Sniping on eBay...There must be tricks I don't know.

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Before you read my comment, know that I deal with cyber-security every day, and this makes me a bit wary of other sites' security practices.

Since Gixen is a proxy service, what you're doing is giving them your eBay credentials so they can bid on your behalf. Do you trust them, and that includes all their employees, disgruntled or not? Do you trust their security in protecting your confidential information? If the answer is yes to both, enjoy! It's a great way to buy razors.

PS, what's the opposite of disgruntled? Gruntled? Not-disgruntled?

Just exploring the downsides from the point of view of someone fairly naive concerning these matters. I have question. What's the worst a disgruntled Gixen employee could do to a user such as myself of the Gixen services?

Thanks and happy shaves,

Jim

 

[rudyt]

Just exploring the downsides from the point of view of someone fairly naive concerning these matters. I have question. What's the worst a disgruntled Gixen employee could do to a user such as myself of the Gixen services?

Good question. Does eBay store credit card and/or PayPal information? If not, probably the most serious thing they can do is script a bunch of purchases in your name and you have to go through the hassle of proving you didn't buy them. They could also lock you out and delete your account - probably not an issue unless you are a dealer and have a track record you want to preserve.

The biggest breach that can cause you grief is leaking your credit card info, but that doesn't involve eBay, and is pretty much common to all online shopping. My personal rule is that only *major* online shopping sites ever get my credit card.

 

[global_dev]

There are many kinds of auctions including sealed bid auctions.

One "rule" of negotiating a price is when the price gets to where you are OK being either a buyer or a seller.

For instance, you and another guy collect Puma razors. You are trying to buy his razor for $200 and he says that's too low and offers to buy your Puma razor for $200. If won't sell yours for that price...your offer was too low.

i was just reading about a study or concept that was similar but it was that you got the item for free or very little but wouldnt sell it for less than you would buy it from another at the high price even though you were asking to by his for him at a lower price.

 

[rudyt]

What's the worst a disgruntled Gixen employee could do to a user such as myself of the Gixen services?

I can't edit my reply to you, so I'll do an addendum here.

If your eBay password is the same as your email password, now the hackers have carte blanche to steal all sorts of information buried in your emails. Worse if your eBay password matches your credit card online password, since your email address is probably the credit card account username.

 

[sanch]

OMG! I thought the only people that used this saying were my family! Are we in some way related?

However, our version goes, "'I see', said the blind man to his deaf dog as he picked up his hammer and saw."

Yea I just used the short version!!! We very well may be lol!!

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I can't edit my reply to you, so I'll do an addendum here.

If your eBay password is the same as your email password, now the hackers have carte blanche to steal all sorts of information buried in your emails. Worse if your eBay password matches your credit card online password, since your email address is probably the credit card account username.

All my passwords are the same, MyPassWord.

That's safe, right?

Just kidding of course. Your experience and thoughts about this are appreciated.

 

[MrCrispy]

I have used 'Myibidder.com' for years. It has won me many nice auctions I would have missed or paid more for...

A couple of advanced tricks:
a) default snipe time is 5 sec before auction close - so set yours to 3-4 sec. It warns you might hit a slowdown that could interfere with the bid, but I have never had it fail.
b) a BIG pain, but DO NOT watch anything you want to buy, let alone directly bid on it.

Why? Because the auction algorithms have gotten good enough that it knows what you view, how long you view it, and any associated views. This means that if I watch 5 nice W&Bs listed as 'old rasor' with no description - anyone who stumbles onto one of those 5 razors will see the other four as 'also viewed'. I try to leave no footprints, and I check every listing I view for YOUR footprints

When I find that must have item, I carefully copy the item number from the listing into the sniping tool. I then do not view the item again until its over. A little extreme, but no extra expense.

I used to test software for a living and my wife worked at eBay for 5yrs.
The finer edge of software has moved past me, but I still have a pretty sharp toolkit.

Chris

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I just lost an auction.

It's the first auction I've lost snipping with Gixen when my bid was high enough to win but didn't. I got hit by the bid increment rule. My bid was higher than the winning bid but not high enough to beat the winner and the bid increment rule.

I have no problem with the rule or anything else. Since it was an expensive razor, and since I have another one exactly like it, maybe I was being greedy or spending money I shouldn't have and thus was protected from either by the rule.

Still, at this moment, I'm not happy about it. I wanted the razor. It would be easier to accept losing the auction had my bid been beat (and perhaps it would have been by an automatic bid had it been accepted).

Win some. Lose some.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Keto]

I just lost an auction.

It's the first auction I've lost snipping with Gixen when my bid was high enough to win but didn't. I got hit by the bid increment rule. My bid was higher than the winning bid but not high enough to beat the winner and the bid increment rule.

I have no problem with the rule or anything else. Since it was an expensive razor, and since I have another one exactly like it, maybe I was being greedy or spending money I shouldn't have and thus was protected from either by the rule.

Still, at this moment, I'm not happy about it. I wanted the razor. It would be easier to accept losing the auction had my bid been beat (and perhaps it would have been by an automatic bid had it been accepted).

Win some. Lose some.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Oh very interesting situation there Jim. So if I understand correctly your bid was higher but you didn't have a big enough range, increment, and because of that you lost the auction?

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Oh very interesting situation there Jim. So if I understand correctly your bid was higher but you didn't have a big enough range, increment, and because of that you lost the auction?

Yes, exactly. The rule is you have to be a certain amount higher than the existing bid. I wasn't high enough to have my bid entered.

The details of the rule are published so it's no secret.

My only bid went in about three seconds before closing (I had it set up that way with Gixen) but was rejected by eBay.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Keto]

Yes, exactly. The rule is you have to be a certain amount higher than the existing bid. I wasn't high enough to have my bid entered.

The details of the rule are published so it's no secret.

My only bid went in about three seconds before closing (I had it set up that way with Gixen) but was rejected by eBay.

Happy shaves,

Jim

No secrets that's a good thing.thanks, v

 

[Namkcakram]

I just lost an auction.

It's the first auction I've lost snipping with Gixen when my bid was high enough to win but didn't. I got hit by the bid increment rule. My bid was higher than the winning bid but not high enough to beat the winner and the bid increment rule.

I have no problem with the rule or anything else. Since it was an expensive razor, and since I have another one exactly like it, maybe I was being greedy or spending money I shouldn't have and thus was protected from either by the rule.

Still, at this moment, I'm not happy about it. I wanted the razor. It would be easier to accept losing the auction had my bid been beat (and perhaps it would have been by an automatic bid had it been accepted).

Win some. Lose some.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Been there, but rarely and Ive been using Gixen about 3-4yrs now.

I still choose to snipe because I’ve never had gixen fail to attempt my bid since becoming a paid member, and it’s worth the small risk in order to weigh options and set my bid in advance removing my emotions from the auction.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Been there, but rarely and Ive been using Gixen about 3-4yrs now.

I still choose to snipe because I’ve never had gixen fail to attempt my bid since becoming a paid member, and it’s worth the small risk in order to weigh options and set my bid in advance removing my emotions from the auction.

Yes.

I also know that by bidding high (that is, by adding "enough" dollars to my "max" bid) I can just about win them all. Mostly when I do that I do not actually end up paying more than I had established as my "max," but there's always the risk.

There are also advantages and disadvantages in the various bid entry times available to paid members of Gixen. I might have won the auction in question with an earlier bid entry time (say 10 seconds). My bid entry was at 3 seconds. However, had it been at 10 seconds someone might have quickly submitted a winning bid just high enough to beat mine.

I've submitted many bids where I didn't really expect to win (low ball bids). Lost most of those, but won some. Most (maybe all) that I wanted to win badly enough to bid high, I've won. This auction was neither of those. It could have been won (probably) had I bid high, but I might have paid more than I was winning to pay.

I was bidding on a SR. This particular razor sells at auction for somewhere between about $200 and about $250. The one I bought earlier (a few months ago) I got at $203 (with my bid being at about $240). My bid yesterday was a bit over $220, and was higher than the selling price but not by enough for eBay to accept it (once the winning bid had been entered). No way to prevent the bid increment rule from sometimes coming into play.

As I said, it's all okay.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Steve56]

I’ve encountered the bid increment rule too.