OT - Ebay Bidding Tactics

I have been trying to purchase a Narco CP-136 audio panel for almost
two years. Mine works just fine, but is cosmetically flawed, and I
need a new faceplate.

Unfortunately, Narco no long sells faceplates for this unit, so I am
stuck in the used market, which means Ebay.

For at least the last five auctions, I have been out-bid at the very
last second...literally. Today I tried putting in my bid with just 8
seconds to go in the auction, was "high bidder" for 6 seconds....and
was out-bid with literally 1 second left!

Since I was high-bidder by a good $40 (on a $200 unit) with just 6
seconds left, obviously someone -- or something -- is able to submit
bids extraordinarily fast. I've heard that there are programs that
automate the bidding process -- is that what I'm seeing here?

Has anyone used these programs, and can anyone recommend one? It seems
like "cheating" -- but I'm tired of getting beat by two bucks with no
time left on the clock.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Google ebay sniper program.
I don't use one, but there have been auctions that I've missed because I
didn't.
Jim

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have been trying to purchase a Narco CP-136 audio panel for almost
two years. Mine works just fine, but is cosmetically flawed, and I
need a new faceplate.

Unfortunately, Narco no long sells faceplates for this unit, so I am
stuck in the used market, which means Ebay.

For at least the last five auctions, I have been out-bid at the very
last second...literally. Today I tried putting in my bid with just 8
seconds to go in the auction, was "high bidder" for 6 seconds....and
was out-bid with literally 1 second left!

Since I was high-bidder by a good $40 (on a $200 unit) with just 6
seconds left, obviously someone -- or something -- is able to submit
bids extraordinarily fast. I've heard that there are programs that
automate the bidding process -- is that what I'm seeing here?

Has anyone used these programs, and can anyone recommend one? It seems
like "cheating" -- but I'm tired of getting beat by two bucks with no
time left on the clock.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I've heard the sniper programs work but I don't use E-Bay enough to bother.
I've had some success with another trick.

Open two screens with the same EBay page. Keep one as the main screen and
the other as the bid screen and get go ahead and enter your bid. Then select
the main screen and hit F5 until your down to about 5 seconds then switch
over and enter the bid.

Remember though, if someone has set a higher max bid you still miss out.


"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...
Google ebay sniper program.
I don't use one, but there have been auctions that I've missed because I
didn't.
Jim

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have been trying to purchase a Narco CP-136 audio panel for almost
two years. Mine works just fine, but is cosmetically flawed, and I
need a new faceplate.

Unfortunately, Narco no long sells faceplates for this unit, so I am
stuck in the used market, which means Ebay.

For at least the last five auctions, I have been out-bid at the very
last second...literally. Today I tried putting in my bid with just 8
seconds to go in the auction, was "high bidder" for 6 seconds....and
was out-bid with literally 1 second left!

Since I was high-bidder by a good $40 (on a $200 unit) with just 6
seconds left, obviously someone -- or something -- is able to submit
bids extraordinarily fast. I've heard that there are programs that
automate the bidding process -- is that what I'm seeing here?

Has anyone used these programs, and can anyone recommend one? It seems
like "cheating" -- but I'm tired of getting beat by two bucks with no
time left on the clock.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

That's the technique I use. I also determine the max that I'm willing to
pay and enter that one and only bid with only seconds left in the auction.
If I don't win, I'm not disappointed because I bid as much as I was willing
to pay without giving new bidders much of a chance to respond to my bids.

Jim

That's the technique I use. I also determine the max that I'm willing to
pay and enter that one and only bid with only seconds left in the auction.
If I don't win, I'm not disappointed because I bid as much as I was willing
to pay without giving new bidders much of a chance to respond to my bids.

That's exactly the technique I used, and got beat out by TWO BUCKS.

I'd have gone up $2, given the chance. Of course, who knows how high I
would have had to bid to beat the winner...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...

That's exactly the technique I used, and got beat out by TWO BUCKS.

I'd have gone up $2, given the chance. Of course, who knows how high I
would have had to bid to beat the winner...
--

Unfortunate Jay.
If you were however willing to pay more, you may have won the auction if you
reflected that willingness in your maximum bid. You do realise that it won't
just automatically use your maximum bid as the bid.
Crash Lander

That's exactly the technique I used, and got beat out by TWO BUCKS.

I'd have gone up $2, given the chance.

Well, then that's =not= exactly the technique you used. You underbid
yourself by at least $2. The key to using that technique is to bid your
ABSOLUTE TOP BID. You didn't do that.

Jose
--
"There are 3 secrets to the perfect landing. Unfortunately, nobody knows
what they are." - (mike).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Jay Honeck wrote:
[ebay sniping story snipped]

I've used an online sniper once. It didn't make any difference in my
case because I didn't bid enough. Google can put you in touch with
several either online or local ones most of which have free trial for
some number of auctions.

My strategy is to decide what I'm willing to pay and make that my
maximum bid. Then ebay will automatically bid up until your max is
reached OR you win at whatever level is required to win. This beats the
snipers without enticing me to bid "Just $5 more" until I'm spending
more than I should. Just how I do it...

John Stevens
PP-ASEL

On 2006-11-27, wrote:

Jay Honeck wrote:
[ebay sniping story snipped]

I've used an online sniper once. It didn't make any difference in my
case because I didn't bid enough. Google can put you in touch with
several either online or local ones most of which have free trial for
some number of auctions.

My strategy is to decide what I'm willing to pay and make that my
maximum bid. Then ebay will automatically bid up until your max is
reached OR you win at whatever level is required to win. This beats the
snipers without enticing me to bid "Just $5 more" until I'm spending
more than I should. Just how I do it...

John Stevens
PP-ASEL

A detail that has always worked for me - when setting your maximum bid,
set it to something like $101 instead of just a round number, a couple of
times that allowed me to be the winner by just a dollar or so. :-)

-Milen

"Milen Lazarov" wrote in message ...
A detail that has always worked for me - when setting your maximum bid,
set it to something like $101 instead of just a round number, a couple of
times that allowed me to be the winner by just a dollar or so. :-)

-Milen

The odd bid number has worked for me too.
But I have even gone as far as bidding $101.01 and you
would be surprised on how often that extra cent has pushed
beyond the last whole number bid.

David