...I am bidding on some pretty expensive items right now on ebay and want to assure that I get them, but of course at the cheapest price as well...I have heard of these bidding services but cannot seem to find any information on them...can someone point me in the right direction? My 1st auction ends in 4 hours....HELP!!!

If someone is bidding against you, don't keep pumping the price up.

I've used www.auctionsniper.com with pretty good luck.

Thanks, that is exactly what I'm looking for...any advice as to how many seconds prior to auction close I should have them bid?

I think they do it automatically. Or do you tell them how long before? I used called something like bidnapper.com. In any case, I would be surprised if those sites didn't give you some guidance on how far in advance to set the bid if you do it manually. I think 5-10 seconds is the minimum "just in case." But read the terms on the site you are using. I am sure they tell you those details.

It's also worth noting that if you are bidding on items, you can get cash back. Fatwallet offers it now, and there is a conga for bigcrumbs that offers cash back for your and your referrals' purchases. Just search ebay in this forum. You would have to choose one or the other I believe. So far I've gotten a few $ back from bigcrumbs with almost no purchases.

I am a long time eBay Power Seller (and buyer), and the best advice I can give you is:
1 - Bid at around the 30 second remaining mark. I know that sounds like you're cutting it close, but that gives you the best possible advantage. Also, make sure your connection is fast (cable or DSL) for that time, because if its too slow, the server wont get your bid in time.
2 - If you really, really want the item, make sure you absolutely put in your bottom line bid at that mark - otherwise you wont get another chance to re-bid if you're outbid.
3 - Reiterating what another poster said, never bid an item up over the duration of the auction, you're only costing yourself money at the end.
Good luck!

A little tip, if you have a MyPoints account, you can place you're bid by clicking through MyPoints.com to eBay before you bid, and you get 2 points for every dollar spent! Easy Points!

I've bought a lot of great stuff on eBay....my strategy is to open two windows to the main item page....on one of them click the "Bid" button and input my bottom-line bid. Submit the bid, but do NOT confirm (last step) yet. Keep refreshing the first page until you are as close as you dare (I take it down to 5 seconds, but YMMV). Switch back and click the confirm button to submit the bid.

I rarely bid on expensive "must-have" items, more casual ones, so I'm not as concerned if I cut it too close - that's part of the fun! Best day for me was getting the bid in with one second to spare and winning the item by one penny

Bruce

that's the one I like...

As an off-and-on PowerSeller, I'd disagree with this, if only because 30 seconds gives plenty of time for other people to come in and snipe your bid. If your object is to get the last bid in, then 10 seconds is probably closer to where you want to be.

That being said, if you know the true maximum amount you're willing to spend, all you need to do is bid that amount once. There is no need then to wait until the last minute -- you'll either get the item at or below that maximum amount, or you won't. Getting into this "as cheaply as possible" frenzy causes people to bid multiple times and possibly pay more than they want or need to. Remember one thing: It's not the last bid that wins on eBay. It's the highest bid.

I have no problem with proxy software -- I don't use it, though, because I see no need to do so.

Mike

i use bidslammer.com and like it

I sell a lot on eBay (I sell under two different user names, both PowerSeller accounts) and an occasional buyer. If I want an item being sold via a normal auction-style listing - i.e. not a fixed-price Buy It Now auction - I never ever place a bid until the closing seconds. You are doing yourself no favors by bidding earlier. I use auctionstealer.com to place my bids, they give you up to 3 free bids per week and their default snipe time frame for free users is approximately 12 to 15 seconds before auction end.

ditto

7 seconds is my default

it works great, and i rely heavily on bid group feature when i am buying stuff that a seller has listed multiple times or when several sellers have identical item - most recently on HDMI cables that i literally stole.

i am too cheap to use this on expensive things, so i manually enter at 15 seconds +/- which means i get done bidding around 7 second mark probably

I've used esnipe.com for years and it's been great. It gives you the option to get notification before you bid is executed if the bid you've left is too low. Their servers seem very reliable and their fees are quite reasonable.

My default time is 7 seconds and my notification time is 90 minutes.

Ah, but the manual one- or two-second snipes are the most thrilling of all! Not for the faint of heart, though, and takes some practice.

And be sure to go thru a portal like Bondrewards or bigcrumbs for more cash or bonds as a rebate.

JudyJFLA