Auction Sniping Goes Mainstream
By Jim on Jun 25, 2008 in Conversion, Featured
Auction Sniping Goes Mainstream
Winning auctions automatically
Auction Sniping, named for the original software AuctionSniper, has gone mainstream and, if you are selling on eBay or expect to as part of your business plan, you should be aware that this relatively new trends mainstream adoption has put your profits at risk.
In traditional English Auctions, the basic premise is this, each individual openly bids against one another, driving up the price of the item until only one person remains bidding. With the advent of auction sniping, this process essentially vaporises with little to no trace of action until the very last seconds before the end of bidding. Now this really is nothing new as most experienced participants realize that bidding too early before a set end time only serves the purpose of you bidding against yourself but, in this case, auction sniping software controls this aspect with cold computer precision, until the very last calculable instant. No drama, no anxiety, no competition, no loss.
Other similar software titles include:
among others. No doubt the effects of these and other tools are evidenced in eBay’s regular and sometimes erratic pricing and policy adjustments, designed to ever more protect against it’s erosion and increase in the bottom line and excitement as well.
Naturally for listing participants, the only real defense against this trend is listing with a Fixed Dutch Auction format where the opening price is set to the what the seller considers to be the minimum price but, beware, this method is well know to decrease participation to the point where the seller is left paying the fees with no sale so, price wisely.
Tags: auction sniping software, Conversion, eBay, Featured
2 Comment(s)
By eBay sniper on Jun 26, 2008 | Reply
“auction sniping software controls this aspect with cold computer precision, until the very last calculable instant.”
Actually, I think your target should be about five seconds before the end of the auction - too late for manual snipers to react, and hopefully before any other automated snipes that may be scheduled for the same item.
In that case of a bid tie(or when there is not enough of a difference between the two bids to meet eBay’s minimum bid increment), the first bid in wins.
To have sniping lose its effectiveness, all eBay would have to do is auto extend any auction that receives a bid in the last minute or so.
I believe there are already auction sites that do this.
Anyway, another of the eBay sniping that you may want to add to your list is http://www.hidbid.com
By Cyndi Miller on Jun 26, 2008 | Reply
Cool stuff!!!
Cyndi Miller