Ebay Proxy Bidding
Automatic bidding | eBay
Automatic bidding is the easiest way to bid on an eBay auction. Simply enter the highest price you’re willing to pay for an item, and we’ll do the you set up automatic bidding, you can stay ahead of the competition for an item without needing to be on the eBay site.
How to set up automatic bidding
To set up automatic bidding on an auction listing, enter the maximum amount you’d like to pay for the item and select Place bid. We’ll bid in increments on your behalf to keep you in the lead but only up to your limit.
We’ll let you know if someone outbids you and you can decide if you want to increase your maximum limit.
Keep in mind when you’re deciding on the maximum amount you’d like to pay that you’ll need to pay the cost of shipping too.
Tip
Bidding on items can be exciting, but it is a contractual obligation. When deciding your maximum bid, be sure you’re happy to pay that amount if you win the auction.
Why was I immediately outbid?
If you are outbid immediately after placing a bid, it’s likely that another bidder is using automatic bidding and has a maximum limit higher than yours. You’ll need to increase your maximum limit in order to be the highest bidder.
Bid increments
When someone else places a bid, we’ll place a slightly higher bid on your behalf. The amount the bid increases by is known as a bid increment. Bid increments are smaller when the bid price is low and larger in higher price brackets.
Current price
Bid increment
$0. 01–$0. 99
$0. 05
$1. 00–$4. 25
$5. 00–$24. 50
$25. 00–$99. 99
$1. 00
$100. 00–$249. 99
$2. 50
$250. 00–$499. 99
$5. 00
$500. 00–$999. 99
$10. 00
$1000. 00–$2499. 99
$25. 00
$2500. 00–$4999. 99
$50. 00
$5000. 00 and up
$100. 00
Occasionally you’ll see bids increase by less. This means that someone else placed a bid slightly higher than your automatic bid amount.
Proxy bid – The eBay Community
@traff_69, I do not know why you posted the one portion of the article, but there are mistakes all the way through the whole article starting with misspelling “Sniping” as Snipping. If this is how you intend to learn to use ebay, you will be sorry. “Keep in mind that only eBay has a record of your highest bid. Therefore while proxy bidding; you should never be afraid that someone will place successive lower bids just below your highest bid… A perfect strategy for proxy bidding is to have your maximum bid figured out early and placed on the auction”. Actually in practice there are some who do bid against early Automatic or Proxy bids until they uncover how high the price is. Then select an invalid reason to retract their winning bid if it is more than they are willing to pay. That leads to many inexperienced members thinking there shill bidding going on. Having your maximum bid figured out early is fine, but placing it early can cause the automatic bidder to pay more if what I wrote above person who wrote the article is obviously not an experienced ebayer, besides being a poor speller. “Snipping Sniping Snipping is an automatic way of placing bids without necessarily being at the computer physically. The third part services that help automatic bidding are called snipers”. While there are services that can be used to snipe at the last second, many people manually snipe in the last seconds themselves. Some of the services have been left out in the cold if ebay’s bots decide to verify the bidder, by having them login again. Then their bid never gets placed. The term “sniper” was being used on the site before any of those services were available. “Sniping leaves no last minute reaction from other last minute bidders. An effective snapper sniper will place a bid during the last 20 seconds of the auction. An effective sniper will bid much later than that since they know there are services and individual snipers that can literally bid in the last second. However, placing a last second bid is no guarantee it will be the winning bid, if someone places a higher Automatic bid earlier. “Since the seller’s goal is to have buyers purchase a product at the highest price, they find snipping very unethical” author has obviously never sold anything on this site using the auction format, and the above statement is a bunch of hogwash. Sellers count on there being last second bidding. Snipers often raise the price much higher in the last seconds of an auction, and snipers usually Pay. It is the Nibble bidders who hate snipers, and call sniping unethical, because in their quest to pay the lowest price possible they never place an automatic bid for the most they are willing to pay. Besides it is not the winning sniper who raises the price it is the second highest bidder who determines the highest winning bid. There is nothing unethical about sniping. Each person knows what time the bidding will end, and has the same chance as any other member to place their highest bid before the auction ends, using a service or bidding manually, bidding earlier or late in an the suggestion To “always be logged in to ebay” after the Sniping article can cause problems for bidders/snipers especially newer ones and those who log in from different places. Staying logged in for long periods of time does help ebay to recognize users. However, new users who login well before an auction ends and try to bid very late, often get a “Log in again” message if they do that and they miss out on being able to place their is more that is wrong with the article, but I haven’t the time to pick it completely apart. If you really want to know about bidding on ebay, read what they have to say about it in the link below. Not all of the third party information given online about ebay is accurate. If you really want an education on how to use ebay safely, read the various topics on these boards.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FOOLPROOF, BECAUSE FOOLS ARE SO DARNED INGENIOUS! (unknown)
How to Start Winning eBay Auctions by Sniping With Automatic Bidding
When it comes to winning auctions on eBay, there are few practices as controversial—or effective—as sniping.
Sniping is simple: You wait until the end of the auction, then swoop in with a low bid that’s just high enough to win before anyone else can raise their maximum bid. Sniping apps usually take care of the bidding, so you don’t even need to be around to win the auction. It’s a viable but irritating strategy.
Why does eBay sniper software work so well? To understand, we have to talk about how eBay bidding works first.
How eBay Bidding Works
When you enter a bid in an eBay auction, you aren’t entering a bid like you would in a regular auction. You’re entering your maximum bid. If you enter your maximum bid as $20, and the current highest maximum bid from any other bidder is $12, eBay might enter a bid for you at $12. 50. And you very well may win at $12. 50.
Let’s say your maximum bid isn’t the highest bid, though. If someone else bid $21, your bid of $20 would drive their current bid down to $20. 50 or so. Then you’d have a chance to outbid them again. This system is known as proxy bidding because the eBay bidder is acting as a proxy for you.
The problem with the eBay autobidder is that you don’t have much control over the timing of your bid. If someone outbids you, your bid goes up. The proxy system ensures that the winner pays the minimum amount required to win. It also helps eBay sellers make money.
That’s where eBay sniping (a different kind of automatic bidding) comes in.
Instead of letting the eBay automatic bidding system bid for you, your eBay auction sniper will place the bid right at the end of the auction, not giving anyone a chance to adjust their maximum bids.
Does Sniping Really Work?
Most of the evidence points to yes. Bidnapper has collected a number of quotes from researchers that support this idea. The research is getting dated, but in general, experts believe that sniping is effective. According to a 2001 Harvard Study:
“Moreover, the data indicates that incremental bidding significantly diminishes with experience (as measured by the bidders’ feedback numbers), while last-minute bidding increases with experience. ”
In short, more experienced bidders are sniping. Sniping allows you to conceal information (always a good idea in auctions) and bid without giving anyone else time to react. It’s a win all around.
However, there are some important caveats, especially for eBay beginners.
The Balance notes that eBay’s proxy bidding system and the increasing popularity of fixed-price listings mean you could actually win fewer auctions with sniping. It depends on a lot of factors. Remember that the maximum bid you enter for your snipe can still be beaten, no matter how late your bid is entered. If someone else has a higher maximum bid, your snipe is defeated immediately.
In short, sniping generally works very well, but it won’t always win, and it won’t always result in you paying less. If you really want something that doesn’t show up on eBay very often, sniping probably isn’t the best way to go. But in general, it’s a good strategy.
Why Is eBay Sniping Controversial?
Some people think that sniping goes against the spirit of auction sites. Without sniping, if you want to make sure that you win the auction, you need to either enter a very high bid or rearrange your schedule so you can be there at the end of the auction to make sure you win. Sniping software means you can put in a single bid and then totally forget about the auction.
When a snipe bid wins an auction, whoever was previously in the lead to win can feel like they’ve been cheated. Even if they were willing to enter a higher bid, they didn’t get a chance. It feels like someone has stolen the item out from under you.
Interestingly, eBay doesn’t have a problem with sniping. It’s an allowed and effective practice. In eBay’s own words:
“Bid sniping—including the use of software that places bids for you—is allowed on eBay, but it doesn’t guarantee you’ll win an auction. ”
It’s completely legal and allowed. And after you start doing it, you’ll see that it’s a great strategy—eBay’s standard automatic bidding just raises the price of items (which is exactly what eBay wants) and makes people get emotional. When emotion gets in the way of reason, prices go up.
How to Start Sniping Auctions on eBay
eBay sniping couldn’t be easier. There are many websites that help you do it. We’ll take a look at Gixen because it’s totally free.
But there are a lot of other options, including:
JustSnipe
EZ sniper
Auction Sniper
Bidnapper
Some are paid, and some require software downloads, but Gixen is free and browser-based. Many sniping tools also offer browser extensions that save you a couple of clicks.
Keep in mind that to use any of these services, you’ll need to hand over your eBay login information. It might be a good idea to use an extra email address or an entirely different eBay account if you’re going to be sniping.
Let’s walk through a bidding process using Gixen.
Sign in with your eBay username and password to get started. Then go to eBay and find the item you want and make a note of the item number. You can find the item number in the URL or in the top-right corner of the Description box.
Enter the item number and your maximum bid in Gixen and hit Add. You can also group items so you can place snipe bids on multiple copies of the same item without winning them all. If you win one, the other bids won’t be raised in response to someone else bidding.
That’s all there is to it. The sniper’s automatic bidding software will take care of the rest.
Of course, using paid services gives you more options. But Gixen is a great way to snipe a few times and see if it’s worth investing in.
And it’s worth mentioning that you can always snipe using eBay’s proxy bidding system. Just hang out on an item page until the auction is almost over, and register your bid right before it ends. If you feel like sniping software is cheating, this strategy might appeal to you.
This method can work, but you need to be around when the item is ending.
A Few Things to Remember
Sniping is generally pretty straightforward, but there are a few important things to keep in mind.
Don’t retract your eBay bids. You might be tempted to if you won an item and have placed bids on other copies of it, or if someone drove up the price too quickly. But retracting bids violates eBay’s terms of service except under specific circumstances. So don’t do it.
Be careful about over-bidding. When you get started with sniping, it can be easy to put a ton of items on your list. And if they end close together, you might end up winning more of them than you expect.
Remember that sniping isn’t always going to work. If an item has a huge number of bidders or a single very committed bidder, you’re likely to get outbid by eBay’s automatic bidding system. Sniping is best used on smaller items that aren’t seeing a huge amount of competition. Remember that sniping isn’t a guarantee of anything—it might save you a few bucks here and there, but it’s not likely to get you a $1, 000 item for $10.
As long as your expectations are reasonable, sniping can be a great strategy for winning eBay auctions. Just know the limitations, don’t go crazy, and you’ll be fine.
How to Bid on eBay and Win
eBay isn’t always the cheapest shopping site, but using an eBay sniper can help you save some cash. It’s not going to win every auction, and it could actually end up losing you a few, but it remains a viable strategy in many circumstances.
With all of the eBay snipers available online, both as web apps and software downloads, you have plenty of options. Try out a few of the options and start sniping eBay auctions. You’ll get a feel for how effective it is and how to best place your bids to win.
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Dann Albright
(503 Articles Published)
Dann is a content strategy and marketing consultant who helps companies generate demand and leads. He also blogs about strategy and content marketing at
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Frequently Asked Questions about ebay proxy bidding
What is proxy bidding on eBay?
Proxy bidding is upfront bidding of the highest bid. While eBay automatically bids on your behalf with the highest amount incrementally, it can still place the lowest bid and make sure you win. Therefore, this makes the art of proxy bidding extremely easy on eBay.
Does eBay have proxy bids?
You can make your high bid by proxy in an eBay auction. By proxy means that eBay’s automatic-bid feature stands in for you so that your bid rises incrementally in response to other bidders’ bids. … No one else knows for sure whether you’re bidding automatically, and no one knows how high your maximum bid is.
How do you beat proxy bids on eBay?
How to Start Winning eBay Auctions by Sniping With Automatic…Sniping is simple: You wait until the end of the auction, then swoop in with a low bid that’s just high enough to win before anyone else can raise their maximum bid. … That’s where eBay sniping (a different kind of automatic bidding) comes in.More items…•Jun 29, 2018
