Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Picking off a bargain - How to 'Snipe' a listing :)

Hi,


Ever spent a week watching an item, put your bid on in the last couple ofminutes.....and lost the listing to a bid that came out of nowhere in the dying seconds of the auction?? I'm betting the answer is a solid 'Yes'....


You were a victim of a technique known as 'Sniping', and like all the best sharpshooters, the bidder was lying in wait with his/her finger on the trigger ready to pick you off!


The following is my technique for grabbing a last seconds bargain, used with great results on many occasions. Heres how i do it:


Question... Why start your bidding when the item has hours or even days remaining??? This is common on ebay - how often have you seen an item with loads of bids on and FOREVER left to run on the listing? Not only is this pointless (only the final bid counts after all...) but it hikes up the price of the item at the same time - not too bright, and not conducive to getting a bargain! SMART PEOPLE BID LAST MINUTE!! (repeat this to yourself when your bidding finger starts to itch - it'll help ;) )


Sniping depends on three main things. These are:


1: Broadband - the faster the better


2: Timing - you need to be at your computer in the last few minutes of the listing and time your


bid right. Too soon and you'll get outbid - too late and you'll miss the listing.


3: Preparation - you need a couple of minutes to set up your computer to use thistechnique.You also needto know exactly what you would be prepared to pay, as its a one shot deal - more on this later.....


Ok, its been a week....the item you've set your heart on ends in a few minutes.....what do you need to do to make sureYOUR bid is the one that counts??


Step one, which most people do anyway, is to put it in your watch list. This way you can access the listing page quickly. With this done, Step two is to open the listing page, and click the bid button. Now do your 'whats the absolute maximum i want to pay for this' soul searching bit (but dont take TOO long - times a wasting after all!) and enter this amount in the bid box. Try and judge the amount taking into account what the items worth as well as what you think other bidders will go to, but dont be tempted to use a higher figure than the items market value, as you might get your fingers burned. Remember the point of this exercise is to get a bargain, and its only a bargain if you get it cheap!


Step three, click continue and get the confirm bid screen in front of you. Cool your jets, and keep away from the confirm button - you dont need this yet! What you DO need is to minimize the window, so that its roughly half-screen size and you can see the 'Confirm' button.


Step four, open a new browser window and go to Ebay, then 'My Ebay'. Click the item again and bring up a second listing window. Now minimize this window too, so that the time left (in red) is visible, and you have a good view of both of the listing windows.


Its now a patience thing. The purpose of two windows is that you can refresh the 'Time' window and count down the seconds, while simultaneously getting your bid on at the crucial moment. You can also see what bidding activity there is on the item.


Refresh.....refresh.....refresh..... until the countdown timer reaches around the 8 second mark (allow an extra second or two if your connection is a little slow, or your computer is filled with porn and having running issues (Danny) lol!) Then hit the confirm bid button on the other browser screen to send your bid on winged feet.....


Hopefully if you've timed your attack right and your amount was correctly judged, your bid will hit the Ebay server with only a couple of seconds left, top the current high bid, and not leave enough time for another sniper to out-snipe you :)


The next refresh will confirm if you won or not - i find the 'Hold breath and squint through your eyelashes' approach to this works.....


Thats basically it! I hope this has been an informative read-thanks for taking the time and dont forget to rate!


Coming soon - Postage, and how to get items collected by courier from sellers too lazy to offer despatch...... :)



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