Ebay Question: How do you snipe a win on ebay?

Never done this before since I mainly sell on ebay but how do you snipe a ebay win? I have seen people say they sniped a card at such ans such price but I don't know how to do it. If anyone can help me out I would appreciate it.

One of the best (and free) programs to use is Gixen. You'll have to give up your eBay ID & password to an outside source, but to my knowledge Gixen has never burned anyone. After you create an account and log in, all you have to do is provide the auction number and your max bid, and their program will automatically bid for you within seconds of the auction ending. There are many other sniping programs, some free and some not; thus far, Gixen is easily the best one I've used.

TNP777 said:

One of the best (and free) programs to use is Gixen. You'll have to give up your eBay ID & password to an outside source, but to my knowledge Gixen has never burned anyone. After you create an account and log in, all you have to do is provide the auction number and your max bid, and their program will automatically bid for you within seconds of the auction ending. There are many other sniping programs, some free and some not; thus far, Gixen is easily the best one I've used.

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+1

Gixen is the best

$6 a year for the "non free" version, snipe as many times as you like.

Or you can just enter your own maximum bid just before the auction ends yourself and keep your information private. The only caveat is you have to be awake and available when the auction ends. That's the advantage of the service Gixen provides.

There is no guarantee you'll win either, if your bid is not as high as the other bidders, or if the auction goes higher before it ends than your max bid, you obviously won't win the item.

ctmike said:

Or you can just enter your own maximum bid just before the auction ends yourself and keep your information private. The only caveat is you have to be awake and available when the auction ends. That's the advantage of the service Gixen provides.

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Another reason to use a snipe program is that you can adjust, change or cancel your bid entirely.

If you set your highest bid via eBay - they do almost everything short of asking you to sign a contract in blood to modify or cancel your bid. And my understanding is that they penalize your account if you do it too many times under the heading "Bid Retractions".

With a snipe - if you have a change in your financial picture, if you decide to lower your bid, or just change your mind - there's no penalty.

I've set very high snipes only to have something better come along before the auction ends - I can easily lower or cancel my bid based on what funds I have available. Again, that's almost impossible with eBay's proxy bidding.

Manual Snipe.

Open 2 Windows.
Use one to count down the seconds.
Have the other set to your "Snipe Price".
Bid with a few seconds left.
Fun Fun Fun.

Russ S. said:

Manual Snipe.

Open 2 Windows.
Use one to count down the seconds.
Have the other set to your "Snipe Price".
Bid with a few seconds left.
Fun Fun Fun.

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I suppose that's another way to go - but I've had inopportune DSL connection failures in the past. Even had one auction that I was timing down to the last few seconds - when a client walked into the office. ::facepalm::

By the time I greeted them, asked them to take a seat and sat back down - the auction ended.

Too many unpredictable events.

Although I admit I miss the heart-pounding, sweat-inducing action. Believe it or not - I use to use that as a training technique to practice for poker. It's true. :lol:

Russ S. said:

Manual Snipe.

Open 2 Windows.
Use one to count down the seconds.
Have the other set to your "Snipe Price".
Bid with a few seconds left.
Fun Fun Fun.

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I use to do that until I had a power glitch that re-started my computer. So, whenever i do that, I have "esnipe" set up as a backup which has never failed me.

Thanks guys I appreciate the help. I never understood the concept before but I just took a look at Gixen and like it alot. Probably gonna use it tonight for my first snipe.

Prospectmaster said:

Thanks guys I appreciate the help. I never understood the concept before but I just took a look at Gixen and like it alot. Probably gonna use it tonight for my first snipe.

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I would even pony up the $6 for the mirror service. A lot of my snipes lately were done by the mirror when the main server failed. But, try it out first of course