Ebay sniping software

[brianmoooore]

Absolutely mothing to do with electrics, but was wondering if anyone on here knows anything about this kind of thing.
Bought a mini tractor with several attachments off of ebay last night. I placed a single bid 4 seconds from the end of the auction, and was surprised to see my bid accepted at just 65p short of my maximum, at £4465.00. Then was then a strange bit of numbers flashing on my screen, followed not by the usual green "you won this auction" or the red "you didn't win this auction", but by an ebay message saying "we are trying to determine who won this auction". Refreshed the page a few times, and after a minute or so, I got the green "you won" as normal.
Looking at the bid history, the last bid before mine was an automatic one at £4365.00, placed about 35 seconds before mine.
£4465.00 is not an outrageous price for what I've bought, but neither is it the bargain I was hoping for.
The question is, does 'sniping' software exist for seller to use? Something that can somehow probe my maximum bid, then place a bid almost exactly £100 below it, so forcing my bid to my maximum. Software that bids up until it's winning, then retracts the last bid, although no retractions are shown in the bidding history?
Or am I just being paranoid?

 

[Dartlec]

Absolutely mothing to do with electrics, but was wondering if anyone on here knows anything about this kind of thing.
Bought a mini tractor with several attachments off of ebay last night. I placed a single bid 4 seconds from the end of the auction, and was surprised to see my bid accepted at just 65p short of my maximum, at £4465.00. Then was then a strange bit of numbers flashing on my screen, followed not by the usual green "you won this auction" or the red "you didn't win this auction", but by an ebay message saying "we are trying to determine who won this auction". Refreshed the page a few times, and after a minute or so, I got the green "you won" as normal.
Looking at the bid history, the last bid before mine was an automatic one at £4365.00, placed about 35 seconds before mine.
£4465.00 is not an outrageous price for what I've bought, but neither is it the bargain I was hoping for.
The question is, does 'sniping' software exist for seller to use? Something that can somehow probe my maximum bid, then place a bid almost exactly £100 below it, so forcing my bid to my maximum. Software that bids up until it's winning, then retracts the last bid, although no retractions are shown in the bidding history?
Or am I just being paranoid?

There absolutely is 'sniping' software out there for buyers that will aim to put in a bid as late as possible. I am not sure if eBay did anything to stamp them out as they were rife in the early days of eBay.

In theory, the seller could have another buyer account set up to up the bids on his auction - and then he could perhaps cancel that last bid, though I'd guess that might show in the bid history?

Whether that buying software has the facility to retract a bid, I don't know - it would seem an unusual feature for software that is normally aimed for buyers.

 

[nicebutdim]

Never heard tell sniping software for sellers, but the message you saw appears immediately after every auction ends and has done for a while. Sometimes refreshing after a couple of seconds will tell if you've won or lost, but sometimes it can take a bit longer and several page refreshes.

 

[mainline]

Absolutely mothing to do with electrics, but was wondering if anyone on here knows anything about this kind of thing.
Bought a mini tractor with several attachments off of ebay last night. I placed a single bid 4 seconds from the end of the auction, and was surprised to see my bid accepted at just 65p short of my maximum, at £4465.00. Then was then a strange bit of numbers flashing on my screen, followed not by the usual green "you won this auction" or the red "you didn't win this auction", but by an ebay message saying "we are trying to determine who won this auction". Refreshed the page a few times, and after a minute or so, I got the green "you won" as normal.
Looking at the bid history, the last bid before mine was an automatic one at £4365.00, placed about 35 seconds before mine.
£4465.00 is not an outrageous price for what I've bought, but neither is it the bargain I was hoping for.
The question is, does 'sniping' software exist for seller to use? Something that can somehow probe my maximum bid, then place a bid almost exactly £100 below it, so forcing my bid to my maximum. Software that bids up until it's winning, then retracts the last bid, although no retractions are shown in the bidding history?
Or am I just being paranoid?

You're being paranoid.

Looe isn't far from where I am, btw

 

[Jim_e_Jib]

Was there a bid immediately before the one for £4365 that was 35 seconds before yours? It could be that someone had entered that as their maximum and previous bid prompted an automatic bid of their maximum.

 

[JBW175]

There is sniping software out there that people use, although I’ve never used it myself.

I also know that some sellers will continue to bid on their item to try and get the highest amount possible for it.

One of my old army mates came into work one day and he was absolutely fuming, when I asked what was up? He goes “I was selling some stuff on eBay, the mrs and her sister tried bidding it up to get maximum price and won the auction. Now I’ve got to pay fees for an item I already own and want rid of… I wouldn’t mind but it’s the 2nd time she’s done it!”

 

[Intoelectrics]

There is sniping software out there that people use, although I’ve never used it myself.

I also know that some sellers will continue to bid on their item to try and get the highest amount possible for it.

One of my old army mates came into work one day and he was absolutely fuming, when I asked what was up? He goes “I was selling some stuff on eBay, the mrs and her sister tried bidding it up to get maximum price and won the auction. Now I’ve got to pay fees for an item I already own and want rid of… I wouldn’t mind but it’s the 2nd time she’s done it!”

I was interested in an item once that was up for auction on eBay with a buy it now price of £60, make an offer, or starting bid @ £30

I watched it for a few days and on the last day no one had bid on it so I figured its probably worth around £50 (not the £60 that they wanted). So I offered £45, this was instantly rejected with no counter offer so I offered my max at £50. This was instantly rejected, so quite grumbled I waited out for the auction to see if anyone bid. At the last few seconds I bid the starting bid £30 and won the item!
Winner for me, loser for the greedy ------- seller!

 

[mainline]

I was interested in an item once that was up for auction on eBay with a buy it now price of £60, make an offer, or starting bid @ £30

I watched it for a few days and on the last day no one had bid on it so I figured its probably worth around £50 (not the £60 that they wanted). So I offered £45, this was instantly rejected with no counter offer so I offered my max at £50. This was instantly rejected, so quite grumbled I waited out for the auction to see if anyone bid. At the last few seconds I bid the starting bid £30 and won the item!
Winner for me, loser for the greedy ------- seller!

Sniping software is as nicebutdim said it's only for buyers, it's also pointless as there is no real need to leave your bid until the last second the only thing it does is take away the time another bidder has to ponder on going that little bit more.

Getting someone to knock the bids up is also somewhat pointless and risky as you would have no idea of the bidders max, a program that would do the same would also have its risks both in the way it would need to use proxy ip addresses and the risk of losing the accounts being used.

The seller above had obviously auto refused offers, but had the £30 starting bid.

 

[Intoelectrics]

The seller above had obviously auto refused offers, but had the £30 starting bid.

Yep, a risk the seller was willing to take in an attempt to get more than what the item was really worth. I could buy the item (with discount) @£60 brand new. The item was second hand, granted in great condition, but not worth the full retail value that was expected. My offer of £50 was more than generous on consideration and I might have kicked myself paying that when I could buy new for £60. But winning it for £30 was a real bargain.

 

[JBW175]

I was interested in an item once that was up for auction on eBay with a buy it now price of £60, make an offer, or starting bid @ £30

I watched it for a few days and on the last day no one had bid on it so I figured its probably worth around £50 (not the £60 that they wanted). So I offered £45, this was instantly rejected with no counter offer so I offered my max at £50. This was instantly rejected, so quite grumbled I waited out for the auction to see if anyone bid. At the last few seconds I bid the starting bid £30 and won the item!
Winner for me, loser for the greedy ------- seller!

It’s the little wins like this that I like to hear about.

 

[nicebutdim]

There is sniping software out there that people use, although I’ve never used it myself.

I also know that some sellers will continue to bid on their item to try and get the highest amount possible for it.

One of my old army mates came into work one day and he was absolutely fuming, when I asked what was up? He goes “I was selling some stuff on eBay, the mrs and her sister tried bidding it up to get maximum price and won the auction. Now I’ve got to pay fees for an item I already own and want rid of… I wouldn’t mind but it’s the 2nd time she’s done it!”

It still happens, but is quite a risky business for those involved.

They'll get away with it as an occasional occurrence, but doing so regularly means they either pay the fees or all involved risk a blanket ban of associated IP addresses.

Always look at sales history to see if the same 'one off' item has been sold repeatedly - once can be explained by a bidder not paying, but walk away if they've sold the same item time and again.

 

[nicebutdim]

I remember a local business started using ebay around 10 or 12 years ago to clear older stock. It was fairly specialist stuff, with prices running from tens to thousands of pounds.

They opted to auction everything and the majority of goods were bought by staff members and continually re-listed. At first they cancelled those sales to save paying fees, but that quickly brought them to ebay's attention and also had caused sales to dwindle (as buyers aren't all stupid). Subsequently they paid sales fees and re-listed, before eventually being banned from the site (along with several staff members and their entire families).

No idea why they didn't simply price goods on 'buy now' listings as they'd still be able to clear stock on the site today.

 

[UNG]

There have been some strange things with Ebay over the last 12 months that I struggle to understand yes I've had the please wait while work out who has won a few times, is it that a number of buyers have bid the same amount in the same second I don't think so as I never bid in round numbers and always add a few pence and have won auctions by as little as a penny as the under bidders bid maxed out at a round number and my bid a second earlier maxed out at a penny more
The one that really confused me was when it looked like my bid had landed fractions of a second after the auction closed yet I still won and I only realised some time later when I got a pay now email and when I checked I wasn't the only bidder

Will we ever understand the workings of ebay

 

[nicebutdim]

Will we ever understand the workings of ebay

No.

This, along with death and taxes, are absolute certainties.

 

[brianmoooore]

yes I've had the please wait while work out who has won a few times, is it that a number of buyers have bid the same amount in the same second I don't think so as I never bid in round numbers and always add a few pence and have won auctions by as little as a penny as the under bidders bid maxed out at a round number

I buy quite a bit via ebay, but it's the first time I've seen a message like this, and yes, I always set my max at a non round number, and only ever place a single bid in the last couple of seconds. If you've seen this message a few times, then that allays my suspicions a bit.
Sniping software for buyers definitely exists, but I don't think it's fool proof, and I'm sure I've been able to beat it manually on occasions.
I always check whether an item has been listed before. This one had, and I was watching it, but was distracted near the end of the auction and failed to get a bid in. I cheekily contacted the seller, and offered to match the winning bid outside of ebay if the buyer pulled out, which, come the following day, he had, but the seller declined my offer {which was just over a £1000 less than my winning bid now, and would have been a bargain).
I always try to build up some kind of profile of a seller as well, by checking feedback, the kinds of things they've been buying, and what they've been selling. This character doesn't raise any suspicions, and doesn't come over as someone particularly versed in things like specialised 'cheating' software, but you never now.
Anyway, thanks for all the responses. I think the general conclusion is that the software I feared doesn't exist, I am being paranoid, and in this case, I was just unlucky to come up against another idiot who really wanted to win the auction.