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Ok..heres how it works...
With the normal ebay, you either place your maximum bid and ebay bids for you or you keep bidding randomly when you wish, hopefully up to and not beyond your maximum!
The problem with entering your maximum bid, is that Ebay bids automatically, so that in a short period of time, a bidding war begins and the price shoots up e.g:
I want a e500 (dont we all) for £1000 (!). Its currently at £25.00 without reserve, with 1 bid.
I put in my maximum at £1000 and leave ebay to bid for me. Unfortunately, the other bidder has also put in a maximum bid via Ebay for £800, so as soon as I place mine, Ebay bids on both of our behalfs, up to the £800 and then finally to my slightly higher bid. This could theoretically take place within minutes of me placing my bid. This then leaves hours or days for the other bidder to decide to up their bid in an auction frenzy, resulting in the price increasing and potentially ending up more than I want to pay.
Esnipe (and other software) works by bidding on your behalf, up to a maximum that you set, but only within the last few seconds of the auction (usually 5 seconds before the end. This is done automatically. This means that in the above case, the first E500 may stay at £25.00 until the last 5 seconds, lulling the bidder into a false sense of security. 5 seconds before the end, esnipe puts my bid in and the final price is just over the £800 maximum of the other bidders. He or she does not have any time to decide to start the bidding war!
Its also good when an item does not have any bidders, as esnipe bids are hidden, therefore people again are lulled into a false sense of security and assume that no one is interested, resulting in a hopefully lower price.
Esnipe is free to set up, but there is a small percentage fee if you win.
Hope this helps!
Ian
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