What is ConsumerSniper? ConsumerSniper is an eBay auction sniper. That is, a software agent which will automatically bid on eBay auctions for you during the closing seconds of the auction. Sniping is a proven method of winning items cheaply, preventing bidding wars that drive the price up.
The advantage of ConsumerSniper is that the software agent is hosted on our own servers and not on your computer. This means that you don't need to be in front of your computer, lying in wait, getting ready to snipe your bid in at the last moment.
You don't need to be in at all.
In fact you don't even need to have your computer switched on.
You configure your maximum bid on our servers at any time which is convenient to you.
Then you forget about it and get on with other things.
You certainly don't need to think about getting up in the middle of the night to place your bid on an auction which is taking place in a different time zone.
Actually, you don't have to use your own computer at all.
You can be at work or on holiday - anywhere in the world and you can access the ConsumerSniper servers thorugh any local internet connection.
Sniping software on your own computer typically costs about £35. £35 pounds can buy you a lot of bids on ConsumerSniper - and every ConsumerSniper bid bought as a batch is guaranteed. This means that you only pay for the bid if it is a winning bid. You can even manage your ConsumerSniper auctions through your mobile phone if you use an internet service.
"There are also risks to banking on a last-minute attempt. Such bidders may find themselves unexpectedly busy when the auction closes or unable to get a very late bid to transmit successfully." Best to Bid Late on eBay
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Getting started Makes sure that you have some bid credits. This means that you have taken advantage of our free bids offer or that your bid account is in credit.
You will see the credit status of your account in the panel at the top of the left side-bar on your screen.
Go to the "My auctions" option on the top menu car of your screen.
This is the page which contains all of the details of your auctions which are pending or which you have recently been bid on.
If you have a number of auctions already configured in "My auctions" then you may well find that this page takes a few seconds to appear. This is normal and it is because the page is retrieving the latest auction information from EBay.
Click on the "new item" button. A form will appear. The item number is the number of the EBay auction. Copy this from the EBay auction into the ConsumerSniper new auction form. Enter your maximum bid in the space "max bid". Click Submit if you are happy with the details you have entered. Click dismiss if you have made an error or want to stop the process for any reason.
That's all there is to it.
As soon as you Submit your auction number and maximum bid, ConsumerSniper will retrieve the auction information from EBay and list it on your "My auctions" page. You will see a lightbox appear and another opportunity to confirm that this is indeed the auction that you want to bid. Once you confirm, your pending auction bid will be listed. ConsumerSniper updates the auction details automatically every hour but if you want a more recent update, then click "Refresh" and you will get the latest status of the auction. ConsumerSniper will also include a picture of the item on sale so that you can remind yourself of what it is - and even drool over it in anticipation of winning it for yourself!
Is ConsumerSniper faster than other sniping services? By faster, you are probably asking whether we can get your bid in closer to the end of the auction than other sniping services.
When we were setting up and testing ConsumerSniper, we were getting bids in place 1 second before the end of the auction. This really is very very serious "last-moment" bidding. We can do this. It is no problem.
We decided that this was really too close to the end of the auction. One small glitch - either in our system - or in eBay's - or in between the two and the bid could arrive one second after the auction which would mean that you could lose the auction.
We pulled back the bidding so that we lodge your bid for you a few second before the end of the auction so that it is entered with eBay just a few seconds before close of bidding.
Would you like your bid to get in with a narrower margin? We wouldn't recommend it. Face it, the point of sniping is to get your bid in so late that there isn't time for a human bidder to assess the situation, put in a new bid, confirm their new bid and to log it with eBay. We reckon that would take at least 15 seconds - and that's even if the human bidder is really on the ball and really fast.
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Are my eBay details secure? ConsumerSniper encrypts your eBay password so that not even the site administrators have access to it. Of course, it is necessary for you to enter your eBay userID and your password into your ConsumerSniper account profile so that our server can enter your sniped bid on your behalf. All sniping services act in this way.
ConsumerSniper uses the SSL cryptographic protocol which provides security and data integrity for communications over the Internet.
ConsumerSniper also has its own SSL certificate. You will see this as our url has a geen address bar which is triggered by the SSL certificate and shows you that you can use our bidding service with confidence and that your access details for third party sites are held and used securely.
You will also find our XXXXX verified security seal at the top right of your ConsumerSniper screen.
Will ConsumerSniper bid all of my maximum bid? ConsumerSniper works in tandem with eBay's proxy bidding system.
eBay's proxy system holds a fund of money on your behalf - or at least an authority to spend a certain amount. That's what is really happening when you put a maximum bid value into eBay.
eBay will use your fund to raise the maximum bid of the item you are trying to buy. eBay will only raise the current maximum by one increment above the current value.
This is just enough to put you in the lead.
When ConsumerSniper places your maximum bid moments before the end of the auction, you are actually placing the bid with eBay's proxy system. It is eBay which then places your bid one increment above the current bid. eBay makes sure that you never spend more than you need to win the auction.
However, do be aware that if the maximum bid which you place with ConsumerSniper is not sufficient to outbid the current bid by a whole increment, then you may still lose the auction even though your maximum bid was slightly higher than the current bid.
The requirement of a whole increment increase is the same whether you are using ConsumerSniper, a desktop sniper, Ebay's proxy system, you are nibbling the auction or you are doing your own sniping manually.
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