If you bid for a few things on eBay, the chances are that more quickly or later youll end up getting your bid beaten at the very last second by a sniper. This may be a frustrating acquired skill , and while in theory sniping is against the rules and you can report it to eBay, in practice they never do anything about it.

The bad news is that theres only one way to beat the sniper and thats to become the sniper. The sizeably workable news, though, is that once you understand sniping you might make use of it to win auctions at a far lower price than you would otherwise.

Manual Sniping.

Manual sniping isnt that hard, if you have a lot of time to spare and a reasonably fast Internet connection. Write down when each auction that are bidding on ends, and then build sure that youre sitting there in front of the page for that vital last minute. You might then outbid the current winning bidder, or defend your own winning bid.

The only tip you really absolutely need to remember for manual sniping is to contruct sure that you set your maximum bid quite high otherwise you might be automatically outbid, and the auction will have ended before you might bid again.

Also, its not assessment of value your instant to compete against someone who is using an automated sniping service if its any great, then they will always manage to outbid you. In the sniping arms race, you absolutely need to find a sniper of your own.

Automatic Sniping.

If you type ebay sniping into your favourite search engine, you will come up with plenty of online services that will snipe on your behalf for a small fee. They usually let you have a free trial, so give it a go.

If you dont want to pay each instant for an online accomadation , then you might be better off taking a piece of software like iSnipeIt (http://www.isnipeit.com) or SnipeRight (http://www.sniperight.com). You might pay for these once and make use of them for as long as you want. Once youve installed the software on your computer, you tell it which auctions you want sniped and the maximum amount youre willing to pay. The software will then place the bid with only a few seconds left. The only disadvantage is that you absolutely need to be able to leave your computer on nearly all the instant, or you might miss the finish of some auctions.

A Sniping Alternative.

If this all sounds a bit too much like playing dirty for you, then is another, more low-technology way to get around sniping. You might just electronic mail the seller and say that you we are sniped at the last minute but would really like the item. If they have another to sell, the chances are theyll agree to sell it to you for the price the auction closed at.

Of course, theres more to eBay than just bidding the site offers a whole set of tools to help you manage your auctions. In the next electronic mail , well take a look at these tools.