Can you snipe on ebay

In those instances by sniping you can save a lot of money. Sniping will not guarantee you winning an auction. Your bid still has to be higher than the highest bidder.

Also, if your bid is too low, you do not have enough time to increase it. If done incorrectly, sniping can hurt you by loosing auctions that you would otherwise have won because of proxy bidding. This tactic is used to try to prevent other bidders from having a chance to place a higher bid before the auction ends. Automated bid sniping software Many websites and software packages offer automated bidding based on the end time of an eBay auction.

Was this article helpful for you? You might also be interested in:. This how to guide will show you the best methods of sniping an eBay auction, increasing your chances of winning an auction for the least money possible. Log in Social login does not work in incognito and private browsers. Please log in with your username or email to continue. No account yet? Create an account. Edit this Article. We use cookies to make wikiHow great.

By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article Steps. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Author Info Last Updated: August 10, Watch the auction you're interested in. Note when it finishes and remember this for later. Record the item number and auction end time.

Come back to your auction 10 minutes before it ends. If it's still in a nice price range, then sit back and wait. Make sure you're logged in. While waiting, decide exactly how much you're willing to spend on this item. That's all there is to it. The sniper's automatic bidding software will take care of the rest.

Of course, using paid services gives you more options. But Gixen is a great way to snipe a few times and see if it's worth investing in. And it's worth mentioning that you can always snipe using eBay's proxy bidding system. Just hang out on an item page until the auction is almost over, and register your bid right before it ends. If you feel like sniping software is cheating, this strategy might appeal to you.

Sniping is generally pretty straightforward, but there are a few important things to keep in mind. Don't retract your eBay bids. You might be tempted to if you won an item and have placed bids on other copies of it, or if someone drove up the price too quickly. But retracting bids violates eBay's terms of service except under specific circumstances.

So don't do it. Be careful about over-bidding. When you get started with sniping, it can be easy to put a ton of items on your list. And if they end close together, you might end up winning more of them than you expect. Remember that sniping isn't always going to work. If an item has a huge number of bidders or a single very committed bidder, you're likely to get outbid by eBay's automatic bidding system.

Sniping is best used on smaller items that aren't seeing a huge amount of competition. As long as your expectations are reasonable, sniping can be a great strategy for winning eBay auctions. Just know the limitations, don't go crazy, and you'll be fine. It's not going to win every auction, and it could actually end up losing you a few, but it remains a viable strategy in many circumstances.

With all of the eBay snipers available online, both as web apps and software downloads, you have plenty of options.