Quick Sniping Tips
Most anyone can bid on online auctions, but only the more skillful do it well.
Using Auction Sniper gives you a competitive edge that will help you to become more successful with your online auctions.
We've compiled a few tips that we've garnered through years of online auction experience.
Bid Your Maximum
eBay will accept just the next increment over the previous bidder's max.
This is why it is safe for you to put in the absolute maximum you're willing to bid.
- Remember that eBay doesn't show a bidder's max, just the next increment needed over the previous bidder.
- Your snipe bid will jump to a seller's reserve. This would happen if you bid directly on eBay too.
We follow all eBay rules in bidding.
- Don't rely on emails to tell you your bid is too low.
A bidder may have a much higher max than what eBay shows in the auction.
They only show the next increment above the previous bidder.
An auction might show a current bid of $23, when in fact the bidder's max is $100.
So a snipe of $52 will look perfectly fine until it snipes and you lose to the max bidder at $53.
Always put in your max. Much of the bidding happens in the last hour of the auction, where an email won't do you any good.
Don't Use Round Numbers
By tossing in odd dollars or cents, you can throw off the bid increment and you might win an item you would otherwise have lost.
Why is this important to you when you're sniping?
Isn't a snipe the last bid?
Because there might be another sniper on the item, or you might hit a manual sniper who just gets very lucky on getting his bid in after you.
Or you might even exceed another savvy bidder trying this tactic by a few dollars or cents.
Know the Bid Increments
Pay attention to the bid increments and where they change.
Many eBayers are not aware of the bid increments, so make sure you know.
Read about eBay's Bid Increments.
Not knowing the bid increments is one way snipers can lose the bid, too. Snipes can be
slightly higher but still fail to meet the next increment.
Was the sniper willing to pay just a bit more to have won the item? Most times yes. We have many snipers writing in,
having lost a bid, and it's often for something just like that.
Here is another bid increment scenario. The
following is a helpful tutorial on
the possibility of winning bids by less than one bid increment:
Bid history shows only actual bids and the final bid (proxy or not).
Current bid is:
$23.00 (from a hidden proxy of $100.00)
Bid history shows: You $23.00
John Doe bids $23.50.
| Bid History Shows |
| John Doe |
$23.50 |
| You |
$24.00 |
| Note: Your (proxy) bid of $23.00 disappears and John Doe is informed that he has been outbid |
John Doe then bids $99.99.
| Bid History Shows |
| John Doe |
$23.50 |
| John Doe |
$99.99 |
| You |
$100.00 |
| Note: Your proxy bid of $24.00 disappears and John Doe is informed that he has been outbid. |
| Note: This bid history is "a tell" since the high bid is not an increment higher than the previous bid. i.e. actual not proxy |
But if John Doe bids $100.01 instead of $99.99
| Bid History Shows |
| John Doe |
$23.50 |
| You |
$100.00 |
| John Doe |
$100.01 |
| Note: This bid history is also a "tell" since the top bid is not an increment higher than the previous bid. |
| This is one case where John Doe can bid up himself (since he is not an increment in the lead). |
If John then follows his $100.01 bid with another bid of $102.50 (or more)
| Bid History Shows |
| John Doe |
$23.50 |
| You |
$100.00 |
| John Doe |
$100.01 |
| John Doe |
$102.50 |
| Note: One of the few cases where you can raise your own bid. |
Know the Shipping And Handling
Always check shipping and handling charges, especially on smaller and less expensive items.
Sellers will often lure you in to bid on what seems a great deal, but try to recover money through excessive
S & H.
Read Seller Feedback
Be wary of bidding on expensive items when the seller has a 0-2 feedback rating, especially if the deal seems too good to be true...it probably is.
And on an expensive item where he seems to have great feedback, see what the feedback is on.
Is it on cheap items that he bought or sold? If his feedback is under 5 and all very recent, you may want to think about that.
Maybe he did that to boost his rating before selling this big item which was his intent all along.
Read negative feedback, see if there's any pattern to the complaints.
If not, and it's a seller with an otherwise high rating, it's likely due to buyer misunderstanding.
Even though a seller may have a high feedback rating such as 99.9%, click it to see his feedback.
Sometimes a seller might be on his way downhill and all those negatives he's received are in the last week or two of his transactions.
You can save yourself from getting involved in a deal likely to go sour.
Understand Auction Sniper Lead Times
Lead time is the number of seconds before an auction's end time when we send your bid to eBay. You can adjust your lead time to fit your sniping strategy. Shorter lead times protect against manual bidders. Longer lead times can help you beat other shoppers who use sniping tools.
Be Familiar with Scheduled Maintenance
eBay announces scheduled maintenance windows. During these slower server response times, a longer lead time might help you win your desired auction.
Be Knowledgeable About the Item
Research is indispensable. Know the value of what you're bidding on (check outside eBay for other places selling your item!).
Consider S & H costs into the final value of the item.
Patience is a virtue.
Ignore other buyer feeding frenzies on an item: too often these are no longer a good deal, and with emotional bid wars,
it's easy to pay more than the value of the item, especially factoring in S & H. Let someone else overspend.
You'll live to snipe another day. Bad deals are made on bids with excessive buyer interest,
and good deals can be had where no one else has bid at all.
Use Bid Groups
Auction Sniper's Bid Group feature is underutilized. It's a simple procedure to set-up and exceptionally time-saving.
A Bid Group is designed
to help you get the item you want at the price you want. You choose multiple items on eBay
and put them in a Bid Group folder with a set maximum price. Auction Sniper will run through
the items in the group until it gets you the item you want at the price you want.
As soon as you win one auction at the price you want, we'll automatically cancel the rest of
your bids.
Run Searches On Auction Sniper
Set up an automatic search on Auction Sniper for anything that you're looking for on eBay.
You can set the
search to run as often as you want and then email you the results. It is a quick and easy way
to find just what you are looking for on eBay.