So how do you do it ?

I have seen something that will get into a bidding war so don't want to do anything until the last minute :)

Any instructions please ? :D

Find your spending limit and stick to it.... most important!! ;)

Go to the page that your item is on... refresh the page every 4 or 5 seconds... when it gets to 15 (or 10 when you get good at it ;) )seconds remaining (assuming you have broadband) quickly type in your bid and press confirm on the next page.

Good luck!

Debs

PS... forgot to add.. if it's going for say £10 and your limit is £20 type in £20 as your bid.. it'll automatically bid for you up to this level

Thats doesnt work if someone else is doing the same!!!!!
Just lost a bid because of one of those engines that bid on last minute :( :(
So I would like to find out the engines they use ;)
Lea :)

Thats doesnt work if someone else is doing the same!!!!!

It does if you bid more than they do and you get your timing right ;)

The engines do exactly the same ... they bid up tp the maximum you put in.

Debs

That is what I want rather than me having to be about to do it :D

So what and where are these sites ?

google for ebay sniper, bidnapper, auction sniper.. there's several.  Most you have to pay for.

Lucy I don't use anything except perfect timing :-)  wait till the very last 5 seconds. DO not bid on the item at any other time.

Am sure someone at work told me its called 'sniper' or 'sniper-bid' which bids in the last few seconds for you, do a Google for it, or I'll see if I can find out the proper addy for it.

They're useful if you won't be at your computer when the bidding's nearing it's end.  Thats about it.  They only do what you can do manually.

We use Bidslayer :)

i won a bid tonight bidding at the last 50 seconds by putting in my limit

we use the snipe bid, well i should say hubby does you can put your bid in you want to go to and it will bid in the last second if you get out bid then tuff you loose.
carol

I absolutely LOVE sniping!! I wasnt aware of the engines that do it for you.I didnt go to Crufts this year as I wanted to snipe last minute on a conservatory that finished at dinner time!
Got caught out yesterday though, as wanted to snipe on two items and my computer froze, prob from pressing the refresh button over and over again.
When I bid on something with a snipe, the kids dread it, as I sing that part of the ebay song<sure you all know it, very funny>  I'm am the type who is liable to snipe you with two seconds left to go, whoaoa!!
And to think Im coming up for forty soon!!

I use auction sentry, it's free to try - think it's about 10 tries you get but I've bought it, was very cheap and works really well. You can set the time to auction end, the default is 10 secs bit I like 6 secs :)  it's available from www.mydownloads.com

Getting a bit nervous now as have 13 minutes to go. I am going for the bid at the last minute so have got the bid ready and watching the time slowly go down :D

oooh I can feel the tension too! Good Luck!!!!

Did you win it?????????????????????????????
Lea :)

Oh I am gutted I did the bid then it asked me to confirm then hung :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

It sold for less than my maximum bid :rolleyes::rolleyes:

OH no :( :( :( :(
Thats why I want the one that does if for you.
Will the same thingt come up again????
Lea :)

Yes there are a few but not sure if I can cope with the stress of it :D :D

Anybody fancy being my agent and doing it for me ? :D :D

thats what it did with me yesterday.I typed in the bid then it wouldnt go to the next page.That seems strange as its never happened to me before this.Im usually top sniper.I was gutted too as it was my breed of dog memorabilia, and now its winging its way overseas.

I think the Ebay gremlins are at large :rolleyes: :D :D

What breed do you have ponk?

Pekingese. I love all the old history stuff that appears on Ebay.Absolutely fascinating.

Our house is an Ebay Free Zone :D :D I HATE Ebay :D However, daughter has threatened to set OH up to use Ebay in the summer, so that he can sell a lot of his bits and pieces :( :( But I'll ban him from buying anything :D

Daisy

try having 2 pages open on e bay on with your bid ready to confirm the other with the item on show. you can track the time limit but be ready with your bid at the same time, Also try going a few extra p ie: 20.12 most time it's enought to tip it in you favour. good luck happy bidding
luv & stuff
vikkie & shadow

I use bidnapper it's fantastic

If I ever miss out on an item I send the seller an email saying if the sale falls through,to let me know.I have had a few things by doing this.Including my new car :)

I'm quite new to ebay, so maybe someone could tell me why would you want to use one of these devices, can't you just put a maximum bid on and wait and see whether you win the item?

I do it the old fashioned way of putting the bid in manually. I dont understand last minute bidding - if you know what your maximum is why does it matter if you bid last minute or not?

Absolutely ange! The last minute bidding is for when you want it no matter what the cost so to speak. What you may find is that you decided £30 is all you want to pay so put that in as your maximum. Then you check the next day and find it sold for £31.00. So if you had been watching and were willing to fork out a couple more quid you could put a bid in last minute. I use both methods depending on how much I want an item. I don't use bidding tools - just good old fashioned last minute pouncing.

I'm can't quite follow that logic :)
I think the best way to play ebay is to decide the absolute max you want to pay and bid in the last moment for that amount.  It's a game, like poker.  For instance if you would pay £60 max, you might put a bid of £40 in, just to try and be prepared to go to £60 but Mr A also wants it and has a max (he thinks ;)) of £50 so he bids away against you until it gets to £50 at which point psychology kicks in and Mr A cares more about loosing than what he pays and he keeps on pushing until he finally gives up at £55.  So you get it for £56 and think yourself a winner. 
Whereas if you had held fire, silly Mr A seeing not much bidding just puts a bid in for £40 chuckling that he is getting a bargain right up to zero minus 20 seconds when you pop your bid in for £60 but get it for £41!  If Mr C is also lurking and pops in a bid of £70, well you should not have been aiming to beat him anyway you had already decided what your max was and you can console yourself that your pushed his cost up to £61 ;)
Can you follow all that? :)

There's was me thinking we'd never see eye to eye - 100% with you for a change  :D :D :D 

Thank you.  I'll sleep better tonight :)

Isabel I agree with you BUT (there is normally a but :D :D ) If you really want something and don't have time to lurk until the critical time then you have a problem :)

I am being very patient trying to get some tickets for Snow Patrol and I am getting really naffed off now :rolleyes: I put a bid of my max and today got outbid by £2 I am not going to up my max bid on others so we will see if I can keep patient :D Do you recon I can ;)
Lucy
xx

No ;)

We will see ;)

Well my patience has worked as they have just announced some new dates one being at the NIA in Birmingham. I have just bought some tickets as a member of the SP members site in advance

The ones on Ebay are going for over £100 per ticket now Got mine for £24 each :D

Lucy
xx

I just read this theory of ebay bidding, Im sitting here smiling! Makes perfect sense to a seasoned sniper like me!
And I just love the bit about consoling yourself that if you cant have it,then I will financially crucify the offending bidder who is going to get it!!!

Absolutly right isobel, I never put a bid on at all until its nearly ended, as i would feel I was bidding against myself. I just watch whats going on, and sad as this may seem, if I really want something I will try my best to be there at the end of bidding, and i' bagged some good bargains that way. I don't know why, but when I was inexperienced with ebay, i always found if I put a bid on someone else always bid above me, yet if I wait there hardly ever seems to be any bids and i get it cheaper than I would have. Maybe just one of those things, but I sometimes wonder if people have 'friends' who boost bids up. My suspicious mind.........but I was following some gold charms once, ages ago, and was activly bidding on a few. What I noticed was that there were 5 names bidding against me in rotation, woudnt have noticed if Id only been bidding one one or two, but this person had a lot offered and i was bidding on a number, about 8 I think, in the hope of winning one or two. I did report this to ebay, but they said it was above board. I'v learnt now never to bid till last minute. I'm sure most are genuine, maybe this was just a one off and I was wrong.

I agree with you too Isabel. I only bid in the last couple of minutes. For one thing you don't want any of your competitors to know there is another player in the game.
But now everyone knows the secret! ;-) just kidding, I should have elaborated. I just meant that if you didn't want to lurk and you really had a set price in mind you can just put a bid in and walk away. I have won that way if the item isn't particularly hot.