eBay Auction Snipers Exposed
You have probably bid on many auctions only to find that someone bid at the last second and won the auction, and you probably thought at the time they cheated. The reality is that they didn’t break any rules, but instead took advantage of a special program or website which let them place their bid at the very latest opportunity.
They used an Auction Sniper.
Firstly, an auction sniper doesn’t involve guns. It’s simply the name of the first ever application that was sold to bid at the last minute. It was akin to a one shot kill, thus the name ‘Auction Sniper’ was given.
Today there are loads of last-minute bidding applications out there. Some are free and you have to download them, whereas others are web based and track your auctions server-side meaning you don’t even need to keep your computer on to win bids.
Web based applications are great to use because they are hosted on a third-party computer, which often has an extremely fast connection which will never fail. This gives you almost unlimited sniping potential when compared to traditional software solutions.
The way an auction sniper works is quite simple. You tell it the auction number, the time you would like to bid, and your maximum bid. It will then do its magic and you can sit back and watch whilst it bids on your behalf and virtually guarantees you win the auction.
Why use an auction sniper?
One of the reasons they were invented was to try and reduce the close price of many auctions. The problem faced is that when people place ordinary bids, they often get tied up in a bidding war. An auction sniper puts your bid in at the last minute, meaning no-one can compete with your bid,
It sounds like cheating, but eBay hasn’t done nothing to prevent it. These days many competitors have a 5 minute rule meaning that every time someone bids, the auction length is extended by five extra minutes. It’s the only way to prevent and limit auction snipers.
Here’s what you need to know:
If you’re keen to start sniping auctions, then there are a few key rules.
First, be careful when entering your maximum bid, because the sniper is ruthless and it will continue bidding until it’s reached.
Second, if you’re running a sniper program on your computer, then remember to stay connected to the Internet and obviously don’t switch off the application.
Third, don’t bid too late. Placing your bid when there are less than five seconds remaining is great, but if your computer slows down for even a moment, it may miss the opportunity and you will lose the auction.
And finally, if you get out-sniped by a sniper, don’t take it personally. Sniping is great fun, incredibly exciting and just a little bit devious.
If you want to try for yourself, take a look at Gixen which is a free web based sniping tool.