Bollox. I've just been outbid again.

[yo_chuci]

i knew i wasnt going to arround to snipe it because the auction finished while i was at work so i put a max bid of 75 in (it was standing at 30 at the time) and wound up getting it at 46

thats what the sniping software is for... put in you max snipe. it does it automatically for you with 5 or less secs to go... you don't have to be anywhere near a comp at the time...

 

[big soft moose]

i knew i wasnt going to arround to snipe it because the auction finished while i was at work so i put a max bid of 75 in (it was standing at 30 at the time) and wound up getting it at 46

thats what the sniping software is for... put in you max snipe. it does it automatically for you with 5 or less secs to go... you don't have to be anywhere near a comp at the time...

yeah i realise that but i havent got round to setting that up yet and as i would have been sniping at 75 anyway i reckoned i might as well just maxbid this one - and it worked .

i'll be using the sniper software on my hunt for a tablesaw though.

 

[Jake]

It worked in the sense that you won the item, but you may have paid more than you would have done if you had sniped. No disaster as it was still less than you were willing to pay, but still.

 

[9fingers]

It worked in the sense that you won the item, but you may have paid more than you would have done if you had sniped. No disaster as it was still less than you were willing to pay, but still.

Indeed! Looking at the bid history Pete exposed his intentions far too may times. The beauty of using a sniper is that you don't need to make an overt bid at all. The only time you need to be careful is when an item you want has had no bids whatsoever. Under these conditions the seller can withdraw the item up until 24 hrs before the published end time.
Once there is any sort of bid, the seller can only withdraw with good reason.

Bob

 

[big soft moose]

It worked in the sense that you won the item, but you may have paid more than you would have done if you had sniped. No disaster as it was still less than you were willing to pay, but still.

Indeed! Looking at the bid history Pete exposed his intentions far too may times. The beauty of using a sniper is that you don't need to make an overt bid at all. The only time you need to be careful is when an item you want has had no bids whatsoever. Under these conditions the seller can withdraw the item up until 24 hrs before the published end time.
Once there is any sort of bid, the seller can only withdraw with good reason.

Bob

Okay fair points - i'm not as experienced as you guys at this - that said i'm fairly sure it was you, bob, who said an items was worth what i was willing to pay - so i was willing to pay 75 but got this for 46 - which in my book is a result.

okay so maybe i could have got it for 30 - but i'm not going to loose sleep over 16 notes.

edit : ive now set up goofbay and set a couple of snipes in motion so we shall see.

 

[matt]

Next trick to learn is to ask the seller for clarification where you think there might be holes in the description. Hopefully he will tell you and not publish the answer (information advantage!). Otherwise, oh well, you're no worse off considering that plenty of punters will assume it is.

Or ask the seller a question to which the answer does reveal whether it is a good thing or bad and hope he/she DOES publish the answer on the listing. If your feeling really sneaky ask whether it has a feature that you know it doesn't... Even something as innocent as "does it have the rubber bung on the lower tube". When published as "no" is easily perceived by other bidders as to it's detriment even though they've no idea what your asking.

 

[matt]

Next trick to learn is to ask the seller for clarification where you think there might be holes in the description. Hopefully he will tell you and not publish the answer (information advantage!). Otherwise, oh well, you're no worse off considering that plenty of punters will assume it is.

Or ask the seller a question to which the answer does reveal whether it is a good thing or bad and hope he/she DOES publish the answer on the listing. If your feeling really sneaky ask whether it has a feature that you know it doesn't... Even something as innocent as "does it have the rubber bung on the lower tube". When published as "no" is easily perceived by other bidders as to it's detriment even though they've no idea what your asking.

 

[Jake]

Oooh, devious.

 

[OPJ]

Is this sniping software really "safe"? I admit I haven't looked in to it but, surely, you're handing your account details and access over to a program designed by... Well, anyone?!? :?

 

[Anonymous]

Pete,

I think your worst enemies on ebay may be closer than you think. I was watching that bandsaw as well. I'm sure plenty of people on the forum were. Same with many other machines on ebay. I'm well aware of what many of the machines are worth and what they're worth to me. Because of that my limit was fairly close to yours. Yep, we'd have been bidding against each other. 800 quid was insance considering you can buy a new one for 816 quid.

I'm not going to tell you my ebay tactics (trust me, they're different to yours) but I don't feel outdone by anybody except for wallys.

I love ebay because I write software for ebay sellers. Keep bidding guys!

Dave

 

[wizer]

The minute someone posts an eBay 'bargain' on here. It instantly becomes the watched by many and consequently end being an over priced item. Fact

 

[jlawrence]

True wizer.
The last thing I'd ever want to do is post on a forum about something I think is a bargain - I want to get it for the least amount possible and the fewer people who know about it the better.
Different if there's multiples of them available on a BIN - as was the case with the T11 routers (thankyou to whoever it was that posted about them).

 

[big soft moose]

well this sniping lark works (sometimes) , I missed out on a startrite 3 phase table saw by being a tight arse and bidding too low, but swimbo's happy as ive just got a leksvik 3 door wardrobe for 130 (new price a tad over 200)

2 more saws to snipe on (ive increased the snipes a bit so i dont loose out by being tight again) - if i dont get either of those i'm going to say sack it and buy a ts200 from axi.

 

[matt]

All you need to do is ask for opinions about a particular piece of machinery on this forum without including a link to give a fair clue that you've spotted something on eBay. The exception is when the enquiry contains a link to, say, Axminster.

So, the lesson here... Find a link to to anything you ask about to throw everyone* off the scent.

* except anyone who's seen this post, of course...

 

[matt]

And it really annoys the other bidders when you put in your highest bid of, in my case this evening, £71.73 and win for exactly that amount. Can only assume someone thought they were on a winner with their £70 bid with only 2 seconds to go .

 

[wizer]

And it really annoys the other bidders when you put in your highest bid of, in my case this evening, £71.73 and win for exactly that amount. Can only assume someone thought they were on a winner with their £70 bid with only 2 seconds to go .

You stole my tactic!

 

[yo_chuci]

Indeed! Looking at the bid history Pete exposed his intentions far too may times. The beauty of using a sniper is that you don't need to make an overt bid at all. The only time you need to be careful is when an item you want has had no bids whatsoever. Under these conditions the seller can withdraw the item up until 24 hrs before the published end time.
Once there is any sort of bid, the seller can only withdraw with good reason.

Bob

sadly they still pull them even with bids on... many a time i have seen something that might be cheap so i'll put in a £5 bid. just means it can't be pulled as easily... also then when they relist it you get told..

 

[matt]

And it really annoys the other bidders when you put in your highest bid of, in my case this evening, £71.73 and win for exactly that amount. Can only assume someone thought they were on a winner with their £70 bid with only 2 seconds to go .

You stole my tactic!

=; Been doing it for years.... It pre-dates eBay.

 

[Jake]

sadly they still pull them even with bids on... many a time i have seen something that might be cheap so i'll put in a £5 bid. just means it can't be pulled as easily... also then when they relist it you get told..

Same when people list things in auction format with a BIN option which is more than one wants to pay. Small bid to get rid of that temptation for others.

 

[big soft moose]

Thought I'd finally bagged a decent tablesaw, but I was outbid at the last hurdle. Again.
I hate E-bay.

Bugger.

do you use a bid snipping software such as http://www.justsnipe.com/
?
Very effective and free
HTH

www.goofbay.com is good as well & free, not to mention finds misspelt stuff as well.

just to let you guys know goofbay appears to be broken at the moment - all my snipes in the last couple of days have either come up as "not meeting the sellers requirements" or "sniper got there too late"

according to the goofbay forums they are aware of the problem and "hope to fix it soon" - however i am going to just snipe instead as the goofbay problem has led to me missing out on several things.