Well, I never knew such a thing existed.  Last month, I asked my ebay expert of brother to help me how to make my first bid.  There was a buy it now post at $48, to which we ignored and tried to bid first at $2. 

Much to my surprise, when the deadline for the auction for that item neared, the price already shot up near $80.  Anyway, even if i monitored the last few seconds of the bid, I noticed there seemed to be some automatic un-humanlike bidding going on to get the best higher bids for thos who really wanted the product.

My bro said this was due to ebay sniping software.  What the hell?

fixyourdesktop offers five of their best choices:

#5 – eBay Sniper - This site seems promising, it was simple straightforward and fairly intuitive. But it just plain didn’t work for me. The auctions I pasted into the site, came up as ended (when they weren’t) and I was given various strange undecipherable errors. I like the idea but the execution just isn’t there. Maybe in a few month they’ll update the site and it’ll be as easy as they claim. It is web based, and requires you to keep your computer on, and the web page you are viewing it in open.

Pros:

• Site was easy to use, and intuitive
• Free

Cons:

• Didn’t work
• Many errors given that didn’t make sense
• Requires you to leave your computer on
• Requires you to keep your browser open

#4 – Auction Sniper - A fairly straightforward eBay snipe tool. It’s web based and quite easy to use. The instructions are well written and the web site is rather intuitive. Aside from the cost (they charge a percentage of what you pay), I think this is one of the better eBay snipers out there.

Pros:

• No download required
• Computer does not need to be turned on.
• Tracks Auctions and notifies you of status.
• Bid Groups – Lets you bid on a group of items until you win one at the price you want.
• Claims Redundant internet connections, backup power supplies, and
• Auction Sniper now has a widget/tool bar piece that will allow you to place your bid directly from eBay

Cons:

• Not free. Auction Sniper charges 1% of the total purchase price.
• Again…. NOT free.
• Auction Sniper now has a widget/tool bar piece that will allow you to place your bid directly from eBay
• Some users have recently reported that Auction Sniper suffered an outage lately and thus a few auctions were list (not bid on).

#3 – Bidnapper - is a very nice and feature rich web based solution. It has all the bells and whistles you would expect form this type of service. But it is on the pricey side. There are various pricing models, but it boils down to a monthly fee for its use. They do, however provide a “guarantee” that you will succeed and win bids or your service is extended. They claim to secure your data via various means, and promise to keep it confidential.

Pros:

• Feature rich, easy to use.
• Fairly secure, and guarantee of “success”
• Web based solution, no need to have your computer on.

Cons:

• Expensive, monthly fee
• Only 15 days for the free trial
• Requires cut and paste entry of auctions (unless you use their toolbar in your browser)

#2 – PowerSnipe – Is one of the better combo web/software based solutions. It’s web interface is sparse, but quite well laid out. It does what you need it to do and nothing more. It isn’t free, or it would have scored higher. Has a pretty decent search feature that is helpful when browsing eBay. They do offer a 30 day money back guarantee which is nice. Had the software been less expensive (perhaps a one time fee instead of a recurring fee) this would have given our #1 pick more competition. But it’s lack of features (compared to our #1) and the cost placed it at #2.

Pros:

• Good feature set, and relatively easy to use
• Relatively cheap ($45.99 per year)
• Mac and PC compatible
• Web and Software interfaces available
• Daily auto search features
• Good Customer support

Cons:

• NOT free
• User Interface is not very refined, needs updating
• Did I mention it wasn’t free? Oh and it’s a recurring/yearly fee to use.

#1 – Prospector - by far my all time favorite eBay sniper. This one has so many bells and whistles I could write an entire article on that topic alone. The reason I like it is that it does everything the way I think it should. Best of all, is it’s free (up to 15 snipes per month.) It has a feature rich search function, it uses the latest server based technology (your PC does NOT need to be on) and it works every time. It is a combination Software/Website service. Where you download the software, and schedule the bid, which is sent to the website and they execute the bid for you when you specify. So you don’t need to have your computer on to place the bid. I’ve never had a problem with this software.

Pros:

• Free
• Capable of a true 2 second snipe (places your bid 2 seconds before end of auction)
• Allows you to save your complicated searches and filters
• Frequent updates, and very reliable.
• Extremely fast.
• No need to have your PC on. The bids are made by Prospector servers.
• Excellent customer service (they actually respond)
• NO cutting and pasting of eBay auction numbers. You search and schedule bids from within the Prospector.
• Can search for items being bid on by eBay user ID.
• Can be installed on 2 computers.
• and on and on and on….

Cons:

• Must be installed on your PC. Some minimum requirements.
• If you do more than 15 snipes a month you need to pay for it ($39).
• May not be compatible with Windows 98, 98se, and ME and 64bit Windows.

The choices seem to be plenty, as there are: phantombidder, auctionstealer, snipeswipe, esnipe, cricket jr., jbidwatcher,  among others.

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