by sir_snipes_alot

Greetings! If you are visiting this page, it is probably because you are interested in learning a new technique for placing a "time conscious proxy bid" (snipe). There are many techniques used by bidders to place such a bid, I have tried many over my years on eBay and have settled on this technique. At the end of my page I will provide you with links to other pages for different techniques.

My technique uses a very handy auction management software package - this package is called AuctionTamer. This is a free software package for buyers and I highly recommend it's use for managing all your auctions - whether it be here on eBay or elsewhere.

First - Download the AuctionTamer Software here Download the AuctionTamer Software here. Then install it on your PC.

You must now set up a few preferences in the AuctionTamer to establish your user ID and password for the program to use.

1.) Click on "View"
2.) Click on "Preferences"
3.) In the User ID Tab - set up your eBay user ID and Password

Add your auction item/items to AuctionTamer's watch list in the bottom window:

In the top window - open the items auction page. You just click on the eBay tab, and use the browser window as you would any other browser. Do your search and display the auction page. Once your auction item is displayed - click on the "add item" button. This will place your item on the watch list in the bottom half of AuctionTamer.

Determine you Maximum Proxy Bid - then find the "my bid" box on the auction item line in the bottom watch list. Enter your Maximum Proxy amount in this box - this should be the absolute maximum amount you are willing to pay for the auction item.

Placing Your Manual Time Conscious Proxy Bid

1.) Synchronize AuctionTamer to eBay's Time - click help --> then update timer --> then Update eBay Timer

2.) Double click on the blue bar with your auction items title in the lower watch list box

3.) In the top browser window - scroll to the bidding box - review the amount - click review bid

4.) In the top browser window - review your bid amount one more time - make sure the decimal separator is in the right place - make sure your user ID and password have been entered by AuctionTamer

5.) Scroll the top browser window so that you see the place bid button, and leave it where you can easily click on it.

6.) Watch the auction time count down on your auction item in the bottom watch list - when it reaches the point in time where you want to place your bid - click on the place bid button in the top browser window. Processing times will vary depending on your PC configuration, your connection to the internet, and network congestion. Start somewhere around (15) seconds until you have a good feel for the normal processing time - you can then adjust your timing accordingly.

Good Luck with your bidding!



AutoBid

AuctionTamer includeds a time conscious bidding feature that requires AuctionTamer to be running it is called AutoBid. AutoBid works with eBay, Yahoo and BidVille auctions. This feature does not replace esnipe, it just gives you another way of placing a bid.

To set up AuctionTamer to use autobid - you will need to follow the following instructions.

If you already have a column named Buff on your AuctionTamer item list then skip to step 6.

First you will need to create a column named Buff in the AuctionTamer item list. To do this:

1) Click on the Open tab on the AuctionTamer List.

2) Right-Click with your mouse on the gray part of the heading like Description and you will see a menu popup as shown below.

3) Select Add Column and the Add Column screen will come up as shown below.

4) Enter Buff in the Heading and keep the Type Text and change the Alignment to Right and press OK.

5) Now you can drag the new Buff column to a better position like next to My Bid. Just left click and hold the new Buff column and drag it. You can also adjust the size of the new Buff column by placing the mouse pointer on the separation line after the Buff heading and left click and hold to adjust it to the size you want.

6) Make sure your User ID and Password are correct in Preferences.

Now you are ready to snipe using AutoBid. To snipe just enter your bid amount into the items My Bid column and a buffer in seconds before the end of the auction to snipe, like 20 seconds in the Buff column.

If you need to specify a quantity for dutch auctions then you just need to create a column called My Qty. This will allow you to bid on more than one item for that auction. If you don't create this column or if you leave it blank it will default to a quantity of one.

5 Minutes before the end of the auction, AuctionTamer will bring up the AutoBid screen with the auction item in a separate window. Then when it's counter is zero, AutoBid will place the bid for you. The neat thing about this sniper is that you can see everything happening, but your computer needs to be on with AuctionTamer running and your timer needs to be correct.

Also be sure you use the Help / Update Timer feature to synchronize AuctionTamers' time with eBay before you use AutoBid.

Tips:

-->You can have as many AutoBids activated as you want.
-->You can cancel AutoBid before the AutoBid screen shows by deleting the info in the My Bid and Buff column.
-->You can cancel AutoBid after the AutoBid screen is showing by clicking the Cancel AutoBid button.
-->Once the AutoBid screen is showing you can always place your bid by scrolling down until you see the Submit button and placing the bid yourself.