******* Goofbay Ebay sniper

Mike.P

Mike.P

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Been watching a lens for 9 days .. brand new Pentax fit Sigma 180mm macro.
Was at £370 .. value is around £500 if you can even find one in stock.

Used Goofbay to put a £480 bid on in last 5 seconds and it did b****r all .. buyer got lens for £370.

To say I am unimpressed is an understatement. :bang:
 
what is goofbay mike if u dont mind me asking? never heard of it?
 
I use myibay never let me down once and if you drop your connection it will still snipe your item. When you add an item remember to click the check box and then click CHANGE. if you don't it will not work, if you read the instructions you should be fine though :thinking:

hth
 
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In myibay you have to after setting the snipe click the check box then change, I learnt this the hard way.

Maybe Goofbay has a similar option?
 
I have a method that has worked without fail every time. No extra software.

Have three ebay windows open at about 5 minutes to end. First is just to keep refreshing to get up to date.

Each window is on the place bid screen

Window 2 has a bid for what I would call a good price (and suitably higher than current bid) entered ready to go

Window 3 has my absolute maximum entered ready to go.

About a minute before end I hit submit on both windows, this take me to the next screen where I confirm the bid.

At end time - 10-15 seconds I hit confirm on the first bid. Straight away I switch to the other window and hit confirm on that one.

The only time this method has ever failed me is when another person comes in in the same manner I do but with a higher bid. It has, however, beaten the people who bit an item up as it approaches the end. Ever time.
 
I have a method that works well - enter the maximum you are prepared to pay at any point during the auction. Then when all the snipes go off, if you have entered a higher bid than any of them, you win!
 
onomatopoeia said:
I have a method that works well - enter the maximum you are prepared to pay at any point during the auction. Then when all the snipes go off, if you have entered a higher bid than any of them, you win!
Click to expand...

...at a higher price than might otherwise have been, had you sniped. That's the whole point.
 
onomatopoeia said:
I have a method that works well - enter the maximum you are prepared to pay at any point during the auction. Then when all the snipes go off, if you have entered a higher bid than any of them, you win!
Click to expand...

And expose the maximum you're willing to pay at any time between posting the bid and the auction ending, giving others plenty of time to then bid above it...

Good idea!:p
 
The really annoying thing is I sat there and watched it count down to zero .. thinking .. wow, I must have got that for a decent price because there is no way the present bidder had gone much above the present amount.

Nearly 4 hours now and I'm still pretty hacked off :lol:
 
Amp34 said:
And expose the maximum you're willing to pay at any time between posting the bid and the auction ending, giving others plenty of time to then bid above it...

Good idea!:p
Click to expand...

I find that if I get beaten it is with between two and five seconds to go, normally auctions sit at way below my maximum until all the snipes go off in the last few seconds, by which time it is too late to enter another bid. So my maximum bid is not exposed until the closing seconds, unless there is some way to determine it that I'm unaware of.
 
onomatopoeia said:
I have a method that works well - enter the maximum you are prepared to pay at any point during the auction. Then when all the snipes go off, if you have entered a higher bid than any of them, you win!
Click to expand...


Actually Lornholio and Amp34 this method does work........

Say you are selling a Sigma 120-400 lens....... for arguments sake...... at no reserve.....

Person A bids 99p and then person B bids £5.......

Subject to the ebay increases in bids, until A increases or C enters the auction B will be winning it at about £1.19 or so......(unless C bids under £5 in which case B will be the winning bidder)

So I come in as person C in this fictional scenario and I am thinking I'll go £485 max not a penny more so I enter £485.00

Now I will be winning at about £1.39 and as soon as people bid up to my maximum of £485 ebay will automatically outbid them (bit like a telephone bidder at an auction.) As soon as my limit is outbid then I am no longer winning........

My maximum bid is not revealed to the seller - otherwise he will could shill bid (get a mate to bid / another account etc) to £480 to force my hand.......



Sniping is popular, but I don't see why........... just enter your max price and be done...........
 
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Sniping works because a lot of users do not understand the eBay proxy bidding system and so do not enter the true maximum amount they're willing to pay when they first bid. Say they're bidding on a lens RRP £1000 and are willing to pay £800 on the auction that starts at £400. A lot of users would enter £600 at first and see that they're the high bidder at £400. If someone outbids them with their own max bid of £650 then that new user is now the high bidder at £601. Bidder A sees this and enters a new bid at £700 and becomes the high bidder again at £651, and think they're sitting pretty with the clock ticking down. Exchanges like this go back and forward a lot in auctions between 2-5 bidders. Look at previous items you've sold - repeated names in the high bidder list prove this fact.

So the bidder thinks he's got it at £651 with his max bid of £700 even though he's truthfully willing to pay up to £800. A sniper who is willing to pay up to £900 can snipe in the last seconds and get the lens for £701.

If everyone played by the book then the "sniper" (not sniping this time) would have gotten the lens for £801. eBay is full of users who put in incremental increased bids. If everyone played by the book then the system would be perfect, but it's because people don't enter their true maximum bid right from the start that snipers are able to exploit that and stand a chance of getting their desired items cheaper than they otherwise would. There is zero risk in sniping. The worst case scenario is that other bidders are using the system properly and in this example the sniper would win at £801 - same outcome as if he'd just entered £900 when the aucton started (the other bidder would have either bid £800 right away or worked up to £800). But the (relatively good) chance that people are not bidding properly is worth exploiting.
 
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i hate people who snipe... you dont go to a REAL auction and go "A TENNER" a split second before the hammer goes down.

you're annoyed that you weren't able to cheat at an auction - no sympathy from me i'm afraid ! :P
 
I can't see how bidding at the last minute can be classed as cheating?? Ebay is a real auction, just in a different format to auctions held in auction houses. One is determined by the auctioneer and the highest bidder, the other is determined by time and the highest bidder. So surely the potential buyer is entitled to choose the way in which he/she bids.
 
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I have a plan never fails


dr-evil1.jpg



i just put in "ONE MILLION POUNDS"



Merc
 
recrudesce said:
i hate people who snipe... you dont go to a REAL auction and go "A TENNER" a split second before the hammer goes down.

you're annoyed that you weren't able to cheat at an auction - no sympathy from me i'm afraid ! :P
Click to expand...

:plusone:

I totally agree. Sniping stinks. It's one of the many reasons why I've almost entirely given up on bidding. It completely ruins the whole point of a bidding system. eBay should ban it!
 
I've had some good success with JBidWatcher - you need to leave your computer on and have the software running at the time the auction ends, but it automates the sniping process and means that you're not giving access to your ebay account to some random third-party site.
 
Mike.P said:
Well it seems someone up there is looking over me ....

Just had a second chance offer on the lens for £360 (I had already put one bid on near the beginning of the auction).

:banana:
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Be careful with 2nd chance offers, I had one on some tools for work,I agreed the offer,paid the toot and....nothing,the seller had scammed the winning bidder,me and everyone else he had sent the 2nd chance offer to.
 
Serves you right for being a sneeky, underhand user of automated bidding software. God bless being hunched over your computer into the small hours only to miss the auction because you're asleep.....
 
Lynton said:
Actually Lornholio and Amp34 this method does work........

Say you are selling a Sigma 120-400 lens....... for arguments sake...... at no reserve.....

Person A bids 99p and then person B bids £5.......

Subject to the ebay increases in bids, until A increases or C enters the auction B will be winning it at about £1.19 or so......(unless C bids under £5 in which case B will be the winning bidder)

So I come in as person C in this fictional scenario and I am thinking I'll go £485 max not a penny more so I enter £485.00

Now I will be winning at about £1.39 and as soon as people bid up to my maximum of £485 ebay will automatically outbid them (bit like a telephone bidder at an auction.) As soon as my limit is outbid then I am no longer winning........

My maximum bid is not revealed to the seller - otherwise he will could shill bid (get a mate to bid / another account etc) to £480 to force my hand.......



Sniping is popular, but I don't see why........... just enter your max price and be done...........
Click to expand...

The automated bidding system is the problem. If everyone played by "the rules" and put their maximum bid in straight away it wouldn't be a problem. Problem is many don't, there are also many that get carried away and go "i'm almost winning, i'll stick a little more in..."

With the automated system you put in your maximum bid, ebay does the autobidding with the othe bidders and finishes at the max price (and for this argument you are the winning bidder at the moment) which is still lower than the max you put in. This point could happen days or even 20 seconds before the end of the auction, just enough (or plenty of) time for the competing bidders to up their max bids until they are once again winning. You then either lose the auction or add even more to your bid, ending up at best paying more for the item than you would have if sniping...

Example:

A bids max £30
B bids max £50
You bid max £100

A and B put in bids and ebay sticks the auction price at £31 with B currently winning

You then enter a day before and stick your max bid of £100 in, ebay does it's auto thing and you are leading at £51.

Bidder A decided he doesn't want to pay more (just to make it easier for us) but bidder B wants the item so increases his max bid to £80...auto ebay... you're winning at £81 still so he ups his bid to £120...

Auto ebay and he is then winning at £101. Now you either have to say "fair enough" and walk away, letting him win at £101 or you increase your max bet to £150...

Auto ebay... and you walk away having won the auction at £121...


Now if you sniped (either with a program or manually) you could very well have won the auction at £51 as Bidder B would think he was winning at £31 right up to the last second when your bid of over £50 goes in.


This is why I never understand why people bid days beforehand. As for those saying this doesn't happen at proper auction houses, well you're only half right. It can't happen fully like it because the automatic ebay bidding system is done in private not in the same room as the bidders, however there are plenty of auctions that have 2-3 people bidding from the start and then one or two new ones then putting in a bid just before the hammer goes down, these then start bidding against each other...
 
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There was talk about extending the auction 10 minutes if a snipe is placed at the end of an auction. I myself work out with P&P included the very highest I'm prepared to go to then set this as my snipe. I don't see any problem with this method and to say it is cheating is a little strong. If eBay allow it and the seller accepts eBays terms and conditions in placing their auction on the site then I see nothing wrong in sniping at all.

As said previously if you bid your full amount from the start it is possible for a friend of the seller to put in a very high bid to max out your bid and reveal how high you are prepared to go then remove their bid stating that they made a mistake. I would rather keep this confidential until the last few seconds and maybe get a bargain too.
 
It doesn't even need to be a friend, it could just be another bidder. TBH the stndard way of bidding is why so many auctions go for stupid money. People get auction fever and bid way above what they intended to bid to begin with.

Either way ebay is mostly rubbish now, I think in the years of using ebay I've only ever bid on two or three auctions, winning a couple by "sniping". It's now just full of shops so I buy my cheap stuff on there (manual extension tubes and stepping rings etc).
 
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