Auction Buying Secrets

How To Snipe

First - what is sniping? Sniping is bidding last minute. In some cases, it is "last-second" bidding. Someone may be the only bidder on an item for days and feel sure they were going to get that item. Someone else comes along just near the end and outbids them.

The point of sniping is to bid so close to the end that the original bidder would not have time to go back in and outbid you. So, you win! Maybe. The risk with sniping is that you don't have time to go back in and bid again either. If the original bidder had a high enough bid, an auction's system lets them outbid you even if there is only 1 second left.

So, sniping must be taken very seriously. You must bid the very highest amount you are willing to pay, and the original bidder cannot feel safe with a very small buffer in their bidding amount. And, there may be two or three others waiting until the end to snipe right along with you. Watching the last five minutes of an auction can be amazing!

How do you snipe? We can tell you exactly how through Netscape, and the same principal applies to any browser. Here are the steps.

1. Go to the item page at least 10 minutes before the auction closes. If the price is too high already, you may not want to still bid at all.

2. Minimize this page so it goes all the way across the screen but only three quarters of the way down.

3. Click on "Communicator" at the very top of your browser, then click on "Navigator." This opens a second window. If you don't get a new blank window, check at the bottom of your computer screen to see what else is open that you can close. Some of the newer sneaky ads actually open in a new browser window.

4. Minimize the second browser so that it is also about three quarters of the screen. Using the top blue part of this window, bring it down (with your mouse) so that the bottom of it shows from underneath the first browser window. Now you can see both browser windows at once and click from one to the other easily.

5. Go to the item page with the second browser window.

6. Sign in (so you won't have to take the time to add any information while bidding).

7. Reload the first browser to see the price and how many mintures are left.

8. Go back to the second browser and type in your bid.

9. Click on "Review Bid."

10. Click back to the first browser to see how much time is left. Is your bid still high enough?

11. Keep reloading unitl there are only 30 seconds left (use the stop button after you see the time - you don't need to wait for the photos again). If the internet and an auction are acting with normal speed, you may even wait until there are only 20 seconds left.

12. Click on the second browser window and click on "Place Your Bid."

13. Click on the first browser window and reload.

14. It should be almost over and you should see your high bid. If no other snipers are at work, you probably just won, and the original bidder is mad or disappointed!

15. Last, you ned to keep reloading until the auction is officially closed just in case another bidder outsniped you.

How To Insure Your Bid Against Snipers

There is only one way. Bid the very highest amount you would be willing to pay.

Then, if someone else bids higher, you can sit back calmly and say to yourself that it doesn't matter because you would never have paid that much. If you get mad and think, 'I would have bid one more dollar if I'd known,' your bid was not really your highest amount and you can only get mad at yourself.