end of ebay auction

[flyboy2610]

No, Ebay is not going to end their auction service.
I meant, have you ever sold something on ebay and watched the last couple minutes of the auction? It gets wild.
I just sold the Autolite 2100 carburetor off my truck.
For 7 days it was at the starting bid of $10.00, with 1 bid.
At 1 minute left it was at $10.
At 45 seconds it was $12.50.
At 26 seconds it was $15.52.
At 8 seconds it was $19.51, the winning bid.
I made $9.51 in under a minute. And I didn't have to do anything.
I feel like a politician!

[dcbullet]

Yeah, I hate that when I'm bidding.

[67F250CS]

Lots of professional snipers on eBay.
Someone on this forum told me they have sniping software installed on thier computer. Whatever that means

[trukcrazy]

The last minute frenzy is what makes it fun. It depends on how you bid on an item. If I really want it, I just put in the maximum (which is generally more than it is worth, but when ya gotta have it, ya gotta have it) I am willing to pay to get it and let it go from there. I did that when buying my crewcab and the seller said I must have scared the other bidders away by doing that. My maximum on it was $5000.00 from the beginning of the auction and it stopped at $3500.00. If there is a buy it now option and I want it, I just buy it now. I haven't sold anything on ebay yet, but I plan to put my 68 on there when I get home. That is how I enjoy ebay.

[willowbilly3]

I do all my bidding with a sniping service. I don't win much stuff tho. A couple days ago, I threw a snipe in on a Model A roadster fender that was at $21 with a couple hours left. It went over 60 in the last minute. If you think about it, it makes no sense to bid early, you are just running the price up.

[Heavenlyfire]

I sold an Edelbrock on there and in the last 5 minutes it went from $20 to $85. .

[jor]

Last year I posted about my frustravion after being "sniped" a number of times. "Snipe" is a verb and it means to slip a pre-arranged bid in at the last moment. Anyhow, Keith recommended a software product called Auction Sentry which I bought. I finally used it a couple of weeks ago and it worked as advertised. There are different modes but I chose to indicate a top price I was willing to pay and a time that my bid would be sent. (30 seconds prior to aution closing). I thnk Auction Sentry is about 20 bucks. Good luck.
jor

[willowbilly3]

I use one I found online called Auction Sniper. You throw a few bucks in there and it lasts forever. The cost is minimal. I have mine set for 5 seconds. You can go lower but they do not reccomend it.
http://www.auctionsniper.com/
Before I got Mozilla, it would open the snipe window up in the corner with the auction number already there and a place to enter your snipe bid. As with lots of things, that feature doesn't work with mozzila so now I have to cut and paste to the Auction Snipe homepage.

[FORDification]

Yes, I use Auction Sentry too...but I've got my post time down to 6 seconds. I've found through trial and error that any less than that gives others a chance to still outbid me. Just my opinion, but 30 seconds is WAY too much time prior to an auction's send to submit a bid.

Auction Sentry connects with Ebay at regular intervals and updates each auction you have entered, so you can watch the bidding as it happens over the course of the week.

...and I also agree that bidding before the very end of the auction isn't the way to go. It only lets people know that someone else is interested, which isn't good. Just enter in the maximum amount you'd actually pay and then forget about it until after the auction. It'll place your bid for you and let you know within seconds whether you won or not. Most of my wins have come at times I haven't even been home around the computer. It's a very handy tool to have.

[trukcrazy]

What is the difference between Auction Sentry and other sniping programs and just using the maximum bid setup on ebay? It sounds the same to me. Does the autobid on ebay stop before the end of the auction?

[FORDification]

"Sniping" is entering a bid within the last few seconds of an auction. By getting your bid in at the last possible moment, you're not allowing others enough time to outbid you, even if they wanted. Yes, you could do it manually by being in front of your computer and continually hitting the Refresh/Reload button on your browser until the official timer showed the auction is due to end in the next 10 seconds or so....but using sniping software does it automatically for you, you don't even have to be around the computer to do it.

E-bay's AutoBid doesn't end until the auction ends....but if you enter your maximum amount the day before the auction is over, for example, you're giving someone else plenty of time to outbid you, by them simply entering in additional bids until they've trumped you. Entering a snipe bid in the last few seconds deprives them of the chance to outbid you at all....and eliminates the possibility of you getting caught up in a bidding war with someone.

[willowbilly3]

Doing your own sniping with a dial-up connection won't get your last bid in sometimes. Besides I have found myself paying way more than I wanted to by getting caught up in the auction fever.

[Johnny Canuck]

Auction Sniper is definitely the way to go.
Those who bid on ebay without it are merely throwing money down the drain IMO, just gives the real rookies a chance to run the price up. (idiots):x
I like those fools only when I am selling.

Auction sniper is easy, set what your maximum you will spend will be, tell it how many seconds from the end of the auction you want to bid (I use 5) and it bids, right at the end.
The only time I had it miss was when I set the time too short at 2 seconds, and it wasn't enough. Cost is pennies per auction.

[jor]

Notwithstanding the fact that I and probably a few others here on the group would be described by JohnnyC as idiots or fools (remind me not to bid on his stuff) I would have to agree that you just can't win a hotly contested item without some kind of sniping software. I have tried it with two browser instances - one watching and refreshing and the other ready to bid (not sure if this would be the idiot or fool mode) and been sniped at the last possible moment. Anyhow, until the eBay scheme changes I think sniping software is the way to go. Good luck to all.
jor

[willowbilly3]

I just got this email this morning

Do you happen to remember Leroy showing you a turquoise transistor radio? It was a GOOD seller on ebay.
We started it out at $9.99 and almost immediately it went up to $111.00. then it stayed at $247 for 5 days and right at the end it went for $913.11

Yes only the inexperienced would bid before the closing minutes or hour of an auction. The auction snipe really only does the same thing ebay does, bids for you up to your preset limit. Only difference is people don't have time to repond. In either case you never really "lose" an auction if you bid the maximum you would have paid for an item.
I have lost Auction Snipe auctions when I was the high bidder, but my bid was not a whole bid increment. Like I bid 21.56 and someone won it for 21.50 on a regular bid so my snipe was no good, not a .50 bid increment. And you do not get an outbid notice either. A flaw in their system in my opinion.