Ebay Sniping

[avmad]

I tried out a program today to bid for me @ 10 seconds left. It did nothing :pos:

Can anyone recommend a service or software that works consistently for them. Ideally free, but if a paid service is the way to go then let me know.

I've not tried any except this one, and there are loads of sites out which claim to work. So safe and reliable recommendations are welcome from people that actually use or used them.

If I try others that don't work i'm going to be missing out on some decent items :wut:

Or a decent article on them would help. Thanks

edit must work on .co.uk

[nuthut]

set your eBay account for auto bid and set it for the maximum price you want to bid. if someone out bids you and your max price is higher, eBay will automatically place a new bid for you until your limit is reached. Otherwise, just be on eBay the last minute or so and make sure you get the last bid in.

[stylemessiah]

set your eBay account for auto bid and set it for the maximum price you want to bid. if someone out bids you and your max price is higher, eBay will automatically place a new bid for you until your limit is reached. Otherwise, just be on eBay the last minute or so and make sure you get the last bid in.

`

Yup, that's the best advice right there.

Too many people try automated sniping by 3rd party programs and get disappointed when it doesn't work.

[nuthut]

my apologies for going off topic:

Mentioning Windows 8 like a Neowin fanboy will earn you a double tap to the head.

I'd rather use Microsoft Bob than Windows 8, it was more intuitive....and needed
just as many mouse clicks to do anything remotely useful

http://betanews.com/...oft-bob-effect/

from your signature.... hits the point squarely on the head...

I remember when my dad brought a Mac 512Ke home.

My mother was NOT happy because it "was complete b*******t" (IIRC, I was only nine at the time, and the exact argument was fuzzy.)

Why? Because it had a completely different UI. It used this clunky and "stupid" thing called a mouse, and my mother found it almost impossible to master. (There's a legendary John C. Dvorak article where he hammers the entire Mac UI as impossible to use and clunky compared to other popular machines of the time like the C64, IBM PC and Atari 800).

Mom stuck with the Commodore 64 for another two years (until getting an Amiga that had that clunky mouse thingy as well).

Remember the Macintosh II launch? Businesses said they'd never buy a GUI machine like the Mac. Color is for kids games. GUIs aren't for REAL productivity work. How'd that work out, long-term?

Remember the Windows 95 launch? Lots of users were FURIOUS that such important features as Program Groups and Key Cuts were eliminated, and railed against the stupidity of the Start Menu versus the Windows 3.X desktop. (Many of them went on to complain of the changes to Windows 8).

Remember the Mac OS X launch? Oh, how the Apple forums were filled with furious users. Where was the Chooser? What happened to Mac Plugins? What is up with this weird new windowing interface? What's this dock thing that takes up valuable screen real estate?

Remember the Mac OS X Mountain Lion launch? My mom does. When she upgraded her Mac to Mountain Lion, she was FURIOUS. What happened to the Applications menu? It's been replaced with this weird "Launchpad" thingy. Why isn't the dock 3D anymore? What the hell is this "Mission Control" icon? How do I get to Microsoft Word?!?

Change is continuous in tech. Sometimes it's disruptive (like the original Mac, Windows 95, and Windows 8). Other times, it's evolutionary. And there will always be people who hate it.

But consider this: the GUI/desktop interface of today is 28 years old (if you count back to the original Mac, the first GUI machine that sold in consumer volumes, though not the first GUI machine). Consider that when the Mac launched, 28 years ago was 1956. The most common data entry model of 1956 was flipping relays across large panels, or typing up programs on punch cards.

The iPad, Mac, Windows 7, and Android are all built on a model that is as current in 2012 as punch cards and relay switches were when the Mac launched in 1984.

It's time for something new and better.

Ironically, the Apple champions of old who stood with radical new ideas against the big bad IBM juggernaut are today the very champions of continuity and "sticking with what works." Now Microsoft is the underdog with lots of new ideas, being mocked by the very same people who mocked the Mac waaaaay back in 1984 for its weirdo interface that would infuriate users accustomed to CLIs.

For those who want a Start Menu, Microsoft will continue to offer Windows 7 for years to come (just as Apple kept OS 9 going for years after the OS X launch). Win7 people will want to come over to 8 when they see the cool new apps and the incredible integration across tablet, desktop and mobile.

The rest of us will be rockin' on Windows 8 and the "Modern UI" (which is easily the most fluid UI I've ever used, even on my little HTC Radar 4G with WP7).

Five years hence, we'll be looking at today's iPhones and Android devices the same way people look at the Treo 755p and BlackBerry Pearl devices of 5 years ago. The UI progression will be so obvious, in retrospect.

(And PS, Robert, you turn off a Windows 8 PC not with three clicks, but with one -- hitting the power button. Crazy stuff, I know.) ;)

my apologies for going off topic

[stylemessiah]

my apologies for going off topic:

Mentioning Windows 8 like a Neowin fanboy will earn you a double tap to the head.

I'd rather use Microsoft Bob than Windows 8, it was more intuitive....and needed

just as many mouse clicks to do anything remotely useful

http://betanews.com/...oft-bob-effect/

from your signature.... hits the point squarely on the head...

I remember when my dad brought a Mac 512Ke home.

My mother was NOT happy because it "was complete b*******t" (IIRC, I was only nine at the time, and the exact argument was fuzzy.)

Why? Because it had a completely different UI. It used this clunky and "stupid" thing called a mouse, and my mother found it almost impossible to master. (There's a legendary John C. Dvorak article where he hammers the entire Mac UI as impossible to use and clunky compared to other popular machines of the time like the C64, IBM PC and Atari 800).

Mom stuck with the Commodore 64 for another two years (until getting an Amiga that had that clunky mouse thingy as well).

Remember the Macintosh II launch? Businesses said they'd never buy a GUI machine like the Mac. Color is for kids games. GUIs aren't for REAL productivity work. How'd that work out, long-term?

Remember the Windows 95 launch? Lots of users were FURIOUS that such important features as Program Groups and Key Cuts were eliminated, and railed against the stupidity of the Start Menu versus the Windows 3.X desktop. (Many of them went on to complain of the changes to Windows 8).

Remember the Mac OS X launch? Oh, how the Apple forums were filled with furious users. Where was the Chooser? What happened to Mac Plugins? What is up with this weird new windowing interface? What's this dock thing that takes up valuable screen real estate?

Remember the Mac OS X Mountain Lion launch? My mom does. When she upgraded her Mac to Mountain Lion, she was FURIOUS. What happened to the Applications menu? It's been replaced with this weird "Launchpad" thingy. Why isn't the dock 3D anymore? What the hell is this "Mission Control" icon? How do I get to Microsoft Word?!?

Change is continuous in tech. Sometimes it's disruptive (like the original Mac, Windows 95, and Windows 8). Other times, it's evolutionary. And there will always be people who hate it.

But consider this: the GUI/desktop interface of today is 28 years old (if you count back to the original Mac, the first GUI machine that sold in consumer volumes, though not the first GUI machine). Consider that when the Mac launched, 28 years ago was 1956. The most common data entry model of 1956 was flipping relays across large panels, or typing up programs on punch cards.

The iPad, Mac, Windows 7, and Android are all built on a model that is as current in 2012 as punch cards and relay switches were when the Mac launched in 1984.

It's time for something new and better.

Ironically, the Apple champions of old who stood with radical new ideas against the big bad IBM juggernaut are today the very champions of continuity and "sticking with what works." Now Microsoft is the underdog with lots of new ideas, being mocked by the very same people who mocked the Mac waaaaay back in 1984 for its weirdo interface that would infuriate users accustomed to CLIs.

For those who want a Start Menu, Microsoft will continue to offer Windows 7 for years to come (just as Apple kept OS 9 going for years after the OS X launch). Win7 people will want to come over to 8 when they see the cool new apps and the incredible integration across tablet, desktop and mobile.

The rest of us will be rockin' on Windows 8 and the "Modern UI" (which is easily the most fluid UI I've ever used, even on my little HTC Radar 4G with WP7).

Five years hence, we'll be looking at today's iPhones and Android devices the same way people look at the Treo 755p and BlackBerry Pearl devices of 5 years ago. The UI progression will be so obvious, in retrospect.

(And PS, Robert, you turn off a Windows 8 PC not with three clicks, but with one -- hitting the power button. Crazy stuff, I know.) ;)

my apologies for going off topic

Congratulations, largely very well tought out and presented.

I choose, still, to reject your argument and state categorically that i will NEVER (i say again NEVER) put that POS or any of its 0.x evil red headed stepchildren releases on my PC.

They can come talk to me again when they have Windows 9, and they can frickin beg.

Microsoft has nearly a year (during which time they cited "metrics" showing no one used the start menu anymore") of people providing feedback saying they hated it. Since release many millions of people have downloaded 3rd part start menus so they can use their computers ina productive way.

End result: Microsofr was wrong, have been paying dearly for it, and have (hopefully) figured out you cant shove a paradigm shift down users throats, its the users who decide how they use their PC's, not a company. If you factor in Microsofts "no one uses the start menu" "metrics" and then look at how many millions have downloaded start menu replacements, you'll quickly see, if youre a sane person, that they planned to steamroller over users and make them use and decide how they use, what, Microsoft, wanted. They wanted to be like Apple, paradigm shift, but Windows users dont wear silly skivvies and drink the special Apple kool-aid.

Epic Fail

I'll format the thing and go over to OSX or linux/bsd fulltime before ill let Windows 8 install routine touch my mbr.....

[avmad]

set your eBay account for auto bid and set it for the maximum price you want to bid. if someone out bids you and your max price is higher, eBay will automatically place a new bid for you until your limit is reached. Otherwise, just be on eBay the last minute or so and make sure you get the last bid in.

This is how I've always done it. What i'm after is slightly different though.

It isn't for things I must have. It's for swooping in and grabbing bargains that may not have been bid on, or only 1 bid.

Basically items that might go for well below their value. Also items that finish when i'm not around.

My intention is to bid on things I can restore/do up to sell on. Or things to give away or use myself etc. Goods people have asked me to find or in demand.

I've had luck in the past with this but miss many through forgetting, or not being online. Or just too much going on.

I've found a couple of sites that can do it for free and I've had recommendations for them. Haven't tried them yet and don't know how many they will do for me at a time. Maybe there's a limit?

I'm still open to recommendations as I know many people do this sort of thing. I've been using Ebay for years so I've learnt what works and what doesn't through my experiences but it's time to get a bit more organized :D

[PastTense]

Do you use the Firefox browser? If so you might add the Myibidder extension:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/myibay-auction-bid-sniper-ebay/

I have used it very occasionally (but not for years) and it seemed to work OK.

Reviews at:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/myibay-auction-bid-sniper-ebay/reviews/?page=1

Their website is at:

https://www.myibidder.com/

Or simply do a search for snipe at Firefox Addons. There are a number of alternatives.

[avmad]

Thanks PastTense. I use Comodo Dragon mostly, but FF occasionally. I'll take a look.