OT - Ebay Bidding Tactics

I have been trying to purchase a Narco CP-136 audio panel for almost
two years. Mine works just fine, but is cosmetically flawed, and I
need a new faceplate.

Unfortunately, Narco no long sells faceplates for this unit, so I am
stuck in the used market, which means Ebay.

For at least the last five auctions, I have been out-bid at the very
last second...literally. Today I tried putting in my bid with just 8
seconds to go in the auction, was "high bidder" for 6 seconds....and
was out-bid with literally 1 second left!

Since I was high-bidder by a good $40 (on a $200 unit) with just 6
seconds left, obviously someone -- or something -- is able to submit
bids extraordinarily fast. I've heard that there are programs that
automate the bidding process -- is that what I'm seeing here?

Has anyone used these programs, and can anyone recommend one? It seems
like "cheating" -- but I'm tired of getting beat by two bucks with no
time left on the clock.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Google ebay sniper program.
I don't use one, but there have been auctions that I've missed because I
didn't.
Jim

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have been trying to purchase a Narco CP-136 audio panel for almost
two years. Mine works just fine, but is cosmetically flawed, and I
need a new faceplate.

Unfortunately, Narco no long sells faceplates for this unit, so I am
stuck in the used market, which means Ebay.

For at least the last five auctions, I have been out-bid at the very
last second...literally. Today I tried putting in my bid with just 8
seconds to go in the auction, was "high bidder" for 6 seconds....and
was out-bid with literally 1 second left!

Since I was high-bidder by a good $40 (on a $200 unit) with just 6
seconds left, obviously someone -- or something -- is able to submit
bids extraordinarily fast. I've heard that there are programs that
automate the bidding process -- is that what I'm seeing here?

Has anyone used these programs, and can anyone recommend one? It seems
like "cheating" -- but I'm tired of getting beat by two bucks with no
time left on the clock.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:
[ebay sniping story snipped]

I've used an online sniper once. It didn't make any difference in my
case because I didn't bid enough. Google can put you in touch with
several either online or local ones most of which have free trial for
some number of auctions.

My strategy is to decide what I'm willing to pay and make that my
maximum bid. Then ebay will automatically bid up until your max is
reached OR you win at whatever level is required to win. This beats the
snipers without enticing me to bid "Just $5 more" until I'm spending
more than I should. Just how I do it...

John Stevens
PP-ASEL

I've heard the sniper programs work but I don't use E-Bay enough to bother.
I've had some success with another trick.

Open two screens with the same EBay page. Keep one as the main screen and
the other as the bid screen and get go ahead and enter your bid. Then select
the main screen and hit F5 until your down to about 5 seconds then switch
over and enter the bid.

Remember though, if someone has set a higher max bid you still miss out.


"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...
Google ebay sniper program.
I don't use one, but there have been auctions that I've missed because I
didn't.
Jim

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have been trying to purchase a Narco CP-136 audio panel for almost
two years. Mine works just fine, but is cosmetically flawed, and I
need a new faceplate.

Unfortunately, Narco no long sells faceplates for this unit, so I am
stuck in the used market, which means Ebay.

For at least the last five auctions, I have been out-bid at the very
last second...literally. Today I tried putting in my bid with just 8
seconds to go in the auction, was "high bidder" for 6 seconds....and
was out-bid with literally 1 second left!

Since I was high-bidder by a good $40 (on a $200 unit) with just 6
seconds left, obviously someone -- or something -- is able to submit
bids extraordinarily fast. I've heard that there are programs that
automate the bidding process -- is that what I'm seeing here?

Has anyone used these programs, and can anyone recommend one? It seems
like "cheating" -- but I'm tired of getting beat by two bucks with no
time left on the clock.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

Has anyone used these programs, and can anyone recommend one? It seems
like "cheating" -- but I'm tired of getting beat by two bucks with no
time left on the clock.

We don't use a program, but can consistantly bid with 3 seconds left.
Just use a watch with a second hand and refresh a few times to
determine where exactly the second hand is when the minutes left
change. Then enter bid during the last minute and confirm with the
second hand a couple seconds before the end. Have to enter your top
bid. It'll only cost you what it takes to top the highest bid by 50
cenets or a dollar or whatever.
--
Gene Seibel
Gene & Sue's Flying Machine - http://pad39a.com/gene/
Because we fly, we envy no one.

You can bid to your personal ceiling, and eBay's software
will increment your bid to be the winner unless someone else
has a higher ceiling in place.

Why not get some paint and body putty [plastic] and repair
your face plate.



"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
|I have been trying to purchase a Narco CP-136 audio panel
for almost
| two years. Mine works just fine, but is cosmetically
flawed, and I
| need a new faceplate.
|
| Unfortunately, Narco no long sells faceplates for this
unit, so I am
| stuck in the used market, which means Ebay.
|
| For at least the last five auctions, I have been out-bid
at the very
| last second...literally. Today I tried putting in my bid
with just 8
| seconds to go in the auction, was "high bidder" for 6
seconds....and
| was out-bid with literally 1 second left!
|
| Since I was high-bidder by a good $40 (on a $200 unit)
with just 6
| seconds left, obviously someone -- or something -- is able
to submit
| bids extraordinarily fast. I've heard that there are
programs that
| automate the bidding process -- is that what I'm seeing
here?
|
| Has anyone used these programs, and can anyone recommend
one? It seems
| like "cheating" -- but I'm tired of getting beat by two
bucks with no
| time left on the clock.
| --
| Jay Honeck
| Iowa City, IA
| Pathfinder N56993
| www.AlexisParkInn.com
| "Your Aviation Destination"
|

That's the technique I use. I also determine the max that I'm willing to
pay and enter that one and only bid with only seconds left in the auction.
If I don't win, I'm not disappointed because I bid as much as I was willing
to pay without giving new bidders much of a chance to respond to my bids.

Jim

That's the technique I use. I also determine the max that I'm willing to
pay and enter that one and only bid with only seconds left in the auction.
If I don't win, I'm not disappointed because I bid as much as I was willing
to pay without giving new bidders much of a chance to respond to my bids.

That's exactly the technique I used, and got beat out by TWO BUCKS.

I'd have gone up $2, given the chance. Of course, who knows how high I
would have had to bid to beat the winner...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Why not get some paint and body putty [plastic] and repair
your face plate.

I did just that, Jim. In fact, I rebuilt/replaced the entire upper
left corner of the faceplate with JB Weld, which is about the greatest
stuff ever invented.

After drilling, sanding and painting, it looked PERFECT, and worked
great -- until the temperature dipped below zero, and Mary forgot to be
extra careful when switching from Com 1 to Com 2.

*crack!* The repair gave way, and it's been bugging me ever since...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On 2006-11-27, wrote:

Jay Honeck wrote:
[ebay sniping story snipped]

I've used an online sniper once. It didn't make any difference in my
case because I didn't bid enough. Google can put you in touch with
several either online or local ones most of which have free trial for
some number of auctions.

My strategy is to decide what I'm willing to pay and make that my
maximum bid. Then ebay will automatically bid up until your max is
reached OR you win at whatever level is required to win. This beats the
snipers without enticing me to bid "Just $5 more" until I'm spending
more than I should. Just how I do it...

John Stevens
PP-ASEL

A detail that has always worked for me - when setting your maximum bid,
set it to something like $101 instead of just a round number, a couple of
times that allowed me to be the winner by just a dollar or so. :-)

-Milen