currently high bidder on several - I know it won't last but its fun to know I am the high bidder if only for a couple hours!!! If I get Jeff's shirt and a call it would actually be worth it (although I think I would enjoy the call more than the shirt - lol). More items added again - a total of 126 now: Survivor Ebay Charity Items |
Keepers | Friday, December 19, 2003 - 04:19 pm     Ok Caycaye & Scorpiomoon, I made my first sniping attempt & was so nervous that I would lose out, that I would wait too long to push the confirm button. Lo & behold - I won the auction, got the bid (my one & only) in at the last second on the second! I could not believe it, I am so happy! I am sure if i did it the old-fashioned way, I would have either paid higher then what I did now or I would have lost the item. I now have someone mad at me for sniping them - it feels so good! Thanks so very much! I can't wait til I give it another try! |
Bob2112 | Friday, December 19, 2003 - 04:25 pm     Good work, Keepers! Do we need a snipe counter? I sniped 2 bids today. One for the starting bid price and the other for less than my max but higher than the current bid which had a proxy. The proxy covered about 3/4 of what I was willing to pay, so if I bid earlier, the previous high bidder might have had time to counter. Sniping works.  |
Scorpiomoon | Friday, December 19, 2003 - 05:15 pm     Congratulations to both of you! |
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