ebay snipers

I use Goofbay. Partially due to not always being able to bid when auctions are finishing and it also keeps bids down from others I find. So can get cheaper items.

If you see something and start bidding early then others outbid you and prices can reach those of brand new on occasions.

Plus when you see something you put in your limit and when you want it bid upon, usually 2 seconds before finish and that's it. You have set your limit and if you win you win. None of this getting drawn into pay more just for the sake if it. eBay will email either way. No hassles.

It may not be in the spirit of an auction but so many do it that's its now become the norm.

Never had a single issue with my details being in GoofBay and been using it for years and years. Although I do tend to use buy it now mostly.
 
pretty much only snipe as I can never guarantee to be around at the time the auction ends, not that I paticularly want to hang around waiting unless I'm more than usually interested in the item.
 
I'm another for setting the max price I'm prepared to pay,add an odd value just over and then bid in the last 10 seconds. If I win, I'm happy, if not c'est la vie.

My thought on bidding my max price early is that it gives others a chance to match it early, or the item price gets inflated too quickly. Even if I'm prepared to pay £25 for said item, I'm hoping for a bargain buy rather than paying my max price. A 99p start with all the bids coming at the end and going for a tenner is way better chance to get a bargain than the item slowly climbing to twenty quid before the second day of a five day auction.
 
I've noticed recently there has been quite a few people attempt this and fail. I sell quite regularly on eBay and have been contacted numerous times saying "I placed a bid and it didn't register". Well if they'd bid with an hour to o tht wouldn't have been a problem would it!
 
always last few seconds or Buy it now for me.

if I miss something due to not being outbid above my highest or if I am purely not online then c'est la vie. Now my golf club buying days are over I reckon my bank account will be breathing a huge sigh of relief :)
 
always last few seconds or Buy it now for me.

if I miss something due to not being outbid above my highest or if I am purely not online then c'est la vie. Now my golf club buying days are over I reckon my bank account will be breathing a huge sigh of relief :)

The master speaks!!!

Pay close attention young Padawans :thup:
 
I've won a few things with last second bids and others with the only bid. I usually bid towards the end of an auction and just put in the one bid and leave it although I do occasionally have a second go if I get outbid and I feel I've been a bit too optimistic. Also if there is a Buy it Now price on something I really want and I think it's fair, I'll take it.

There will always be cases when someone is happy to pay more than me and they will win the item. It's an auction after all and that's how it works. Mostly another one comes up eventually. I've both bought and missed out on something and within days a better one comes up and sells for less.

Of course the fact that something sells for just a bit more than my highest bid doesn't mean the winner hadn't in fact put a much higher bid in so I don't get too worked up at apparently just missing out.

One thing I've noticed for getting bargains is to look out for an item's finishing time. 10 am on a Monday won't have as many people bidding at the last minute compared to 10 pm on Sunday.

I have noticed that some people get really caught up in the bidding and have seen some crazy bidding on stuff, pushing the price up past the same item being offered as Buy It Now.:confused:
 
Why not just bid (at any time) the maximum you would like to pay? You either win the item at a price you are happy paying, or its gone over what you wanted to pay.. Simple no? you start chasing 50p over, £1 over, suddenly you have paid more than you were happy with as you have been dragged into the buzz of bidding..


That's the sensible way to eBay. Therefore if it goes above what your comfortable paying walk away. The beauty of eBay is that another will pop up sooner or later or a suitable alternative can be sought.
 
Just bought myself a Mizzy hybrid 20 degree to match the 23 degree one I have. I bid early at it's start price of £45 some numpty bid £46 so I left it until 6 seconds and did it with a max bid of £51.79. It cost me £47 so happy. Good hybrids the clk's.
 
If you bid the maximum you are prepared to bid then it doesnt matter if you snipe or bid manually, the highest bidder gets it simples!
 
Bearing in mind that most of the stuff I buy on eBay is unnecessary, I just watch it till the last few minutes, then stick my max bid in with about 12 seconds to spare. It's fun that way.

To be honest, I prefer selling. Wait till there's a load of stuff to sell, then bang it all on eBay on a Sunday night. That's the following Sunday nights entertainment sorted. Bottle of wine on the table and watch everything go..... Lovely...
 
If you bid the maximum you are prepared to bid then it doesnt matter if you snipe or bid manually, the highest bidder gets it simples!

Ebay is a game and if you know how to play it then you increase the chances of winning items. Obviously if someone wants something badly then they will pay what ever it takes to win it. Learn to play the end of auction game and you will win more items doing it.

If you want to pay £100 for something and so do I. You put your proxy bid in with 1 hour to go and I hold on. The bidding is sitting at £90 with under a minute to go, you are feeling confident of getting it for what you wanted to pay. Right at the end of the auction I come along and stick my £100 proxy on with a cheeky little £2.87 on top of it. I end up winning the auction for £102.87. Does that sound familiar? That is what last minute bidding or snippers can do for you. Like I said if someone is willing to pay a lot more than I am then so be it. But I do win a lot of items with this method of bidding and I win them by a few pence.
 
I always put an odd number in as you say a £100 item becomes £101.57 for example, but I always put a maximum bid in early and don't budge from that and I've won more than I've lost by a long way - Only item I've ever moved on was my 909 I was outbid with a couple of minutes to go so stuck another £5 on and got it, I'm still using it so it was worth the extra fiver!
 
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