Sniping Software - What Works?

[Ina]

Who uses sniping software? What do you like/dislike about it? I'm going to be writing about the different sofware/services available in a future issue of AuctionBytes. Feedback would be helpful!

I will be covering AuctionStealer, eSnipe, Vrane (amherst Robots), Bidnapper and a new service called AuctionBlitz.

Am I missing anyone? What about shareware programs?
Thanks, Ina

_________________
Ina Steiner, AuctionBytes.com

[freykr]

well, I know what *does'nt* work, that is dataveter's bidsniper. I was a registered user and swore by it for about 6 months. Then this summer, registered users were instructed to strip and download a few new versions, then it stopped working again. I tried many times to contact the developer but never got a reply. Coincedently in desperation I found this website by searching "datavecter bidsniper" and found in an archiced newsflash a partial headline about "datavecter bidsniper, another dot com bites the dust" So I presume they're gone. It's my theory that recent changes at eBay caused bid snipers technology to fail and after a few attempts to fix it, followed by a few more changes at eBay, must have forced datavecter to shut down without even informing their registered users. Shame I had barely paid the registration fees, only used it for a few months.

I've seen another snipe program out there but have'nt tried it yet. In fact when I saw this topic I was hoping for input. I may try it and report back. I think it's called bid grabber or bid snipit.

If anyone has more info on bidsniper please post here.

[freykr]

Ok as I mentioned in my previous post, with BidSniper dead, I decided to try other demo versions. What I am trying now is iSpineIt2.0 which works good. I like it better than BidSniper because it has a browser window right on the same screen shot of the auction/bid manager [<--- my own term BTW] In fact, I'm viewing and typing into AuctionBytes.com from it right now. MS IE 4.0 is required, and this browser loads my favorites list from my IE which is cool. The other thing I like about iSnipeIt is that the auto dial up for those with modem dial up conections actually works. I had problems with BidSniper's ability to dial up at a scheduled time so I simply made a point to dial up mannualy and hope that I satyed on for hours at a time while away. No problem with iSnipeIt though.

The original posted topic asked who uses it and what works etc. Well I mentioned what does'nt, I now mention what does. Now a few words on the reasons I use a snipe tool.

I'm sure most veteran auction bidders have had thier eye on a particular item, placed a safe proxy bid and maybe even guarded it until the last few minutes to make sure they win the auction only to have somebody outbid them in the last few seconds of the auction. I know it's happened to me once or twice. So on items that I really want to win, I'll add an extra snipe bid just to be sure. I've watched the seconds tick as others bid and rest, then at the last few seconds I win afterall, as long as it's under the amount I'm willing to bid I'm happy to win.

Also, a benefit of a snipe tool is that you don't have to bid until the very end of an auction. Ever had the feeling that fellow bidders who buy the same catagory of stuff you do are the same ones who outbid you all the time? Ever get the feeling somebody does eBay searches for your user name because they like your taste and seek you out? Well with a snipe tool they are much less likely to follow you around if you only bid at the very end of an auction before they find you there.

Another benefit of snipe tools is that on the average for hot items, I bid less, *most of the time* of course, some items are just going to fetch fair market value oir above no matter what but for some auctions, without me bidding up as the auction progress, other bidders keep their bids low also so I sometimes get things for less than if I'd got into a 7 day bid war.

Snipe tools are one of those things that one almost does'nt want to share about with other people because if all bidders used them, they'd be worthless. But of course some folks know about them and AuctionBytes specializes in this sort of information so I might as well post my opinions and experiance for the benefit of those who are interested enough to come here. I just hope ya'll keep it under yur hat's

OK I posted my .02 who else... c'mon there must be more out there, as well as other software progies

[freykr]

I know "oops" posts are sometimes irritating and I don't mean to monopolize this topic, but I felt this important enough to point out...

>>"What I am trying now is iSpineIt2.0 "<<

correct name is "iSnipeIt 2.0"

graci

[CricketSniper]

One of my customers alerted me to your site after reading an article about
Sniping and to his dismay, the Cricket was not mentioned! Not very many people
know the real history of Snipe Software so below I pull out a few tidbits from
the Cricket Jr Help File - Topic: Cricket Jr History.

In mid 1997 I had been writing a software program that was geared toward
selling and buying on Ebay to make my life a little easier. Cricket was thought
up while sitting on our deck one evening sipping some wine and all the crickets
were chirping away. The name Cricket Jr was given when I decided to extract the
bidding portion of the selling program which at the time had the Alpha name
Cricket.

Cricket Jr Sniped for the first time in mid December 1997 (9 second Snipe)
and was introduced to the Ebay community on December 30 1997. Cricket Jr was the
first Snipe tool ever offered and was an immediate hit with the bidders that
found the auction.

It wasn't long before what seemed like a great idea became a very frustrating
experience. Ebay's reaction to the program was not very pleasant. They harassed
this developer by repeatedly canceling auctions without notice or a valid reason
then sent out all the bidders an email stated strongly in so many words, Do
business with this seller at your own risk.

Cricket Jr's first auction on December 30, 1997 was the introduction of the
Snipe tool to Ebay. Within hours of its release my auction was shut down without
warning for a rule violation. The rule violation was that I offered to save
bidders shipping costs by allowing them to download the program. I received a
nasty cold letter from the staff member that shut down the auction. The rule I
was accused of violating was not written anywhere nor is it documented on their
site to this day. The shut down email told me that Ebay reserves the right to
stop any auction for any reason without warning. So they did.

After I received verification from this staff member that this was the only
problem with the auction, I relisted on January 3, 1998. The next day on January
4, 1998 somebody posted this on the then live Ebay Support Board:

 DOES E BAY EVERY DRAW a line in the sand~~ now we have 9 second
sniper programs being sold by the hundreds..just enought to piss off all the
real good customers and take the sport of bidding. these type of sale is not
usefull to e bay, but very harmfull in the long run. pit e bayers against each
other. so, it use to be fun, now its all cut throat..or soon will be.

Born out of this was the Anti-Sniper crowd and one of the most controversial
Internet topics to date, To Snipe Or Not To Snipe! Flame emails were a regular
occurrence declaring me a terrible person and that Ebay was no longer a
"safe" place.

Ebay finally permanently banning the software from their "Super
Featured" auctions where it received the most bidder attention and later
came up with a way to thwart the program, crippling it until I released new
version of the program a few weeks later.

1998 was a very tough year for the Snipe program. Look at this announcement
from the Ebay Announcement board:

Date: 08/13/98

Time: 16:17:10 PDT

** ATTENTION: NEW SYSTEM SECURITY FEATURE TO BE ADDED** As part of our ongoing
efforts to ensure that eBay is a safe place for person-to-person trading, we
plan to make an internal change to the bidding system later this week. Most of
you will not notice this change. It will NOT change the way the bidding process
works on the site. Unfortunately, the change may disable most, if not all
"automated bidding programs" (a.k.a. sniping programs). We apologize
for any inconvenience that this may cause to users or sellers of this type of
program. (red emphasis mine) The change will be implemented later this week.
Regards, eBay SafeHarbor(tm) Team

Interesting:

"Unfortunately, the change may disable most, if not all "automated
bidding programs" (a.k.a. sniping programs). We apologize for this, but
it's important that we make eBay safe from robots of this kind."

I received hundreds of emails like these:

From: "S R" sr@xx.com

To: deccles@

Subject: Changes at eBay

Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 07:45:03 -0400

Hi, RE: 27251284 eBay claims to have made changes making sniping software
obsolete, for the moment. Will your software work, now that the anti-sniping
measures are in place? If guaranteed, I'm sure I'll buy (I need it since I bid
at work and can't babysit items). Thanks, R sr@xx.com

Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 01:03:50 -0500

From: G C


To: deccles@

Subject: Item #34941540

I thought sniping programs were outlawed on ebay?

All the while I was in contact with the Product Manager of Ebay and was
repeatedly reassured that the program was not being singled out, Sniping was
perfectly legal on Ebay and was told many times, "eBay does not have a
policy to prohibit the development or sale of software that interacts with our
system."

Later when Ebay went public things suddenly became really quite. There isn't
much of an anti sniping crowd these days and Ebay has not made any overt moves
against Snipe software for a few years now. The program is alive and well today
and used by many thousands of Snipers!

Earlier this year Cricket was written up in Time Warner's May issue of ON
magazine, by Adam Cohen, The Sniper King and I appeared on a segment of
Tech TV's The ScreenSavers. Michelle Slatalla of the New York Times in her
article In Throes of Passion, A Sniper Is Born used the program in her
ongoing search for the green kitchen clock. More on all this HERE

If you would like to learn more about the program you can download
it and try it out for free. Be sure to check out the Cricket Help file,
Topic: Cricket Jr History for the rest of the REAL story!

_________________
Dave
cricketsniper.com

[freykr]

Dave

Very interesting stuff, THANKS! Well I had hoped others would add input to this subject but "oh well" Maybe there is a stronger "anti Snipe" crowd than I thought. I have no choice but to openly admit that I am pro to bid snipping. I'm also still on the lookout for alternative snipe tools. I'll surely download Cricket now after reading Dave's post. Being the original snipe tool, hopefully it will work better than the others I've tried

I tried iSnipeIt and for the most part I liked it, but there was some downfalls. #1, I have an old antiquated machine. It was very slow while iSpineIt was loaded in the system tray. Web browsing and other applactions were very slow because iSnipeIt was taking most of my memory. The main reason I did'nt stick with it though was their service. I'm very leary now of small software companies that make claims of good tech support good and customer service. I am leary because BidSnipper took my money, never replied to my many e-mails, and faxes, then within a couple of months they were gone. I sent three e-mails to iSnipeIt asking questions about a failed bid and they never sent a reply, so I'm sorry to say I am not too confident in them. However, the product did work 95% percent of the time I have to say. I'm just very disapointed in their customer service.

As nieve as this may sound, I just recently found out about services that are web based snipers. I have'nt tried any yet but intend to.

I liked Ira's article on bid snipping, I'd still like to hear others' opinions. Well, off to downlaod Cricket now, I'll post a bidders perspective report on that one also after I've had a chance to use it.

[memalornah]

Hi I have used Bidtamer for auction sniping. It is one of the web based ones and is associated with auction tamer. It has generally worked well for me. It has a free version and a pay version with more features. Will be looking forward to your assessment of the various tools. Thanks

[bmarsden]

I have been using hammersnipe (this may be the same as what you call AuctionStealer). I prefer this web-based service because I don't have to have software installed on my pc or keep my pc up with an active internet connection all the time. It has worked very well with just a few "missed" auctions where the hammersnipe server was overloaded or the eBay responses were too slow. I would still recommend it.

I became a sniper after an experience bidding on a very arcane item for which I got into a bidding war with only one other bidder. After watching the item go from a couple dollars to several dozen, and ultimately losing the item and regretting it, I felt that just one well timed bid at the end of the auction would have won the lot at a much lower price.

With experience, I am convinced that sniping works to the benefit of the sniper and to the detriment of the seller who receives lower prices. And thus to the detriment of eBay which receives lower commissions.

A superior solution to the sniping problem (from the seller's perspective at least) would be to automatically extend auctions to ensure that a fixed period elapsed after the last bid before an auction closes (perhaps you would give the seller the option to opt out of such an arrangement where it was time critical to close an auction, e.g. sports tickets - you wouldn't want the auction to keep extending past the date of the event). This would be more similar to a live auction where the auctioneer waits until it is clear that there is no more bidding action to be had and without reference to a fixed moment when the auction had to end - even in the presence of a bidding frenzy. It would give the non-sniping bidders a chance to react and bid more if they chose to. I think the extended bidding period should be one full day.

Why so long? I collect postage stamps, the market for which is international. I buy from sellers in Europe, North and South America, Australia, and Asia. When some of the European and Asian dealer's auctions are ending, I have to be sleeping - or my day job goes poof! That's why a five minute or one hour auction extension really wouldn't do me any good.

I think that solution would be fair to sellers, fair to buyers, fair to eBay, but put an end to the usefulness of sniping software.

In the meantime, I'll continue using it as a bidder, because it works.

Good luck to all!

[Ina]

I used to be all for extending the auction, but I'm so used to the sniping phenomenon now. Interesting comment about international sales. Do you use any stamps-only auction sites? How do you pay international sellers?

BTW, the sniping article appeared in the 9/23 issue which can be found here: http://www.auctionbytes.com/Email_Newsletter/47/47.html#snipe

_________________
Ina Steiner, AuctionBytes.com

[Romahawk]

Sniping software. GRrrrrrrrrr!!!

[Ina]

Hi, I just checked out your Web site.
How long have you been running an online auction site? Feel free to toot your own horn here!

_________________
Ina Steiner, AuctionBytes.com

[ This Message was edited by: Ina on 2001-11-01 05:19 ]

[Romahawk]

Hello Ina, thank you for the invitation to promote the site. It sort of caught me by surprise as most boards forbid it. Romahawk has been online for several months and we have been sort of low key about it. We prefer to take it slow for now and not get ourselves into a situation where our words come back to haunt us like the owners of some other startups. Sometime in the near future if your board policy remains the same we will be happy to take advantage of your offer.

[Ina]

Okay, be sure and keep me posted. We have lots of entrepreneurs here.
_________________
Ina Steiner, AuctionBytes.com

[ This Message was edited by: Ina on 2001-11-01 05:21 ]

[Ina]

ANTI-SNIPE:
I just got a press release from auction site SellYourItem.com - I'll be covering it in tomorrow's newsflash. But, thought you'd be interested to know that it offers an anti-snipe technology!
"The state of the art "Anti-Snipe" technology is configurable by the auction member who can decide if they want to extend the auction in such a case allowing the auction to have a fair ending for all bidders. "The anti-snipe technology is just another example of the power of a member-driven community", explains a member of SellYourItem.com."

_________________
Ina Steiner, AuctionBytes.com

[ This Message was edited by: Ina on 2001-11-05 21:11 ]

[litlux]

I have used both esnipe and vrane sniping services in the past, but don't any more.

Both services operated simply and effectively most of the time, but it is the missed snipes that has deterred me from using them anymore.

Sometimes their service was overwhelmed or had some problem and the bid was not made as scheduled, or in other cases, changes to ebay code rendered them ineffective. Still other times, ebays servers were slow and the bid was short circuited.

I won't pay for a software download because of the inevitable ebay code changes so I am back to traditional bidding, or sitting by my screen watching the clock.

Of all the services I had liked vrane the best but the owner's lack of communication is too off-putting to trust them anymore.