FAQ

How can I win more auctions and pay less for items I win?

That is easy, use Snipe-To-Win! Seriously, this is the best method. Software based bid sniping is THE way to win an auctions. See our magazine article here for more details on how sniping works and why it works. This article will answer most of your questions.

You can also find magazines, books and auction experts who agree that you can win more auctions and pay less for the items you win simply by bidding only in the final moments of an auction. Snipe bidding keeps your interest in an auction private. Snipe bidding avoids unnecessary bidding wars. Snipe bidding snatches auctions away from amateur bidders who bid too early and too low.

Can you prove that Snipe bidding wins more auctions?

It has already been proven by mathematicians.See our magazine article here for more details or you can check out this article at NewScientist.com or read the original mathematician statistics paper at Physical Review aps.org

If you are not interested in the mathematics of it, check our article above for the psychology or simply look at the bid history of any popular item and you will likely see that the winning bidder submitted the winning bid in the final moments of the auction. Llook at the bidding history of the winning bidder and see how he has won most of his auctions in the final seconds. Experienced bidders know snipe bidding works and that is why they use it.

What is Snipe-To-Win and what does it do?

Snipe-To-Win is a bidding and auction watch tool for eBay users. Snipe-To-Win is a website that runs special bidding software which places your eBay bid just before an auction ends which gives you the greatest advangage as explained above. It is also available as a desktop program you can run on your PC under Windows.

Snipe-To-Win uses a mathematically proven bidding technique to improve your chances of winning auctions at the best price. It also has a list of Features that help bidders track purchases, place bids, and more.

Snipe-To-Win Online runs on your our servers so you never have to worry about your computer locking up or being turned off when you need a bid placed.

You always want to bid in the final seconds of an auction, but it is not always possible to place your bid by hand, especially when multiple auctions end at the same time. You may be at work or asleep or simply forget about the auction. Even if you are at your computer, there are a long list of problems that can cause your bid to not be placed or to be placed too late. Manual snipe bidding is too unreliable. You need a software tool to place your bid for you.

Snipe-To-Win lets you list your bid, not on eBay, but on your Snipe To WIn account. It remains secret and private until the final seconds of the auction when the software places your bid for you.

Am I bound by bids placed using Snipe-To-Win?

All of the standard eBay bidding rules apply. If you place a snipe bid, you are responsible for it just as if you had placed it yourself.

But WAIT! There is a huge benefit to using Snipe-To-Win to place bids. See the "Can I cancel my bid anytime?" question below.

Can I cancel my bid anytime?

EBay’s terms consider any bid you place at eBay as a contract to buy. If you cancel a bid placed through eBay before the auction ends you could be suspended. There are many good reasons to cancel a bid. Maybe you found a better auction, bought the item locally, changed your mind, suddenly noticed the seller has a lot of negative feedback. By using Snipe-To-Win you avoid any penalties for cancelling bids early. When you bid through Snipe-To-Win, your bid is not placed on eBay until the final seconds of an auction. This means you can cancel the bid anytime with the click of a mouse. You do not have to explain to anyone why you are cancelling the bid and no one on eBay will ever know you cancelled your snipe bid. You can cancel your bid anytime even one second before it is placed if you want.

Is Snipe-To-Win useful for buying collectables?

Snipe-To-Win gives the greatest advantage to collectors. Many items sold on ebay have known retail prices. Anyone can look them up with a simple web search. Collectables however, have a price dictated by the market on eBay. EBay is a community and within that community many members who are interested in a specific category know each other. Simply seeing that a known member of the community is interested in an item can cause its price to go up and up and up. Collectors can also become emotionally involved in bidding. Many a collectable has seen its price run up because two collectors kept bidding against each other. Snipe bidding allows you to protect your privacy and keep your bid secret until the last moment. No one can run up bidding or artificially inflate the price for the thrill of taking the auction away from you. The collector can place last second bids and grab auctions away from amateur bidders who have placed low bids hoping no one would come along and make a serious offer. Snipe-To-Win keeps your interest private and avoids emotional bidding wars that run up prices.

What is Sniping? or Snipe Bidding?

The secret to winning eBay auctions is a technique called Snipe Bidding. Snipe bidding means placing a bid in the final seconds of an auction. By placing your bid in the final seconds of an auction, you avoid bidding wars, you keep your interest in the auction private, and you can snatch auctions away from inexperienced bidders who bid early and low.

Snipe bidding has both mathematical and psychological foundations. For more information see our article here.

Do sellers hate Snipe Bidding?

No! Sellers that depend on emotional bidding to artificially run up bid prices may not like it, but most sellers love Snipe Bidding.

The ability to Snipe bid actually attracts more bidders. Many auctions close with no buyers, even when there are people watching the auction. This happens when potential bidders are not ready to place a bid, or want to check other auctions first and put off the bidding decision. Potential bidders may forget about the auction until it is over. This results in auctions with either no or very few bids.

Snipe bidders are more likely to place a Snipe bid using software than they are to place a proxy bid through eBay. This is because Snipe bidders know they can cancel the bid at anytime before the end of the auction. Snipe bidders are much more comfortable placing bids when it is done on their terms. This brings in more bidders to an auction than it would otherwise have which benefits the seller.

Ultimately, both buyers and sellers benefit from Snipe Bidding.

Do I have to leave my computer on for Snipe-To-Win to place a bid?

Yes, if you use the Snipe bidding software. No, if you use the online system.

Online version: Snipe-To-Win Online is a website that will place bids for you. Simply setup your bid information on the website and it will bid for you. You do not have to leave your computer running. This is a great option for people who use dialup and cannot leave their connection running constantly or who have unreliable connections.

Software version: Snipe-To-Win is a software program that runs on your computer. It watches the auctions you have selected and waits until they are about to end to place a bid. If your computer is turned off or disconnected from the Internet, it cannot place your bid. We recommend using a high speed internet such as DSL or Cable Modem or other means that are constantly connected to the Internet.

What if eBay changes their policy?

EBay uses a hard-close auction format. This means it ends at a fixed time. Some other auction sites use a soft-close which extends bidding by a fixed time if a bid is placed in the final seconds. EBay would risk losing a lot of business if they switched to soft-close auctions. The people that are Snipe bidding would stop which would reduce the overall bids. Sellers would be inundated by bogus bids from people trying to ‘win’ for the thrill of winning without paying for the auction. Bidders would feel cheated because their bid was the high bid at auction close time yet, they were outbid by someone else because the auction was extended. There would be fraudulent bidders that would treat auction bidding as a game; bidding back and forth to see how long and how high they can push an auction. This is, in part, why other auction systems that do extend bidding with the soft-close are not as successful as eBay. EBay considers every policy change very carefully and would never risk losing millions of dollars and facing millions of angry customer complaints. Once a bidder feels cheated, they may not return to bid again. EBay is not going to tamper with a system that works.

What if a seller does not accept a Snipe bid?

A seller must accept the high bidder no matter how the bid was placed. This is part of eBay's rules and the seller cannot post notices stating they will act contrary to eBay rules. Some sellers post a notice in their auctions saying they reserve the right to end the auction early and sell to the high bidder. This makes no sense for a seller and you must question why an honest seller would even make such a claim. Why end the auction early when a higher bidder may place a last minute bid. Why would a seller end an auction at $20 when there may be three Snipe bidders waiting to bid $40, $80, $100. It is never in a seller’s interest to end an auction early and it can be a violation of eBay rules to do so. If you see such a notice or a seller uses this excuse to back out of an auction, they should be reported to eBay immediately. (By the way, there are many dishonest and downright dumb things sellers place in auctions that you should be aware of. Did you know that Self-Insurance is illegal? Or any seller that says they are not responsible for an item once it ships is lying? Find out why these are true in the Don't Bid On It book.)

Does Snipe-To-Win use Spyware?

No! Other auction watch software may use spyware but Snipe-To-Win does not use any spyware. Snipe-To-Win Online is a web based service and you do not install any software on your computer so there is no possibility of spyware with our service.

The Software version of Snipe-To-Win displays advertisements but this feature does not use spyware or any real time ad feeding(ad-server) software.

What are the risks of last-minute-bidding? Do you have a win guarantee?

Snipe bidding is not a guarantee to win. The winner of the auction is not the last bidder, it is the highest bidder. The purpose of Snipe bidding is to avoid unnecessary bidding wars that run the price up for no reason. Snipe bidding increases your chance of winning and of winning at a lower price, but it is not a guarantee to win every auction. We obviously cannot guarantee anything because there are many factors out of our control such as the eBay website and the Internet.

I can tell you from my own experience, I now win more auctions with Snipe bidding than I ever won by placing a bid and hoping for the best. If an auction does not have a Buy It Now option, I will use my Snipe-To-Win.com software to set a Snipe bid. I never use proxy bidding anymore.

Other factors can also cause a bid to fail. Your local Internet service may go out for several seconds at the end-time of the auction. EBay itself may have problems or congestion, your computer may begin a virus scan which takes up all of your system resources, thereby delaying your bid. If you have more than one computer in the house, someone else may begin downloading a video or music files which floods your bandwith making it impossible to place a bid on time. No one can promise 100% that your bid will be placed. They cannot promise that even if you bid manually. The reliability of the Internet and of computers in general is not 100%.

Snipe-To-Win will attempt to warn you if it cannot reach eBay when the auction close time is approaching. Snipe-To-Win will re-attempt to place your bid if the first attempt fails. Every effort has been made to thoroughly test the software and make sure it is as reliable as a program can be. We have no control over eBay or the Internet.

What is the ideal Snipe-Window?

The magical Snipe Window is what makes the difference in a Snipe bid, an early bid, and a late bid. A Snipe Window is the optimal time to place a bid before an auction ends. If you bid too late and bid the sam amount as another snipe bidder, then you will lose because eBay awards the high bid to the person who bid first when two people bid the same amount.

You want to bid at a point where no one else can manually re-bid but early enough so you bid before other snipe bidders.

Ideally, in a perfect world with super fast networks, snipe bids would be placed around five seconds. Placing a bid in the last sixty seconds is not Sniping! If you outbid another bidder, they have plenty of time to re-bid. It is easy for them to justify another $5. Even if they do not win, they still made you pay more for no reason.

Then when they are outbid by a proxy bid, they think, “Well, it’s just five more dollars” and they bid again running up the price several times in the final minute. This is no different than bidding a day in advance. Five seconds does not allow enough time for other bidders to have second thoughts about their bid and counter bid against you.

Unfortunately five seconds is much too small of a window to for practical reasons. If the Internet has any lag, or eBay computers are just a little slow, your bid may not be placed until after the auction closes which is too late. This is why a more practical number is 10 to 15 seconds. This allows for Internet lag and computer response time plus eBay’s response to the bid. Bids generally take 3 to 4 seconds from the time you click the Commit button until it is registered at eBay. The 10 to 15 second Snipe Window is the safest and will have the highest probability of winning an auction without placing a bid too late.

How does Snipe-To-Win know the time at eBay?

EBay uses the U.S. Naval Observatory Master Clock to set their time. They must be very accurate and this is the most accurate reference. Snipe-To-Win sets it's own clock based on eBay's clock. This calculation allows for the most accurate bid placement.

Can I still bid manually?

Yes you can bid manually. Some bidding systems do not allow you to place a Snipe bid on an auction where you have an existing bid. We know there are legitimate tactical reasons for doing this and Snipe-To-Win will allow you to place a standard proxy bid then set a Snipe bid at a specified time. Some special auctions(such as eBay motors and Adult areas) require special bidding approval which requires manual bidding. This is explained on the member site in more detal.

Can I outbid myself?

No, eBay's bidding system does not allow you to bid against yourself. If you place a manual proxy bid of $30 on a $30 opening bid, and a Snipe bid of $100 and no one else bids on the auction, your snipe bid will be placed in the final seconds, but the price will remain $30. You never have to worry about accidentally running the bid up against yourself as long as you only bid using one account. If you have multiple buyer accounts and you place a proxy bid with one, then place a snipe bid with another, you will be bidding against yourself. Make sure you only bid using one account.

My bid was placed but I dont see it on eBay!

EBay will not accept a bid if it is lower than the current high bid. Your $20 bid may have been placed, but eBay will not show it if someone else placed a snipe bid of $30 before you.

Your bid may also be rejected if it is not above the minimum bid amount. For example, if an auction has a current bid of $100.00 you cannot bid $100.01 and become high bidder. You would have to bid 102.50 to become high bidder. You must bid at least the minimum bid amount which varies depending on the amount of the bid and is defined by eBay's Bid Increments. Ebay may reject bids for other reasons including security checks.

Bids may be rejected if additional information is required(such as age verification for adult auctions, product recall notices for toys, or other auctions that have notices that interfere with the normal bidding process).

How do I change, delete, or cancel a bid?

This is so simple. Just right click on the Snipe List in your account then click the delete option. You can also edit the auction bid settings using the Edit button. We make it easy to find all of the features you need. Changes you make before the bid is placed are instant. You can cancel a bid 1 second before it is placed if you want.

Can Snipe-To-Win be used with other auction sites?

No. Snipe-To-Win is optimized for eBay auctions. Other auction sites may have auctions that automatically extend the closing time when a bid is placed. This makes Snipe Bidding impossible and is also part of the reason why other auction sites are less popular. Currently Snipe To Win Online supports ebay.com, ebay.ca ebay.co.uk and ebay.au

Will I receive follow up sales calls or emails for other products?

NO! Never! We will not now or ever make any sales calls to your phone number. We do not even ask for a phone number.

Your email address is required for signup. A confirmation is sent to your email address. Part of the free online service or free software service includes your agreement to join our newsletter which is sent about once a week and includes useful eBay related information. We will not sell, rent, or lease your email address to any outside company.

What does Snipe-To-Win do with the lists of auctions I have won and the amounts I paid for the items?

We do nothing with them. They appear in your account. You can delete them at anytime after the auction closes. Any auctions you snipe are between you, the seller, and eBay. We are strong believers in personal privacy and when you use Snipe-To-Win, you keep your buying PRIVATE!

The software version of Snipe-To-Win keeps all information on your computer and is not shared with any other party besides eBay when the bid is placed.

Do I need DSL/Cable modem or can I use Dial-Up with Snipe-To-Win?

Snipe To Win Online works through our website. You do not need any special connection and you do NOT have to leave your computer running to place snipe bids with Snipe To Win Online.

Snipe-To-Win PC software does require constant Internet access and it must be kept running(obviously it can't place a bid if it is not running).

Can my spouse/children use the software or only me?

Online system: Each account is only for the use of the account owner. Other family members(over 18) can setup their own accounts which are also free.

Software: The software version allows you to setup multiple accounts and you can select wich account should be used when setting a snipe bid.

Can I use Snipe-To-Win on my Mac? On my Windows system?

Yes, the Snipe To Win Online service will work with any computer that can access the Internet and has a web browser including many mobile devices.

The Snipe-To-Win PC software is Windows only.

I do not see XXXX feature, will it be implemented?

Snipe-To-Win is the result of extensive testing and customer feedback. We have included the features people have found the most useful. Some features that sound good, but are never used may not be present. Unreliable or gimmick features are not included. Snipe-To-Win is primarily a buyer's tool. It is not a listing tool or a seller management tool. It is designed for 99.9% of eBay users. If a feature is useful to that tiny percentage of big sellers we may not develop the feature. If a feature is useful to the average eBay buyer, we will certainly discuss the possibility of adding it. We have focused on making the most reliable and most usable software package. That being said, we are always interested in your input. If you have an idea for a feature, or a way to improve an existing feature, please let us know.

I am having trouble ordering, Help ?

See the FAQ on the Member Only site or the Tutorial which will show you how to use the system and answer most questions. Support is limited due to the free nature of the service but we do try to respond to questions. Members can contact us through the contact page of the Member site(you receive this private information after you sign up).

I have emailed you but received no reply

We always reply to customer questions. Someone can usually reply within a few hours but we almost always reply within 24-48 hours during the business week(not weekends or holidays). If you have emailed us and not received a reply in 48 hours, email again. Sometimes email is simply lost. If you still do not receive a reply, check our Most Common Causes Of Missing Email.