Tutorial
Introduction:
If you have a question on how to get started, or how to use one of the more advanced functions of EZ sniper, you will find the answer here. Please read through this information before emailing us. These pages contain answers to thousands of questions on how to use our service that have been asked over the past several years. Problems with the site or service are addressed on the
Troubleshooting pages.
Here are the topics you will find in the Tutorial:
- Bidding
Bidding is core to our business and such a large topic, we have divided the subject into these headings. Click the heading to get more information on:
Bidding strategy
Our best advice
Our best advice on bidding competitively is to bid your absolute maximum amount, then let the sniper service and the eBay proxy systems do their jobs. On your typical auction, you will not pay more than you need to, because your bid will be raised to the necessary level by the eBay proxy system. And, the sniper system will prevent any manual bidders from responding to your bid. It's a powerful combination, and the easiest way to bid.
Benefits of Sniping
There are a number of benefits to sniping. Chiefly, when you deliver your bid at the last second, you eliminate much of your competition, those bidders that choose to sit and bid incrementally. They are left with no time to respond. You also keep your interest in an item private. This is a distinct advantage if you do a lot of bidding. And finally, you don't participate in running prices up. Remember, our sniper software uses the proxy system when it delivers your bid, meaning you will only bid enough to make you the high bidder. So our advice is to snipe with our eBay sniper and enjoy the benefits of both the proxy system and sniping.
Using the eBay Proxy System
Do not confuse the eBay proxy system with sniping. When you submit your bid manually or with our auction sniper, you are entering a maximum bid you are willing to spend. But the bid will be raised one bidding increment above the previous high bidder by the eBay proxy system. The bid will be automatically advanced anytime someone bids against you, until your max is reached. This way, you save money, and you are protected from any snipes that come in after yours if you bid enough. Learn more about proxy bidding
here.
Buy It Now Auctions
Our eBay sniper will work with auctions that have the Buy It Now option, just as it does with regular auctions. The only difference with these auctions is, someone may end the auction prematurely by paying the seller's asking price. However, the Buy It Now option goes away when someone bids on the item. This is the only situation where it may be advantageous for you to bid early, directly with eBay, on an item. Don't bid any more than the minimum. Your early bid would eliminate the chance that the auction could end early. Then, enter a more competitive bid through our eBay sniper to gain the benefits of sniping. As long as you use the same username and password with our sniper system as you use to bid manually, you will not be bidding against yourself. You may see a bid arrive late in the auction from the eBay sniper, but it will not advance your bid.
eBay also offers 'Buy It Now only' sales that have no auction associated with the sale. Our auction sniper does not work on these, because there is no bidding on these items. You just buy them. Check to make sure bidding is accepted for the item in question.
Dutch Auctions
Dutch auctions offer for sale more than one of the same item. You may specify the number of items you would like to bid on, from one to all of the items. Enter that number in the
'Quantity' field of the
'add interface'. The biggest difference in bidding on Dutch auctions is that the eBay proxy system is not used to raise your bid incrementally. When the sniper software submits your bid on Dutch auctions, eBay will apply the full amount of your bid. On a typical auction, your bid would only be raised one bidding increment above the previous high bidder. This is not the case with Dutch auctions. This is the only kind of auction where this is true.
Reserve Auctions
A Reserve Auction has a minimum price the seller is willing to accept for the item. This price is kept private, but you will see
RESERVE MET /
NOT MET noted on these auctions . There is no need to change your bidding strategy on these auctions. However, some users get confused when they are the high bidder and the reserve is not met, yet the user's maximum bid does not appear on the bidding history. If your maximum bid had met or exceeded the reserve, eBay would have raised it to that level when your bid arrived. Because it did not, your bid was left as the highest bid, but your max bid was kept private, in case the item should come up for sale again. This is the only situation that really distinguishes a reserve auction from a regular auction. Our best advice is to bid your max, and let the sniper software, and the eBay proxy system do their jobs.
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