Can a snipe like this be done for free?

[devs]

Hi there does anyone know how to do the following...

ive got my eye on three identical items from the same selling hat all end pretty much at the same time. Is there a way that I could snipe on all three with a max bid of say £50 but only win one item if they all sold sub £50? Does that make sense?

Thanks, Devs

[neilb]

I think most sniping programs can do this, Baygenie certainly can and can be found in the usual places.

[x_Mr_C_x]

I use Bid-O-Matic which is free and open source and it has never let me down. It supports bidding on a group of items and only winning one of them.

[consoles]

Jbidwatcher great free sniper and never let me down.

[Zippeyrude]

just loaded bid-o-matic

user interface is less than intuitive, ive uninstalled it incase i screw up and bid on stuff i dont want to !

[losttoy]

I've used auctionsniper.com for years. It's a paid service but out of the 10$ I paid into my account I still have just under 5$ left.

They do a plugin link called snipe it now that you have a link to in your favourites so when you are browsing on ebay you just click the link and it pops up a window with the auction details pre filled in. I know its not free but it's never let me down.

Have a look http://www.auctionsniper.com

[x_Mr_C_x]

just loaded bid-o-matic

user interface is less than intuitive, ive uninstalled it incase i screw up and bid on stuff i dont want to !

I know it is a bit of a dated looking interface but it's quite straightforward really. You just type in the item number in the first column and your highest bid amount in the My Bid column and then if you want to bid on multiple items but only win one give them a group name in the group column otherwise leave it blank. then press the automatic mode button to turn it on. I've never had any issues with it bidding on the wrong items and I've been using it for a good few years.

[devs]

Thanks for all the help guys. I'm on a mac so ideally looking for something that will run on one.

Jbidwatcher great free sniper and never let me down.

Can you multi bid on items via Jbidwatcher?

Cheers,

Devs.

[devs]

Ha, just got back from the pub to realised that I've won 3 Marshall Speakers! Ooops. Wouldn't recommend bidslammer.com

[losttoy]

Hope you got them for a good price

[Mickey]

there is a lessen there to be learned i guess

[danthescan]

I just decide how much i want to pay then bid that amount and walk away
I get it or i dont,no big deal and no sniper needed

[Over Carl]

I'm guessing the key point is whether all the auctions finish at a similar time or the exact same time. If they all finish at the exact same time, I can't see how anything would work without having naughty access to ebay's back end.

[BigBird]

I just decide how much i want to pay then bid that amount and walk away
I get it or i dont,no big deal and no sniper needed

Trouble with that is that you can be outbid when you could have possibly won the item, and at a much lower price. Even if you do win the item within your maximum bid, you may have driven the price up higher than what it would have been if you had surprised other bidders by sniping at the last moment.

I don't place my single maximum bid until five seconds before the end of the auction. If I am outbid because someone else's maximum is higher then no problem because it went for more than I was prepared to pay.

For example:
Item is currently on £3. I am prepared to pay £10, so last few seconds I place a max bid of £10.13 because I assume others may be thinking along the same lines of adding a few extra pence to stay ahead. I win the item for £3.50.

If I placed my bid an hour before the end I may still win the item if no one is prepared to go up to £10, but they have had time to increase their bids to say £8, so I end up paying £8.50 instead of the £3.50 I could have won it for.

My method has never failed me yet. (">

[Over Carl]

Simple human nature - when most people see that other people are interested/bidding, that increases their perception of the value of the item.

When going to traditional auction houses, I figured out the best thing to do was only bid after the hammer dropped twice.

Translate this to ebay and I do just like BB, put my serious max bid in ( plus about 1.66 or something to put me on top of someone thinking same as me) with 5 secs left.

Annoying thing is when I'm really keen on an auction, for the method above I need to get myself to a pc with cabled internet 5-10 mins before auction and it's a pain in the backside when you make a major effort to do so and then it goes for a silly price.

[BigBird]

Translate this to ebay and I do just like BB, put my serious max bid in ( plus about 1.66 or something to put me on top of someone thinking same as me) with 5 secs left.

Annoying thing is when I'm really keen on an auction, for the method above I need to get myself to a pc with cabled internet 5-10 mins before auction and it's a pain in the backside when you make a major effort to do so and then it goes for a silly price.

I agree. the five second method is for a cabled internet connection. Did lose an auction once because I was in my m8's house on his WiFi laptop. Have used a WiFi connection since but placed the bid 12 seconds before the end. Not sure but mobile networks may even need 15 to 20 seconds to be sure of getting the bid in on time.

One other thing to be aware of when sniping: Make sure you are properly logged in to Ebay. If you have been automatically logged in to your Ebay account for a day or two it may treat you as if you are still logged in until you actually place the bid. Then to your horror you will find the logon box pop up instead of the expected words 'You are currently the highest bidder'.
Was caught once so now, if I have been logged in for a day or two, I log out then back in or click on my account settings or other security sensitive area just to check that I am fully logged in before sniping with the last minute bid. (">

[mrphil]

you dirty dirty people lol.
and thats why i get outbid on the last 1 second by pence and wonder if its a glitch or my internet too slow on the last closing second.

[BigBird]

you dirty dirty people lol.
and thats why i get outbid on the last 1 second by pence and wonder if its a glitch or my internet too slow on the last closing second.

you silly silly man lol
Yes, thats exactly why I manage to outbid you on the last 1 second by pence and leave you wondering if its a glitch or your internet too slow on the last closing second. (">

[mrphil]

enough said
ill have to live with it, im coming to a close now as im running very low on my paypal limit, and i cant be arsed to verify my account to raise it.

unless i can open a new account and use a different card.

ahwell happy sniping

[Over Carl]

One other thing to be aware of when sniping: Make sure you are properly logged in to Ebay. If you have been automatically logged in to your Ebay account for a day or two it may treat you as if you are still logged in until you actually place the bid. Then to your horror you will find the logon box pop up instead of the expected words 'You are currently the highest bidder'.

Once happened to me so I learnt my lesson, always log out then log back in again before bidding. Still somehow cocked up once after I did that as well.