eBay Sniping Software

I've been using http://www.gixen.com/ of late to snipe. The screens are a bit rough & ready, but I can't fault their concept.

You log on to their site using your eBay UserId + Password (so you have to trust them, but same with any Sniping service; if you have any doubts later on then just change your eBay password.).

They use your UserID and password to log on to eBay [there & then] (so that proves that your UserID + Password is correct and, if you change the Password in the future, Gixen automatically updates the next time you log into it). That's more elegant than having to set up your password in some Config screen AND remembering to have to change it IF/WHEN you change your eBay one.

Then you just cut & paste the eBay auction number, and put in your max bid. That's it. Its free.

I suggest the first time you use it you put a bid for £1 more than your maximum and manually bid £1 less 10 or 15 seconds before. If all goes well you'll see their bid placed after yours in the Bid History.

They do recommend that if you really REALLY want something you also manually snipe (but if you forget chances are that Gixen will win it for you). The issue is that eBay may have, that day, changed the layout of the page etc. and their software not yet adjusted to accommodate it ... that's the same with any other sniping software.

Also critical that you have a robust eBay password (otherwise eBay may ask you for some additional security when you bid, and Gixen can't answer that question on your behalf !).

For the princely sum of US$ 6 per annum you can buy a [completely optional] subscription. That gets you Gixen bidding from a second, geographically separate, location - so if one of their servers is down the other one should succeed. And a bunch of other slightly obscure functions (e.g. if you don't win the first auction don't bid on any of these other X auctions - a car body, and then its engine, gearbox,etc ... presumably).

The guy that runs it seems pretty friendly, and pro active, in his support forum.

 

I use Jbidwatcher Kristen , its free and so far has worked 100% I used one called Buyertools which was a little more sophisticated - it would let you bid on say 5 identical items and close down as soon as you won one. But if the item was something you really wanted it would always bomb out
http://www.jbidwatcher.com/

 

Gixen has that (included in the Free version)

I took a look at Jbidwatcher and without wishing to "knock" it it would bother me that pretty much all the Support Forum questions, for the last few months, do not appear to have had any answers (other than from other customers, when they knew an answer). Lots of posts showing "0 replies" too :(

 

I have used Gixen in the past but lost faith when the site failed to place a bid in time twice over a number of days and now I manually snipe auctions however their premium option supposedly decreases the chances of the site not bidding in time by using multiple servers, who knows

 

slightly OT but this seems to be getting good press!Local search for ebay
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/local-ebay-deals/

 

Yes, that is the case (costs US$ 6 per annum).

There are some posts in their forum about missed snipes. Some honest "we goofed up" answers, some others the user was at fault (e.g. had weak password, and eBay therefore asked for CAPTCHA (wiggly writing to be decoded by a human) just to be sure it wasn't an automated hack-attack). Some others the auction was not available to a buyer in that country, etc. They do say (in their FAQ) that for any "important" auctions it would be wise to ALSO manually snipe the auction (and if you forget hopefully the sniping software will do the job for you). Another possibility of failure is that eBay changes to forms, when that happens the automated software has to be changed to "use" those modified forms.

Apart from the "we goofed up" ones all the other issues will effect any sniping software. That's something I had not considered before (I used to use Auction Sentry and relied on it 100% which, with 20:20 hindsight, was foolhardy, but I got lucky!)

Best for things where you are prepared to wait, want the cheapest auction, and there will be a chance of another one coming along, to try to snipe, shortly.

 

I use Goofbay sniping tools and much prefer it to the nail-biting wait for the auction to finish. It also reduces the risk of being tempted to get into a bidding war.

I have a password specific to Goofbay, but I guess they also have my Ebay password otherwise it couldn't log-on to place the bid.

It has sometimes failed. For example, it doesn't even place the bid if the previous bid is already too high. Other times, I can't work out the reason. Of course it's usually items that I desperately wanted to have and end up going for peanuts that it seems to fail on. So now if it's something really important I back it up with a manual bid. But heyho, it's Ebay, another one always comes along in the end.

 

I'm not on a selling mission! but next time you need to Snipe, and if your free period has run out, remember Gixen. No registration, just log on using your eBay password, the next screen you see is the eBay auction number and bid price. That's it! (I think that concept is rather "elegant")

 

Ahh but Kristen , if software works perfectly , as Jbidwatcher- not a glitch so far , you don't need support forums. Its like buying a car which is easy to repair instead of one thats reliable Also most of my Ebaying is buy it now , but I do miss the thrill of the chase when bidding for something you don't really need !

 

Indeed, if its working for you then "it ain't broke" so "don't fix it" !

Just pointing out that there were people in the forums with problems and they didn't seem to be getting any answers. They might all be muppets, but they need help nonetheless !!