eBay auction sniper, questions answered

eBay auction sniper

F.A.Q

What is sniping?
Sniping is the act of waiting until the last few seconds of an auction before placing a bid.

Why should I snipe an auction?
The bottom line reasons are, to save you time and money.

How does sniping save me time and money?
MONEY
First, you avoid bidding wars. In the heat of the moment, competitive bidders that see that they have been outbid on an item can take it personally. They can then see the auction as a competition that they MUST win, and then bid irrationally high.
Sniping prevents attracting attention from other possible bidders. It keeps your interest in an item hidden. When a potential bidder sees that an item has a bid on it, the item all of a sudden seems more attractive to them.
Because your bid isn't submitted until the last few (the exact # chosen by you) seconds of an auction, you avoid these things.
Also, if an auction ends at an odd time for you, say 3 a.m., you would normally have to use eBay's proxy bidding system, and start a bidding frenzy. You avoid that by using our automated system.
TIME
You don't have to be sitting at your computer waiting for the end of the auction. You just set up your snipe and walk away. Just "set it and forget it". We take care of the rest. You can be out enjoying your day and be getting great deals at the same time!

Can't I just snipe an auction manually?
You can try. If you do though, as explained above, you'll have to be sitting at your computer waiting for the auction to end. So, if the auction ends at 2 a.m., you better have some coffee handy. Also, you better have a high speed connection, no delays in your computers performance, and good timing.
On top of that, if a Hidbid user has a snipe scheduled for the same auction and you're bidding in small increments, you are almost assuredly going to lose. It's very, very difficult for a person to place another bid with less than 5 seconds to do it.

Can't I just bid early and have eBay's proxy bidding system take care of it?
You can, but it simply makes no sense to do so. Your bid is displayed immediately after you place it when you bid early using EBay's proxy bidding system (not necessarily your maximum bid- depending on how much any other bidders have already bid for the item). This draws attention creating competition almost always leading to higher final prices.
With Hidbid, your bid intention remains secret until the last few seconds of an auction. Only you know that your bid will be placed.
Here's a less obvious reason to snipe rather than bid early and let eBay's proxy system take over. Using our system, you can set up a snipe and then edit or cancel it up until five minutes before the end of the auction, without the bid being registered on eBay. So, you can change your mind.
eBay's terms of agreement describe any bid placed as a contract to buy. If you place an early bid directly on eBay you can't change your mind (you may be able to retract your bid but you may get some negative feedback in the process).

Is sniping unethical or against the rules?
Not at all, it's just plain smart to snipe. If sniping was against the rules, eBay would put a system in place to end it.

Does sniping upset sellers?
Obviously, sellers would like to get as much as possible for each item that they list for auction. However, speaking as an eBay seller myself, I definitely do not mind when someone bids on my auction, sniping or not. Many buyers would not bid all if their bid had to be placed early. Smart sellers who also buy on eBay are snipers themselves.

When should I choose not to snipe an auction?
From this day forward, you should honestly not bid on one auction without using the sniping technique. If you do, you'll most likely just be costing yourself time and money.

I've heard of sniping software that is installed on a home computer. Can't I just use that?
There are many potential obstacles that could prevent your computer from placing your bid:
* human error -you forget about your scheduled snipe and turn your computer off
* problems with your ISP
* other running applications slow it's performance causing delayed snipe execution
* a power failure shuts your computer down
* a router, or DSL modem that needs resetting
* dial up Internet access
* etc., etc., etc.
Aside from all of these things sniping desktop software can cost you $30 or more. Why pay for unreliability when you can use the power of our site for free?

Why should I use hidbid?
For several reasons, including:
* Reliability
* Save money by not attracting attention and avoiding irrational, emotional bidding wars
* Save time and avoid having to change your schedule to place a bid
* It's free!
* Peace of mind
* We monitor your auctions 24x7x365 (so you don't need to)
* Quick and easy to use
* No need to download any special software, nothing!
* It's totally independent of your operating system and service provider. If you can get to our website, you can use our service
* No need for you to leave your computer on
* Cancel or change your bids without upsetting eBay or eBay sellers
* Flexible snipe execution scheduling -- from 5 to 15 seconds(5-8 seconds recommended) before auction's end
* View your snipe history
* Immediate auction results e-mailed to you
* Technical support
* A forum so you can pick-up and share tips for finding deals on eBay, or discuss anything else you'd like

So what makes your system so effective, how does it work?
You create bids here on Hidbid that you want placed on eBay auctions. Our site server stores the details - which item, your maximum bid, # of seconds before auction's end you'd like to have your bid (snipe) to be executed, and quantity you want (if applicable). Then, when the time is right, our automated system places your desired bid with eBay on your behalf just as if you did it yourself manually.
Our server continually synchronizes itself with eBay's servers to make sure that your snipe is placed at precisely the right time. It's all taken care of automatically. You don't have to be sitting at your computer for the snipe to be executed you don't even have to have your computer on. You can be enjoying your day and be getting a great deal at the same time, without even thinking about. We take care of everything. "Set it and forget it".

How long before the end of the auction does Hidbid place the bid?
You can schedule a bid to be placed from 5-15 seconds before the end of the auction. Five seconds is recommended because that would give a manual sniper too little time to react to and would hopefully register first before any other possible snipers' bids. Many snipers think that their bid should be placed one or two seconds before the auction's end. We disagree. You want your's entered first so that if another placed snipe is very close to or the same amount of your's (there's not enough of a difference to meet the minimum bid increment) you will win.

What does Hidbid's service cost?
You can schedule up to five snipes per week for free.
If you are a heavy user and schedule more snipes than that, you can get a month of service for $7 without the five snipe per week limit.
The free weekly snipe allotment and monthly charge is subject to change at any time, depending on how things go.

Which auction sites will Hidbid work with?
Hidbid will work with eBay US, UK, Canada, and Australia.
Items listed on international eBay sites often show up in the results for eBay.com.
If there is an item on another of the eBay sites that you are interested in, you can try doing a search from eBay.com for keywords that are in the item's auction title.
If the item shows up in the results, then you should be able to schedule a snipe for that item that will execute.

Can I use Hidbid to bid on eBay Motors and eBay Premier auctions?
Yes you can.

Can I bid on Live Auctions or Mature Audience auctions using Hidbid?
No. Hidbid cannot complete the additional verification process required by eBay before bidding on these auctions.

How about Dutch auctions (auctions that offer more than 1 of the same item individually)?
eBay's proxy bidding system doesn't apply to them. Therefore, your bid maximum will register on eBay when your snipe is executed. Also, with Dutch auctions, you can choose how many of the item you'd like to bid on when setting up your snipe here on Hidbid (see tutorial).

What is required of me to use your service?
You need an Internet connection so that you can get to our website to schedule a snipe and you will need to provide your eBay log-in information. That's it. Once you schedule a snipe you can go about your day, turn off your computer, whatever. Our system takes it from there. Just set it and forget it.

Are you crazy? You want me to give you my eBay password? Why?
For our system to place a bid for you, it must essentially login to eBay just as you would.

Is my eBay information safe?
Yes. Keeping your eBay information safe is our top priority, so we store your eBay user ID and password in our protected database using the industry standard 128 bit encryption (same thing banking institutions use). We also use SSL encryption throughout our site and when we send your information to eBay. We always respect your privacy, and keep your data safe, secure, and confidential.

How is my personal information used?
Your eBay user information, including your UserID and password are used to place your scheduled snipes, that's it.
We use your email address to send you notifications of changes to Hidbid that may affect you, and to send you results of auctions that you've scheduled snipes for. If you sign up for our newsletter, we'll send you notifications of products or services you may be interested in, or news that we feel might interest you.
Browser information, including cookies, browser information, connection times, and IP addresses are used for improving customer service, monitoring site/service performance, advertising, content control, and business evaluation.
Click here to view our full privacy policy.

How do I get started using Hidbid?
How do I set up a snipe?
Can I change or delete my scheduled snipes?
How do I change or delete a bid?
What happens at the end of the auction I've scheduled a snipe for?

I forgot my username or password. What can I do?
How do I update my personal information?

If I go to eBay and bid on an auction manually and then set up a snipe here on Hidbid for the same item, will I be bidding against myself unnecessarily increasing my bid amount (Can I outbid myself)?
No, eBay's system prevents this from happening. If your scheduled snipe maximum is above the bid you placed manually then it will register with eBay when the snipe is executed and eBay's proxy bidding system will take it from there, increasing your bid as needed until you are the high bidder or your maximum has been exceeded.

Will Hidbid immediately bid my maximum, even if my maximum bid isn't needed to win the auction?
Your maximum bid will be entered into eBay and then eBay's proxy bidding system will take over from there (except with Dutch style auctions). Your bid will go as high as it needs to until you win the auction or your maximum bid is exceeded.

With reserve auctions, will Hidbid increase my bid just until I'm the current high bidder or until the reserve price is met?
Until you are the high bidder, regardless of the reserve price that has been set. So, you could be the high bidder and not be awarded the item because of eBay's reserve auction rules.

Will Hidbid work with non-U.S. currency auctions?
Yes.

When bidding on auctions that are in a currency other than US dollars,in which currency will my bid be placed?
Your bid will be placed in the currency that the auction has been set up to use. If the auction is in US dollars, you must bid in US dollars, if it's in Euros, you must bid in Euros, etc.
**This is very important to remember when setting your maximum bid if you use any international eBay sites**.
Check the auction listing to be sure. Disregard the $ next to your maximum bid input field on your Hidbid page when bidding on non-US dollar currency auctions.
Also, do not enter $'s, GBP, commas, etc. when typing in your maximum bid, only the numbers of your bid with a single decimal in the proper place. So if you're bidding in Marks (German currency), do not use the ",". EBay doesn't recognize fractional Marks.

What happens if two people are sniping the same auction?
The bidder with the highest bid will win. If they bid the same amount the first bid to reach eBay will win the auction.

Can I use Hidbid to place snipes for more than one of my eBay ID's?
Yes you can, but you'll have to create a different account here on Hidbid for each of your eBay ID's.

Do you guarantee that my bids will be placed, what are the potential risks of sniping?
You can count on Hidbid, and eBay, for that matter. However, no one can guarantee 100% reliability on the Internet. Here are some possible risks with sniping:
* Hidbid's or eBay's servers could slow down or malfunction, preventing a scheduled snipe from being placed. (High internet traffic, denial of service attacks, and other things could be causes.)
* A programming error could occur here at Hidbid.
* Having the wrong eBay log-in information entered in your Hidbid account (If you change your eBay username or password, be sure to update it on Hidbid before scheduling a snipe).

What happens if Hidbid's server shuts down and I have scheduled snipes?
Although highly unlikely, this is a possibility. If this did happen any bids that are scheduled to be executed while our server is down would not be placed. Once the server is up and running again it would pick up where it left off and place any remaining scheduled bids.

**Update - We now have a backup system (mirror server) to act as a failsafe if/when our main site goes down temporarily. Because of this, our backup system may still place your bids as long as our main site is not down for an extended period of time, as the backup system still relies on our main site in order to function properly.

I can't access your site, and I want to cancel a snipe I have scheduled. Now what?
Again, the odds of this happening due to a server malfunction are very slim. If this situation ever did arise, however, you could just sign in to eBay and change your password. Snipes for your account would no longer be executed because our system could no longer log in to eBay to place bids for you.

My maximum bid was higher than the auction's winning bid, what happened?
* Most of the time this occurs, eBay's minimum bid increment rule is the reason. Your maximum bid could be higher than another bidder's, but the difference between your maximum bids could be smaller than the minimum bid increment for that auction. For example, the maximum bid for your snipe is $302, the other bidder's maximum is $300. The minimum bid increment is $5. If the other bidder's bid was registered first than they would win the auction. If yours was registered first, you would win. For this reason, we recommend that you set your snipe to execute with five seconds (up to 8 seconds for high internet traffic times) left before the end of the auction. Too late for a person trying to snipe manually to get another bid in, but sooner than many other potential snipers would set up their snipe to execute. You can learn more about bid increments by clicking on the currency that you are interested in listed below (the increments vary by currency):
US dollars
Great Britain pounds
Euros
Australian dollars
Canadian dollars
* Reserve auctions. Your bid could be the highest but didn't meet the reserve price that the seller set for the auction.

What are the terms and conditions governing the use of Hidbid's site?
Click here to view our terms of use.

What is your privacy policy?
Click here to see our privacy policy.

I don't see my question addressed here, how can I get it answered?
You can use our Contact us page to send us a question or look for your answer in our forum.

Why Snipe With Hidbid?

* Save money

* Save time

* It's free!

* Quick and easy to use

* Reliability

* Peace of mind

* No need to download anything

* No need for you to leave your computer on

* Cancel or change your bids without upsetting eBay or eBay sellers

* Flexible snipe execution scheduling

* View your snipe history

* Immediate auction results e-mailed to you

* A forum to pick-up and share eBay tips