Phil's No BS Late Bidding (aka "Snipe") Page

How to Snipe

You should be able to enter a bid with a minute to go using the normal bidding techniques. You should be able to get under 30 seconds. But when you get down to entering a bid in the last few seconds, you have to take some time-saving steps:
  1. I recommend that you turn off graphics loading. You don't need the pretty pictures to snipe, and it makes the page updates much faster. Or, you can watch the Bidding History page. It doesn't attempt to load the item description, and it's more entertaining to watch in case a bidding war breaks out.
  2. Starting about 20 minutes before the end of the auction, go up to the top of the page and click where it says 'Sign in'. Then sign in.
  3. Browse to the item you're bidding on.
  4. Enter a bid. It should be the highest amount you are willing to pay for the item, plus a little extra. Consider this number carefully - you will get only one chance. Click the button to tell eBay your bid. You get taken to the Bid Confirmation screen. Don't click anything else in this window just yet.
  5. Open another window. (How you do this depends on your browser.) Browse your way back to the same item. For better results go to the Bid History page.
  6. Start hitting 'refresh' about once a minute. Watch the time left in the auction. Remember to breathe.
  7. If the high bid changes, don't panic. Keep refreshing. If the high bid goes above your maximum, you can stop -- you've been outbid.
  8. Once the auction time remaining gets down to less than a minute, speed up your refreshes. Keep breathing.
  9. When you get below 15 seconds or so, flip back to the other page, the one with the 'bid confirm' button. Take a deep breath, count to 5, then confirm your bid.

TAA DAA! A snipe. Give yourself this medal.

Power Sniper Medal

There are also Internet sniping services, which will enter a snipe on your behalf for a small fee. Some are:

These sites connect to eBay as you, bidding on your behalf. In order to do this, they need your eBay password. I cannot speak to the trustworthiness of these sites (nothing positive or negative; I just don't know). If you plan to use these sites, you'll have to make that judgment yourself. If the thought of somebody else having your eBay password makes you nervous, consider changing your password after you use a snipe site. (No endorsement intended. If other sniping sites want to be listed here, feel free to contact me.)

You can also use a bidding program. This is a program that runs on your computer, connecting to eBay and placing a bid for you within a few seconds of the auction close. An eBay search on snipe (that's a link, so you can click on it)will bring up several ongoing auctions.

Note: I'm not endorsing any of these programs.

Some bidding programs are:

If you have concerns about giving out your eBay password, these programs might be more to your liking.

If you have any other info on last-second bidding services or software, email me and I'll add them to this list.

Next page - How do you defend against a sniper?
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