Which ebay sniping program do you use?

I noticed a few when searching for one for linux.

The one I'm using now is ensiper. There is a windows version I think.

You just type (or copy/paste) a list of auction numbers and prices into a file, and run the program. It bids however many seconds beforehand you ask it to, at whatever price.

I've always used the Ebay bidding service. Same idea, isn't it? But it doesn't cost anything.

Steve Smith

Karl Townsend wrote:

Exactly. The key is to putting "in your max at as close to the END of the auction as you can".

I've won $3.00 auctions this way, and $1,250. auctions this way.

Harry C.

Like he said!

Harry C.

[...]

I use auctionsniper.com. It doesn't bid incrementally. It places my full bid whenever I tell it to (in my case, five seconds before the auction is over). It has never failed to place a bid in time, in about 50 auctions. It does exactly what people are describing doing themselves with a watch and computer, but without my having to be there.

I generally place my snipe bid days before the auction end. I see an item, decide how much I will pay for it, and place my snipe bid. This is exactly like eBays's proxy bidding, except nobody sees it until the auction is over. If all bidders were rational there would be no need for this software. Simply place your max proxy bid and forget about it. But there are people who will up their bid $5 at a time, until the are the high bidder. If they are outbid, they will keep bidding in $5 increments until they are the high bidder again. These people would beat my proxy bid if I entered it days before the auction end, but they don't know my snipe bid is coming, thus they can't beat it.

Dave Wilson

Works great, great support, Cheap! Instead of hundeds of post's, just answer the question! Try it free! Just a happy camper! John Lovallo

Not as simple as you suggest. My point was that *my* bid is placed at the 5 second mark.....add Internet and eBay lag....... then, you must, in those 5 seconds, refresh your screen, and bid to beat me before the ending of the auction, including, again, Internet and eBay lag.

Maybe you can do it, but my experience says you can't....

5 seconds is when I bid... not when you *see* my bid. You must refresh your screen in those (less than) 5 seconds, bid to beat me, and be fast enough including Internet and eBay lag to make up the difference. It isn't impossible, but *highly* unlikely......

..... and I can be doing something else when all of this foolishness goes on.....

jbidwatcher, available on sourceforge.net or at

This is a java app so it should run on any machine. I use it on a linux box.

I chose it because it was the only one I could find that ran on linux a few years ago. I haven't had any reason to look for another.

Hint, since I may browse ebay on a number of machines, I add interesting items to my watch list and then "get my ebay items" to load them into jbidwatcher.

Ed

I agree - that's the one I use and you couldn't ask for better support. Every time I've needed help they've replied within hours.

[ ... ]

I can't see how such a service could work without your eBay password, and I won't give out *my* password. A program (on my own system) with full source code, so I can see what it is doing, is a different matter. I used such a program for a short while, until one of eBay's frequent format changes caused me to lose an auction. I don't know whether the newer programs are better at adapting to format changes, but I would not trust such a program for anything which I

*really* wanted -- just for something where it is no great problem if I lose it.

I can't reach the site at the moment (I was going to at least look at it), but it timed out, and traceroute dies after 14 hops, with

209-204-79-106.sniparpa.net being the last point which I can reach. The actual IP returned by a nslookup for the system is 216.83.98.116.

Enjoy, DoN.

You do use your password but I've never had a problem with it. The program works like a charm and has never failed me unless there were system problems unrelated to the program. I just set the max price I'm willing to bid and don't worry about it until the auction ends. If I get outbid - so be it. It's obviously worth more to someone else.

Shareware programs need to "screen scrape" and will always be subject to ebay page formats changing without notice.

All the commercial services, surely, use ebay's "software development kit", that for a licensing fee of a couple $grand per year enables them to "do it right", using a direct interface into ebay's database that is independent of the UI.

Personally I like esnipe.com. Cheap and hassle free. Fee is 1% if you win, free if you don't.

I enter outrageous lowball bids on anything I'm even remotely interested in. I only win a small fraction of them. Most recent such win was $500 worth of Loc-Line, new in box, for $11, and $2000 worth of new stainless bar stock for $85, both local pickup so no shipping charge.

Merlin only costs $12.95 and there are no other fees - updates are free whenever eBay changes their format.

How can one prove whether sniping is effective or not? Has anyone done any type of study on this? Or is it just a superstition that has evolved? I mean some of you sniped and won, and therefore believe in sniping. And others have not sniped and also won so don't believe in sniping.

Dan

Why not use it and make up your own mind? I use it. I like it. Your results may differ.

Gary Repesh

Sniping programs are cheap so there is no reason not to use them. I just have not figured out any way to tell if they make any difference. They may be an advantage on items where there are lots of bidders.

Dan