Weird Al Yankovich wrote a song about having a bit of an obsession with purchasing from the hot online auction site Ebay. During the song, he mentions a lyric I’d never quite understood, so I had to do more research. The part goes: I am the type, who…. is liable to snipe you…. with two seconds left to go-o-o.” Sniping on Ebay is the practice of positioning yourself online in a way that you are the highest bidder within the last few possible seconds. Previously, this has only been possible with fast reflexes and a little bit of luck. During my research, however, I came upon several sites that offer this service and a few other tricks to allow you to win the auction of your dreams. Some are just downright sneaky.

According to Wikipedia, sniping is not illegal at auction sites, but is understandably frowned upon by many of the customers that shop there. It takes some of the competition out of winning the auction, thereby limiting the amount of money that a sale could take in. Some of the auction sites have set up counter-measures or deterrents. One such deterrent requires members to enter a randomized code when placing their bids, which unfortunately limits bids from members with visual impairments as well. Other deterrents are in place; still sniping is considered a social transgression, rather than an illegal act.

Auctionsniper.com is one of these sites. You likely are bidding against someone using a tool like this.

Another nifty auction-helper is the eBay Toolbar (www.lowcostbid.co.uk) that allows you to check all auctions for misspelled or badly-worded titles. The toolbar searches for the terms on eBay, allowing you to bid on items other haven’t searched for. For example, let’s say you’re looking to win an auction for a Wii bundle with everything. You type in “Wii” and the toolbar looks for everything from “iWi” to “Wiii.” Typos are the bidder’s friend here, and there are plenty of them to go around. You can even enter the word, no downloads required at www.fatfingers.com to find all the typos listed. There will be few, if any, bids on these items because general searches don’t return the misspelled auctions.

For a complete guide on making money and winning auctions with eBay and other auction sites, visit Amazon.com. The tips and tricks you pick up there and at the websites mentioned here are bound to make you a pro bid-winner in no time! And just think: you didn’t even have to listen to Weird Al!

Popularity: 4% [?]

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!