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Value of a sniping program.. I use Gixen..

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Pinbreaker

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
10,131
287
Laguna Niguel, CA
So I was putting in a bid earlier tonight and thought I would look at my history in Gixen.. Wins/Outsniped.. etc..

I exported the list into Excel and just finished cleaning it up..

I bid on 135 items and won 84.. 62%..

Average bid thru Gixen.. $137.58
Average auction win.. $87.93

For only $6 a year.. I think it's worth it..
 

Pinbreaker

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
10,131
287
Laguna Niguel, CA
Never used a snipe program before but always get irritated when I lose an auction at the last second due to someone else doing it.

I didn't start using a sniping program until a few years ago.. I would manually snipe, but one day I knew I was going to away from my pc, so I tried the Gixen snipe.. I won and use it now.. I find something I want.. put a manual bid on it and then I put a snipe in..

It's worth it..
 

linuxabuser

Well-known member
Jan 16, 2011
2,364
50
I still do it manually. I have an iPhone with the app, and I'll even set myself an alarm to remind myself to bid.
 

rsmath

Active member
Nov 8, 2008
6,086
1
For only $6 a year.. I think it's worth it..

me too. Won 2-3 with gixen free and then decided to subscribe to the mirror for $6 a year because gixen looked like it would work pretty good. I reasoned it's cheaper than PC software you can buy and it's cheaper than other snipe sites' fees on winning 5-10 auctions.
 

TxRyan

New member
Jan 21, 2016
15
0
Never used a snipe program before but always get irritated when I lose an auction at the last second due to someone else doing it.

Its definitely irritating (and I do it as well from time to time, manually).

I wish eBay would go to a policy of "auction ends once there has been 5 minutes (or even 90 seconds) of no bids". It would defuse the sniping problem and in some cases lead to bidding wars that increase the sale price -- something you would think ebay and sellers would like. It is not difficult to implement/program such a rule. I'm curious on what would be the argument against such an approach?
 

fordman

Well-known member
Feb 22, 2013
3,190
32
Ohio
I use the $6.00 per year Gixen Service. People spend $6.00 on 1 cup of coffee at starbucks, so I consider $6.00 for Gixen a bargain. If you just buy to resell, there's no reason not to have it. I've won 97% of my snipes. The other 3% are outsnipes and underbids for cards that sold for way too much. I recently bought a printing plate from a seller that outsniped me 2 years ago. He put it back on ebay looking to cash in. I sniped it for half of what he originally paid for it!

Fordman
 

AnthonyCorona

Well-known member
Oct 6, 2014
9,600
68
Modesto, CA
I use the $6.00 per year Gixen Service. People spend $6.00 on 1 cup of coffee at starbucks, so I consider $6.00 for Gixen a bargain. If you just buy to resell, there's no reason not to have it. I've won 97% of my snipes. The other 3% are outsnipes and underbids for cards that sold for way too much. I recently bought a printing plate from a seller that outsniped me 2 years ago. He put it back on ebay looking to cash in. I sniped it for half of what he originally paid for it!

Fordman
That is always a satisfying feeling

Bring me your Bickford, Ryan McMahon, Senzatela and Peter Lambert cards
 

phillyfan0417

Well-known member
Administrator
Aug 7, 2008
43,551
43
Greenfield, Wisconsin, United States
Its definitely irritating (and I do it as well from time to time, manually).

I wish eBay would go to a policy of "auction ends once there has been 5 minutes (or even 90 seconds) of no bids". It would defuse the sniping problem and in some cases lead to bidding wars that increase the sale price -- something you would think ebay and sellers would like. It is not difficult to implement/program such a rule. I'm curious on what would be the argument against such an approach?

I'm not sure why anyone wants to stop a sniping program?

What is the problem if someone is willing to pay more than you?
 

death2redemptions

New member
Feb 4, 2016
12,488
0
The Carolina on the Southern side
i hate that ebay is 99% buy it nows

I used to hate that too and I almost always listed my cards via auction.

But then I realized that if I was selling a card via auction from a product that didn't just come out I always got far less than what similar cards sold for via BIN/obo. So then I began going the BIN route and that's pretty much the only way I sell now.

However, I'm sick of everyone listing their cards for x3-x4 what it's worth with a best offer attached to it. I realize a lot of people do it to avoid lowball offers but it's still annoying.
 

TxRyan

New member
Jan 21, 2016
15
0
I'm not sure why anyone wants to stop a sniping program?

Simple. As long as there is active bidding, the auction will not end. For example, if scheduled to end at 8:00:00 and a bid comes in at 7:59:59, the auction is automatically extended to 8:30:00 (giving anyone that was outbid a chance to increase the bid). Many auction houses operate this way, the only rule is that there cannot be any new bidders after the scheduled end time. But anyone with a previous bid, may continue to bid it up until a set amount of time passes with no bids.

What is the problem if someone is willing to pay more than you?

None whatsoever.
 

TxRyan

New member
Jan 21, 2016
15
0
I used to hate that too and I almost always listed my cards via auction.

But then I realized that if I was selling a card via auction from a product that didn't just come out I always got far less than what similar cards sold for via BIN/obo. So then I began going the BIN route and that's pretty much the only way I sell now.

However, I'm sick of everyone listing their cards for x3-x4 what it's worth with a best offer attached to it. I realize a lot of people do it to avoid lowball offers but it's still annoying.

I agree and will probably go this route too. I just closed out a number of items that I had listed at auction and was pretty disappointed. I had a 1999 Finest Greg Maddux Refractor sell for 0.99. It was a duplicate for me, so I am OK with that, but I have to believe that if I put that same card up for 30 days with a $5 BIN free shipping, it probably would have sold for that.
 

death2redemptions

New member
Feb 4, 2016
12,488
0
The Carolina on the Southern side
I agree and will probably go this route too. I just closed out a number of items that I had listed at auction and was pretty disappointed. I had a 1999 Finest Greg Maddux Refractor sell for 0.99. It was a duplicate for me, so I am OK with that, but I have to believe that if I put that same card up for 30 days with a $5 BIN free shipping, it probably would have sold for that.

It likely would have. When you are selling cards from older products or cards that aren't in immediate demand (like a Bowman Chrome Judge or Stanton) it can take longer than the 5-7 day length of an auction for the right buyers to notice so you risk selling it for far less than it's worth. At times it can take a little more patience when selling via BIN but eventually you'll find a buyer (assuming you aren't asking for way more than it's worth).
 

Rabs

Member
Jan 25, 2011
616
0
Land O Lakes, FL
It likely would have. When you are selling cards from older products or cards that aren't in immediate demand (like a Bowman Chrome Judge or Stanton) it can take longer than the 5-7 day length of an auction for the right buyers to notice so you risk selling it for far less than it's worth. At times it can take a little more patience when selling via BIN but eventually you'll find a buyer (assuming you aren't asking for way more than it's worth).

Bingo. BIN with best offer for a 30 day listing is the way to go.

Perfect example is a Reggie Jackson card I had listed for $12.99 BIN with a best offer on a 30 day. First time through had some watchers but no offers. I end up relisting it and the second day I get an offer for $10 and I accepted it. If I had put this card up for an auction starting at 0.99 I bet it would have had one bid and that is it. So I essentially made $9 from it. Best part is I got the card for only 10 cents haha.
 

sportscollectors

New member
Mar 10, 2009
3
0
I used gixen for a while as my only sniper (free and then paid options), and it worked most of the time. Then I got a bunch issues with my ebay account being used by others (meaning someone got my credentials), and it was likely through gixen. We should all be careful who you blindly give your login information to, especially for commerce sites.

I wound up deciding to write my own bidding and buying automation program (I am a software developer for my day job).
 
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