How to Avoid Losing to eBay Snipers
Sniping occurs when a bid is about to end. Some yahoo rushes in and bids a little higher than the highest bid as the clock runs out of time winning the bid. Sniping is against the rules at eBay, but it doesn't slow the snipers down! In most cases, even if you report it, the sniper will get away with it, and you will have lost the item that you wanted to win so badly. Unfortunately, in order to avoid losing the items you want to snipers at eBay, you have to take on the sniper mentality. You also need to snipe in a way that will not violate eBay's rules.
Snipping can be done in one of two ways. The first way is the safest, but not necessarily the easiest. Simply keep up with the item you are bidding on. Make a note of the date and time that the auction will end, and make sure that you are in front of your computer and logged into the auction well before that specific time. The objective is to either bid higher than the highest bid during the last few seconds which is what snipers do - or to simply make sure that you are not outbid by a sniper.
Remember that sniping is against the rules, so you should log in about thirty or forty five minutes before the bidding ends, and get your bid up until it is the highest bid. At that point, all you need to do is to keep an eye out to make sure that nobody else raises the bid. If you've been logged in for a while, this cannot be considered sniping.
Using this method, you must be aware of automatic bidders. It is very hard to bid against people who use bidding software. That software has been designed for the purpose of snipping, and your chances of outbidding the software manually are very slim which leads us to the second method of snipping Snipping services.
Snipping services are very easy
to find online, and they are
relatively inexpensive. You can
also purchase your own snipping
software. If you want to become a
sniper, purchasing your own
software is usually the best way
to go if you bid on a lot of
items.
You just set up the software, tell
it which auction to watch and what
the highest price you are willing
to bid is, and let it do the work
- just remember that it is against
the rules, and while eBay seldom
enforces this rule, you will be
running the risk of getting banned
from eBay.
Sniping is bad if someone does it to you, but if you use it yourself to win bids, it can be a wonderful thing. On the other hand, it may not be very ethical. Outbidding someone is one thing, sniping is something altogether different!
