posted on September 2, 2000 04:55:49 PM
I just discovered esnipe and it worked fine for a few weeks. After three years of buying on eBay the "hard way", I loved it....until recently, that is. During the last week I lost out on everything I set-up on their site.
This may have already been covered (couldn't find anything, though), but are there any alternatives to esnipe? Or, darn, do I have to go back to setting alarms for 5 a.m., placing mega proxy bids and pulling out the last of my hair?
posted on September 4, 2000 06:59:24 PM
The best thing to do is place the most you are willing to pay for an auction when you bid and let the ebay proxy thing do it for you.
posted on September 4, 2000 07:23:03 PM
I just subscribed to Auctiongator. It has a feature in which you can choose auctions to monitor, and choose when it will notify you. You can have it notify you when bids are placed, at given times before the auction closes, if there is a certain amount of time left and the price is below a given amount, etc.
It doesn't snipe for you, but neither does Esnipe at times, apparently...
------------------------------------------------------------ I'm breathing so I guess I'm still alive Even the signs seemed to tell me otherwise http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/preacher4u/
posted on September 4, 2000 09:26:54 PM
Thanks for the great responses.
Esnipe did send me a nice, personal apology. I was very impressed with that.
Their site appears to be up and running again after the upgrade. I just placed three bids with them for auctions ending tomorrow.
I'll let everyone know if they go through.
Guyuellas - You wrote: "The best thing to do is place the most you are willing to pay for an auction when you bid and let the ebay proxy thing do it for you." I guess their are different philosophies about this (depending on what one is bidding on, etc.), but I personally don't want to spend $200 for something I can easily get for $100.
posted on September 5, 2000 12:24:17 AM
guyuellas: Your theory would, like communism, work in a perfect world. Unfortunately, ebay is in the real world. People do not bid "the most they are willing to pay", they bid what they pray they can get something for. They also, when outbid, irrationally bid higher to "win". Car dealers operate on this principal. They make you sit there until "I gotta have THIS CAR" fever sets in. In the categories I'm interested in most auctions EXCEED retail. And retail comes with a warranty, etc, etc. They only things I "win" are against newbies or rubes and are sniped. This is the only way I can get a bargain, sniping the guy that bid $500 for the Cadillac.
agentorange: - Merlin is from PCTechzone (pctechzone.com). It is not just a sniper, but a whole suite of auction tools. I have used it for years and it only has failed when eBay makes an unannounced format change. I paid for it once. It has undergone several huge revisions/improvements without add'l charges! Pretty rare these days. Jeff responds to bug reports or feedback promptly. There is a separate adult search and demos are avail. I believe.
posted on September 5, 2000 02:29:27 PM
Hi. As I posted yesterday I decided to take a chance again on Esnipe.com and placed three bids with them on their new, spiffy updated site.
Proceed with caution!!
I was outbid on two of the auctions, but Esnipe missed placing the bid on the one auction I really wanted.
I won't use them again unless it's something that's only of middling interest.
posted on September 5, 2000 06:10:37 PM
I've won several bids in the last 2 days with Merlin. As for auction numbers, Merlin shows auction numbers, description, start date, time till end, current bid, YOUR bid, reserve met or not, and high bidder.
Tony
