Frequently Asked Questions
What does Auction Sniper do?
Auction Sniper is an eBay sniper that automates the process of placing your eBay bid in the closing seconds of any eBay bidding auction, dramatically increasing your chance of winning. We keep it simple: you tell us what you want to win, and we snipe eBay for you.
How much does Auction Sniper cost?
Auction Sniper gives each new user 3 free snipe credits.
Each free snipe credit is good for one winning snipe. After these are used up, you must upgrade
your account. We charge a modest fee of 1% of the final
auction price, with a minimum of 25 cents and a maximum of $9.95 for each auction that we help
you win.
If you use a credit card, Auction Sniper
will automatically bill your account monthly. If you prefer, you can manually add a balance to
your account using PayPal. Find out more on our Pricing page:
http://www.auctionsniper.com/help/auction-sniper-pricing/
To get more free snipes,
just refer your friends and neighbors to sign up with us. Each sign-up will net you 3 free snipes
and of course they get 3 free snipes for trying us too. Everybody wins!
Use this link:
http://www.auctionsniper.com/refer.aspx
How do I pay my bill?
Credit card or debit card with Visa or Master Card
Log in.
If you see the referral page first, click on the "My Snipes" tab.
Click the "Modify Account" link. It is the leftmost link just under the "My Snipes" tab.
Click on Payment Details, Click here, and enter your information.
Click the Update My Account Information button at the bottom of the page.
Once credit card information is in place, you can continue to snipe immediately.
Please also note that after setting up your credit card, if you still see reminder message---click on Refresh, or close/re-open your browser: the browser cache didn‘t get refreshed.
Paypal
To pay by Paypal, log in to http://www.auctionsniper.com/securelogin.aspx, then go to
http://www.auctionsniper.com/AccountInfo.aspx?toTab=payment and pay $5 minimum from your account.
Be sure to put your eBay/Auction Sniper username into the username field. Please also note that after paying, if you still see a reminder message---click on Refresh, or close/re-open your browser: the browser cache didn‘t get refreshed. Note that pending payments and eChecks are not credited instantly.
Also, please wait about 2 hours before inquiring to Tech Support about your payment: Paypal sometimes can take that long to send us the instant payment information.
Check, money order:
To pay by check or money order ($5 minimum, and be sure to include your eBay/Auction Sniper username):
AuctionSniper.com
360 E. 6th St.
Chico, CA 95928
Why do you require my eBay password?
Auction
Sniper is not associated with eBay in any way. Auction Sniper acts
as your bidding agent. To do so, your username, password and email
address must be in our database.
Can I bid using non-U.S. currency auctions?
Yes - We snipe in the currency of the auction. That‘s actually how eBay has it set up. No conversion is going on. So if the auction is in GBP, AU$, Euros or whatever---that‘s what your bid is in. Note there are no currency symbols anywhere but on our Balance page, which is for billing. Our billing is in USD, but all bids are in the currency of the auction.
Do I have to leave my computer on for Auction Sniper to place a bid?
No - Auction Sniper makes sniping on eBay auctions as easy as placing a bid, anyone can do it! Since we snipe eBay from our servers your computer doesn't even have to be on and there is no complicated software to learn. Our bid sniper server will snipe eBay just a few seconds before the auction ends, so you can rest easy.
What is the ideal lead-time?
Lead-time is the number of seconds FROM the end of an auction that you would like Auction Sniper to place your bid. We recommend lead times between 5 and 12 seconds. Currently, Auction Sniper successfully places 99.9% of all snipes with 5-second lead times.
We don't recommend anything less than 5 seconds. Although we send the snipe on time, during peak times an eBay server may not process it in time. This is not the fault of eBay nor us; internet traffic is just heavier at certain times. And during peak periods the default 5 second lead-time, while adequate for most weekday situations, often isn‘t enough for evenings and weekends. Anything under 5-seconds is not recommended. We synchronize from an atomic clock, which calibrates our servers.
We snipe every auction multiple times, from multiple servers and locations. These servers adjust for eBay server lag according to how long their average server is taking. Remember that it‘s in our interests for you to win.
You should increase your lead-time to 7-12 seconds on auctions that close 5-11 p.m. Pacific (eBay) time, and on weekends, when eBay traffic is heavier.
There are risks to sniping. No service or software guarantees your wins. Read more information about the risks of sniping: http://www.auctionsniper.com/help/auction-sniping/sniper-bidding/.
Even though the vast majority of these are due to not enough lead time, eBay server lag or heavier than usual internet traffic, you can redeem free snipes for Did Not Win or Not In Time messages at: http://www.auctionsniper.com/freeSnipes.aspx.
What if I place one bid using eBay by hand, and another one using Auction Sniper? Will Auction Sniper place a bid so that I outbid myself?
Our sniping system needs to be as efficient as possible when placing snipes. If we had to check to see if you are already the high bidder before we snipe it would add an extra step to the process. We like to be able to snipe no matter what to make sure we don't miss any snipes.
If you placed a bid on eBay for $10.00, then you sniped with us for $10.00, the user would get a "HIGH BIDDER" status message. But if you place a bid on eBay for $10.00, then snipe for $15.00, then you will be charged a snipe credit and the status will be "YOU WON!"
If you bid directly on eBay, you should cancel the snipe with us. There‘s not enough time to check to see if the customer is already high bidder and then snipe or not accordingly. We‘re down to seconds, and eBay can easily chew them up on the check, much less the snipe.
Some people have tried to use us just as a safety backup to an existing bid without paying. But our margins are slim and losing snipes aren‘t charged as it is, although the cost to us is the same whether you win or lose.
I sniped at the right time! What happened to my snipe?
Our snipe servers try to adjust for eBay server lag and internet lag, so that eBay processes your snipe with the lead time you’ve specified. However, although the vast majority of snipes do go through on time, eBay can take longer (or shorter) to process your snipe. In addition, eBay will often take even longer to process your bid during peak hours: you might want using slightly higher lead times between 5 and 10pm Pacific Time, particularly on Sunday evenings. Using a 7-12 second lead-time is highly recommended during that time.
How come I’m outbid but my snipe doesn’t know it yet?
We check if you are outbid as follows:
If the item ends within 30 minutes, we may check every 10 minutes
If the item ends in an hour, we may check every 20 minutes
If the item ends in a day, we may check every 12 hours
If the item ends in 7 days, we may not check yet.
Please note that you can click on "Update Prices" just above your snipes, and it will give you this information immediately, so you're only one click away from the information you want.
Also, during peak hours, especially Sunday evenings, our message server can fall behind. Of course, you don’t have to wait for the server to catch up: you can just click on the item in the snipe and go straight to the auction to know how you made out.
What is McAfee SECURE?
McAfee SECURE makes Web sites secure from hackers and certifies it to their customers with a McAfee SECURE certification mark. McAfee ScanAlert certification protects millions of shoppers every day at thousands of retail ecommerce Web sites. Appearance of the certification mark indicates that these sites are compliant with the highest federal Web site security standards, as well as Visa’s Cardholder Information Security, MasterCard’s Site Data Protection and American Express’ data security programs.