How To Beat Ebay Bid Snipers.
Author: KB Lim.
How have encountered the following situation? You like an item currently
auctioned on ebay. The price was perfect and the seller has a 100 percent
feedback score. You place your bid and wait patiently for the auction to end
when suddenly with less than 1 minute left, someone place a slighter higher bid
than you and won the auction. How frustrating!
What is ebay bid sniping?
If you are like me, after a few such incidents, you started to wonder if
it is just bad luck or something else sinister.
Well, I thought you
should know there is something going on ebay known as bid sniping. Bid sniping
is when someone uses automated software or services to watch auctions and bid a
slighter higher price at the very last moment before an auction ends.
Bid Sniping is actually against ebay rules but in my opinion it doesn't
slow the bid snipers down. Ebay doesn't strictly enforce this rule or that it is
difficult to enforce bid sniping. Be aware though you can get banned from ebay
if they caught you.
So how do we beat ebay bid snipers?
There
are two ways, both controversial. You may not agree with it but that's ok. You
are entitled to your own opinions.
Bid Snipping Services
I have
only used this only a couple of times. You can find many websites offering bid
snipping services. They are usually inexpensive and is worth it if you don't
have the time to sit in front of the computer watching the auction end. Now
here's the twist.
Don't use your regular ebay account. Open another ebay
account. This way, even if you get caught, ebay will only ban your new account.
However, do note I have heard from people on some forums that ebay will ban all
accounts under you. I am not sure if this is true since so far it has not happen
to me
Contact the Seller
The second way to beat ebay bid snipers
is to contact the seller directly and arrange to do the transaction outside of
ebay.
Ebay does not encourage it and before you attempt to do this, you
should consider a couple of points. Firstly, I only do this with sellers with
good feedback (99 percent and higher) and have more than 500 feedback. Secondly,
use good old common sense, don't use this method for expensive items. For me,
it's too risky. I only use this method for item less than $100.
Remember
the above two methods have worked for me but maybe it will not work for you or
you do not agree with it. I leave it up to you to decide but I sure beat those
pesky ebay bid snipers.
Dan Lim is an avid ebay fanatic who has been
quietly earning a comfortable living online. Visit his site
http://www.bestnzb.com for more ebay selling secrets and strategies.