# eBay Sniping Program??



## milhaus (Jun 1, 2004)

I'm looking for recommendations for a sniping program. I've used some good ones on the PC side, but haven't found a really excellent, intuitive, and nicely designed program for the Mac. Any ideas?


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## TheBat (Feb 11, 2005)

I'm ignorant here.... what does a sniping program do?


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## kloan (Feb 22, 2002)

Automatically puts a bid in for you.... last few seconds...


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## teeterboy3 (May 22, 2005)

JBid Watcher


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## wooglin (Mar 26, 2005)

I remember a few years ago using a site called esnipe.com that would handle the details for ya.


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## Pageophile (May 29, 2002)

eSnipe - Bid on eBay Automatically - eSnipe 3.0

I hate to snipe however, w/o this great website I've lost auctions to other snipers 

Just remember items on eBay aren't on auction, they are a timed sale


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

I hate you!


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

dona83 said:


> I hate you!


Who ????????????


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

teeterboy3 said:


> JBid Watcher


I would recommend JBidwatcher as well.

I haven't tried eSnipe, but in my mind it has a couple of strikes against it right from the start.
For one, you have to provide them with your ebay ID and password - sort of understandable, but if they have disgruntled employees or their site is hacked, you could have a problem with your ebay account.
Secondly - the way they are set up, ebay can tell that it's a third party sniping for you and accounts have been temporarily suspended. Thy actually mention this on thier website.
And third, I resent paying a fee for every auction I win.

With JBidwatcher, you load the software on your Mac. It's free, but you are requested to make a small contribution....I can tell you, it's well worth it.
Your ebay ID and password goes nowhere, just to ebay when JBidwatcher bids for you.
To ebay it looks as if you're bidding....well it comes from your Mac just as if you had bid.
And of course there is no fee for every auction you win.

I found that JBidwatcher is incredibly accurate. In most cases, the bid time you preset is exactly when the bid is recorded by ebay - the odd time it was 1 second out. I don't think I could do any better manually.
The software has a lot of nice features that I'm just beginning to find. For one, it has a search function - you just enter the keywords and it goes and finds all those ebay auctions and lists them in a nice table with all the key information so you can decide where you want to snipe and for how much.

Two downsides - 

The help menu is practically non-existent. Not needed for basic functions, but there are certain capabilities that I haven't figured out yet.

The second problem is that the snipe actually comes from your Mac, so if your internet connection goes down, the snipe won't go through. The software will try repeatedly, but if you're sniping you don't have much of a time window to keep sending the snipe.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

krs said:


> Who ????????????


Bid snipers, you people **** me off.


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## guytoronto (Jun 25, 2005)

dona83 said:


> Bid snipers, you people **** me off.


All's fair in love, war, and eBay.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

guytoronto said:


> All's fair in love, war, and eBay.


Not only that.

If you put in your best bid on an item, the ebay proxy bidding will always defeat the snipe bid if the proxy bid is higher.
And if the snipe bid is higher, then the item was beyond your maximum bid anyways and you wouldn't have won regardless.


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## Pageophile (May 29, 2002)

*I know, trust me I know . . .*



dona83 said:


> Bid snipers, you people **** me off.


I really tried to "play" by the rules when I first got onto eBay but quickly learned the hard way if you don't snipe you don't get.

Fair no. Effective YES !


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## guytoronto (Jun 25, 2005)

Pageophile said:


> Fair no.


Aahhh...yet another soul with the delusion that life should be fair.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

Pageophile said:


> I really tried to "play" by the rules when I first got onto eBay but quickly learned the hard way if you don't snipe you don't get.


That's not true at all.

All sniping does is eliminate a bidding war where buyers get carried away and way overbid on an item.
If you put in your maximum bid you're willing to go for on an item, you will get it unless someone else is willing to bid more (and then by rights the other person should get it).
Sniping doesn't change that one bit. Sniping will only outbid you if the sniper entered a higher bid than your maximum and then he should get the item anyway.

The problem is that many people don't understand ebay proxy bidding and they slowly bid an item up like in a real live auction.


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## RobTheGob (Feb 10, 2003)

Why would you not consider sniping as "fair"?

IMO, it's completely fair - it just keeps my cards close to my chest until the last possible moment. If you bid by proxy and want the item more than I do - then you'll still win the item. The same technique would work in a live auction - except you'd have to be present in order to place the last second bid.

I can see why eBay would like to stop sniping - I'm sure that many auctions might go higher due to people getting caught up in the excitement...

Anyways - I too vote for JBidWatcher!


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## speckledmind (Jan 12, 2005)

eBay is before anything else " a Big Money Machine ", where you the Seller and Buyer are only worth what “ you can pay “.

I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but Fairness and Values account for nothing on eBay ( or life in general as it matters these days ), it's an illusion.

It was kind of fun in the beginning, but it certainly did not take very long before snipping took over, then came snipping software to snipe the snipers 
Shortly after came all the fraudulent Sellers and Buyers, WoW, eBay went down hill from there on, and is still going down a steep hill.

Most, if not all items of any value get sold at high prices, some times even higher than what they are actually worth, because most people get caught up in the excitement.

Bottom line is.
You play eBay, you take your chances.
Although I hate the snipping, it's probably the only way to win an item these days.
SO !
I vote to place your maximum bid on eBay by Proxy ( that’s what I do a couple of minutes before the end ).
or,
JBidwatcher, and protect your password.


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## mikeinmontreal (Oct 13, 2005)

Thanks for the Jbidwatcher tip, KRS. I am officially sniping tonight. Not any different for me than waiting till auction's end to put in the same bid amount or no bid at all. At least I don't have to refresh nervously every 15 seconds and possibly bid more than I initially wanted.


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