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Home > Community > About Me  >  black_widow_sniper
About Me: black_widow_sniper( 296Feedback score is 100 to 499) About Me

Welcome to My Web!


Hi! I first came to eBay in the Spring of 2000
seeking to complete my collection of Marion Zimmer Bradley "Darkover" novels.
Not realizing eBay had alot more to offer, I left and didn't comeback.

After my son, Caleb, complained I never let him play
on the PlayStation I bought him an N64.
Sticker shock at B&M prices sent me fleeing to back
to eBay in the spring of 2001.
After paying too much and losing auctions
I came to the Bidding Board July 2001 seeking help & a sniper was born.



BWS began as my posting ID for the Community boards, and eventually became my buying ID.




My Three Sons!

I have 3 boys.
My son, Caleb was 16 on Valentine's Day.
Minature Pinchers, inTIMadater and DOMinater, are twin brothers born July 24,2001


Teenagers will do anything for money,
including modeling for auction pictures

Black Widow Sniper's Bidding Method


  1. Check all the available items to make sure its the best deal for me
    Including shipping costs and payment options
    Always check the feedback of the seller,
    a neg or two are okay if they were handled in a professional manner.


  2. Determine my true max bid
    not what you think you can win it for, but what's the most you'd be willing to pay for the widget.
    In the case of no other bidders, you're going to pay less anyway.
    Also add some odd cents amount to the bid
    because most people bid in even dollar amount.
    I recently won a bid by .07 because I bid 16.82
    and the other person's proxy was 16.75.

    I recommend Cru's page for further help in determining your true maximum bid.



  3. Determine if you're going to manually snipe, or use a service.
    The service I use is eSnipe.
    It's great for bidding when I'm not around.
    I also use it when I'm busy so I don't forget my bids.



  4. If I am manually going to snipe this is what I do:

    • Open a new window in the browser to the auction's first page.
      Scroll down to the bid box and enter my bid amount.
      It takes me to the bid confirm page.
      But I don't hit bid yet.
      I resize the window so all that is showing in the bid confirm button.
      I always place that window on the left side of my monitor.


    • I open another window to the auction page
      but I click on the bid history,
      which takes me to the second page of the auction.
      I use this page to refresh to see the time left in the auction.
      This page loads faster because it's less graphics intensive.
      I also resize the window to show the time left in the auction
      but big enough to keep my refresh button handy. And I place it on the right side of the monitor.
      So now I have one window open with my bid already to go
      and one with bid history that I keep refreshing to see how much time is left in the auction.


    • I set up my two windows with about 5 minutes left in the auction.
      With one minute left I check my refresh rate.
      I check the time when left when I hit refresh
      and the new time left when I get the new page.
      This lets me know how fast the pages are going.
      If the difference is, for example, 9 seconds
      then I know the last time showing on the auction
      that I can bid has to be at least 9 seconds
      and still have my bid be entered.


    • Keep refreshing until the time left
      is an amount you are comfortable with,
      when it gets to the time you need to bid,
      go back to you bid window and hit place bid.
      You will know within seconds if you won or not.
      If you didn't it's because someone else bid more,
      which if you bid your true max it's ok.



  5. . Remember you can bid at any time prior to the auctions closing.
    Until you get comfortable with bidding
    you may want to bid with more time left,
    instead of sniping.

    And as long as you have bid your true max,
    what ever will be, will be.
    Sniping just cuts down on nibblers attacking your proxy.
    I also like knowing if I won or not.
    LOL...I just hate waiting for auctions to end to see if won my widget


  6. Got Questions about Bidding and Sniping?


    Everything You Wanted to Know About Bidding on eBay but Were Afraid to Ask*




    Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

The above page is maintained by: black_widow_sniper( 296Feedback score is 100 to 499) About Me

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