Well boys, they finally caught me

[goobmcnasty]

After about 12 years of using the “free trial” of esnipe to bid on auctions for me, without ever buying credits/tokens, they’ve finally suspended me. Apparently, to regain their service I have to pay my negative balance off... which comes to $6,846!

I always thought they were the best free sniper out there. Apparently, I was only half right. Whoops.

 

[Pinbreaker]

I have used Gixen for quite awhile..

They have a free service and they have one where you pay $6 a year for a mirror site in case the main one fails..

Good luck,

 

[mrmopar]

I feel like the same thing happened to me on AuctionSniper or something close to that name. I owed them something (nothing near what you owe!). Maybe with interest and fees, it is up to your level!

 

[goobmcnasty]

I feel like the same thing happened to me on AuctionSniper or something close to that name. I owed them something (nothing near what you owe!). Maybe with interest and fees, it is up to your level!

Step your game up, Rookie!

Lol

 

[magicpapa]

 

[nosterbor]

After about 12 years of using the “free trial” of esnipe to bid on auctions for me, without ever buying credits/tokens, they’ve finally suspended me. Apparently, to regain their service I have to pay my negative balance off... which comes to $6,846!

I always thought they were the best free sniper out there. Apparently, I was only half right. Whoops.

View attachment 96708

That's a lot of money. They might come after you and sue for it. Some way or another they will try to get that money. I would worry if I were you and not treat it as some kind of joke.

 

[goobmcnasty]

That's a lot of money. They might come after you and sue for it. Some way or another they will try to get that money. I would worry if I were you and not treat it as some kind of joke.

It is a lot of money. But they can’t sue me for never cancelling my free trial. Until they prove me wrong, there are more important things to worry about... and more important things to treat as some kind of a joke.

 

[nevermore]

Oh man! I don't think they can hold you to that.

I've also used Gixen through the years. I recall at one point they offered a free upgrade to the mirror site if you linked to them on your website. I had that offer a few years back. It was a nice freebie, maybe worth checking out

Now with the eBay app on my phone, I don't use sniping.

 

[finestkind]

That's almost as much as I owe for a hospital bill.

 

[mrmopar]

It does make you wonder if there is any way to hold you to something like that.

When I was in the military, I had a car that I sold to one of my shipmates. I am pretty certain that I reported the sale, but he never got it registered under his name. It was parked on base and ended up getting towed. I got a letter from the towing company later, saying that I owed them over $1K for towing and storage fees. Needless to say, I ignored it. It wasn't my car any longer and was not even worth a tenth of the fees they said I owed. I was always a little worried that something could have come back on me for that, but it was 30+ years ago. i can't image what the storage fees are up to now!!

 

[Austin]

When you signed up for the free trial, if the small print said that your paid subscription begins if you don't cancel, you may technically be liable for the money.

It's no different than a free magazine subscription, free month of streaming service like Disney Plus, a week free gym membership or any other free trial.

Subscription services probably make as much money from people forgetting to cancel their trial memberships as people who actually want a subscription.

But if you didn't give them your credit card or bank information, you most likely have nothing to worry about.

 

[rsmath]

That's a lot of money. They might come after you and sue for it. Some way or another they will try to get that money. I would worry if I were you and not treat it as some kind of joke.

if they are serious about the money, they'll probably send it to collections and eventually put it as unpaid debt on a credit report, potentially keeping you from getting a mortgage or loaning you money at a higher interest rate because you are a "riskier" borrower.

 

[smapdi]

It does make you wonder if there is any way to hold you to something like that.

When I was in the military, I had a car that I sold to one of my shipmates. I am pretty certain that I reported the sale, but he never got it registered under his name. It was parked on base and ended up getting towed. I got a letter from the towing company later, saying that I owed them over $1K for towing and storage fees. Needless to say, I ignored it. It wasn't my car any longer and was not even worth a tenth of the fees they said I owed. I was always a little worried that something could have come back on me for that, but it was 30+ years ago. i can't image what the storage fees are up to now!!

My dad sold his car to a guy and it was later used in some sort of crime. The buyer never updated the title so my dad got a visit from the cops, but they accepted his explanation.

FWIW, I think Gixen might be doing away with their free service. I've gotten a couple emails from them lately and they'd really, really like me to go paid. I've only used them a half-dozen times, but they're good, and a $6 annual fee is completely reasonable.

 

[goobmcnasty]

When you signed up for the free trial, if the small print said that your paid subscription begins if you don't cancel, you may technically be liable for the money.

But if you didn't give them your credit card or bank information, you most likely have nothing to worry about.

I definitely agree with part of this... but this was long before the subscription craze, and before subscription companies got smart. I never gave my name, credit card number, ANYTHING other than my ebay user ID and password. Their free trial was they loaded X amount of "tokens" into your account, and you used them. If you ran out, you were supposed to then add a credit card and buy more. I just never did.

I know, I know, I'm a piece of **** for not telling anyone I continued to get their service for free, but it got funny after a while. Then it got to be the norm. Eventually I assumed they switched to a free service (lots of ads) and all the other sniper services were free.

Twelve years. I think this is the funniest way it could've ended for me. So again, I am treating it like a joke... to the dismay of some of the members here.

For the record, they aren't trying to collect anything. They never said "You owe us $***." They said "Your bidpoints balance is currently -680000. To continue using our service, you will need to purchase bidpoints."

 

[Letch77]

Twelve years. I think this is the funniest way it could've ended for me. So again, I am treating it like a joke... to the dismay of some of the members here.

For the record, they aren't trying to collect anything. They never said "You owe us $***." They said "Your bidpoints balance is currently -680000. To continue using our service, you will need to purchase bidpoints."

I think it's pretty funny. I wouldn't feel the least bit bad about using the service for free...it was their mistake, not yours. Hilarious that it took them 12 years to finally catch on!

 

[finestkind]

I wouldn't feel guilty either. I guess I'm a bad person.

 

[mrmopar]

My dad sold his car to a guy and it was later used in some sort of crime. The buyer never updated the title so my dad got a visit from the cops, but they accepted his explanation.

FWIW, I think Gixen might be doing away with their free service. I've gotten a couple emails from them lately and they'd really, really like me to go paid. I've only used them a half-dozen times, but they're good, and a $6 annual fee is completely reasonable.

It was a few months back that they basically made the frequent user of Gixen need to upgrade. If you toss out a few bids every so often, you can still use free Gixen. However, it you are bidding on many items in a short period of time, they won't allow it anymore with the free service. I had subscribed in the past a few times, but mostly used the free service. I don't need it, but I bid on a lot of low $ items and the knowledge that I don't need to keep track and try to bid live is worth it to me.

 

[mrmopar]

I definitely agree with part of this... but this was long before the subscription craze, and before subscription companies got smart. I never gave my name, credit card number, ANYTHING other than my ebay user ID and password. Their free trial was they loaded X amount of "tokens" into your account, and you used them. If you ran out, you were supposed to then add a credit card and buy more. I just never did.

I know, I know, I'm a piece of **** for not telling anyone I continued to get their service for free, but it got funny after a while. Then it got to be the norm. Eventually I assumed they switched to a free service (lots of ads) and all the other sniper services were free.

Twelve years. I think this is the funniest way it could've ended for me. So again, I am treating it like a joke... to the dismay of some of the members here.

For the record, they aren't trying to collect anything. They never said "You owe us $***." They said "Your bidpoints balance is currently -680000. To continue using our service, you will need to purchase bidpoints."

Reminds me of another similar situation for me. I had a free trial of a car magazine back in the 90s. I think it was supposed to be 2-3 issues. I kept getting it, for several years, and never even got as much as a request to pay for a yearly subscription. I had never provided my credit card info. It finally eventually stopped, but it was something that must have just fallen through the cracks of a large company.

 

[200lbhockeyplayer]

I would only worry if you receive a letter, but the chances of them being able to collect anything is slim.

Respond to a letter if you get one, especially if it's a court summons, or you'll automatically lose the judgement. Respond and it will probably get dropped.