Well I hope I have been sniped for the last time.  Every time I trya nd buy parts on ebay (or almost anything for that matter) I lose buy one dollar at the last second.  Well i found a free site that snipes for you 6 sec before the auction ends.  So we'll see how it goes the page is called "snip" and I found it on google.  I was wondering if anyone else is having problems buying parts on ebay or if anyone has tried any onther software to trya nd snipe.  It sucks that I have to do this but I am so sich of not getting the things I bid on.

just bid more than anyone else is willing to pay and you won't have a problem.  that's how auctions work.  if you're trying to get a deal on something, ebay is not the place.

Yeah, sniping doesn't help you if you aren't willing to pay more than the other guy, it just keeps the price down.

Sometimes ebay is a deal, other times you wind up paying thru the nose (but its usually for something you'd never be able to find otherwise).

I try to minimize the risk when I decide to bid on an auction.  I tend to avoid auctions that close while I'm at work or asleep.  If I see some action on an item before the close, I might bump up the bid a few bucks over my maximum.  I haven't been sniped recently; usually outright lost them when I might have been able to cover had I been online when it happened.  I have accepted sniping as a fact of ebay life, and don't get upset about it when it happens.

I won my first auction in awhile today; I bid on a set of Katana footpegs (lowers foot position by 1/2" and look better), and was the only bidder. The seller failed to put a space between 'Katana" and "600/750" so it didn't come up on most searches.  It was only my third try at a set recently.

I picked up a set of Honda CBR F3 pegs for $1.  Hopefully I can make them fit, but at the price I don't see how I can lose.

The few times I've bid on items on Ebay I just bid the maximum price that I feel the item is worth. Then Ebay automatically sets my bid $1 above the last highest bid until somebody elses bid exceeds my maximum value assessment.

I bid on a used SV650 once. I bid $3750 (the maximum I was willing to pay for its condition) 3 days before the end of the auction. The highest bid at the time of my opening bid was about $2100 so Ebay automatically gave me the high bid at $2110 (I can't remember exactly what the minimum increment is for this type of item, but you get the idea). Every time somebody bid higher Ebay automatically incremented my bid to beat them. However, when the bidding went over $3750, Ebay automatcally stopped bidding for me, and a good thing too because I was not willing to pay the final bidding price of $4200 that it went for.

I did the same thing with an exhaust the I was willing to pay $100 for. Entered my $100 and checked back 2 days later when the bidding closed and it was mine for $50. I lucked into a deal but that's not why I used Ebay.

Assess the item you are bidding on, set your maximum price and enter it as you maximum bid, then check back when the auction is closed and see if you won. Then if somebody snipes over your price, what do you care cause it wasn't worth that to you anyway.

Quote from: PkaasoSniping - You have to decide from the start, how much you're willing to pay for that item.

eBay's own instructions tell you to pick your highest bid, and bid that.  If everyone did this, then nobody would benefit from sniping (and nobody would suffer either; it just wouldn't matter). One problem is that there are people who say "hm, $20 is my high bid, it's not worth more than that... what, someone else bid $25?  Ok, well maybe $30 is my absolute high bid, it's definitely not worth more than that... no, wait, someone else bid $32... I guess I can go higher..."  These bidders just want to win, at any cost.  eBay likes compulsive re-bidders, even while they advise against bidding this way.

Sniping takes-away the opportunity from competitive re-bidders.  Instead of adding your best bid 5 days before the end of the auction, if everyone bid their "best bid" 1 minute before then end of the auction, then the auction would end with the correct winner, and witout bidding wars. The primary loser is the seller, who only gets paid what the item is worth, and not some goofy high price.

In practice, the "current highest bid" is meaningless. Don't bother rebidding to try to keep your name at the top of the list; just bid what it's worth, and you'll either get it or you won't.  And you'll get a good night's sleep too, instead of sitting up watching an auction.

Totally agree with Von.  Just enter what you're willing to pay for that item.  If it sells for $1 more it doesn't mean you were sniped.  The guy who won maybe had outbid you by $20 or something.  If you loose it .. so what ... I guess you didn't need it that bad or you would have bid more.

I was trying to win the sniping game too when I first started but it's not worth it.  

Rob

There seems to be a misconception about sniping.  Sniping software (at least "bitwatcher" which I've seen) does not check-out what other people have bid, and then bid $1 more.  All it does is place your preset bid (the same "best bid" you would normally type-in) in the last minute of the auction.

If I were to see an auction and think "that's worth $50", then I could tell BidWatcher to bid $50 one minute before the end-of-auction.   If two other bidders bid $40 and $60 two days before the end of the auction, BidWatcher will  still stubbornly try to bid $50, because that's what it was told to bid (and it would fail).  The bidder who bid $60 would be the "winner" for $51.  He would have won by outbidding the preprogrammed snipe bid.  In fact, he might be glad he was bidding against snipers, instead of more-typical eBay-a-holics, since the sniper who bid $50 will only bid once, and will never decide "hm, I guess I could go a little higher."

So you will beat sniping software by just bidding your maximum, just as easily as (or more easily than) if your competitor were bidding manually.

I don't use sniper software.
I just watch the auctions in MY EBAY page and see how the biding is going.
I never bid early if at all possible.
During the last 30 seconds, I put in my max bid. I win 95% of the time, but I put in high maximums. So you've got to be willing to pay.
Watching the auctions and the bidding can give you a pretty good feel for how much people are bidding.
The last auction I won, was a 2003 gsxr 1000 frontend.
Forks, triples , calipers and axle. I've seen the forks alone go for $700.
The auction was showing $585.00. I came in at the last 30 seconds with a max of $850.00. I won the auction at $600.00. I knew it wouldn't go to my max, but even at $850 it was a good deal. And since I didn't show my hand early, the other bidders weren't able to chip away at me and drive the price up.
The people that outbid you have a higher max bid than the amount they win by. Ebay automatically bids on your behalf up to your max. And it will only bid 1 increment above the other bidder.