pricecharting sniper tool - is that what y'all do

I've been trying to get an edge with finding games and buying them on ebay, I was told about this pricecharting sniper tool. So I pulled it up and I started watching. Then something comes on the screen, it's a couple of gba boxes that are listed below market value by the time I clicked on it it had already had 8 views and within 5 minutes it was bought, lol.



My question is this? Is that what people do, sit by there computer all day long waiting for discounts and trying to buy this stuff? Good grief. The other week I got lucky as I searched for a listing that had just put something up and while I didn't buy it, I saw it LIVE before it was bought around 10 minutes later. 



I want deals, but this seems pretty taxing to sit at your computer all day waiting for 10 to 20 dollar savings. I mean there have been some good deals I've seen that I've missed because i can't sit there all day looking at a screen. What am I missing?
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Comments

  • Apparently people have auction sniping tools. It is 2019, so I would assume even more tools are available that I don't know about as I don't use any auction tools other than saved searches.



    You want discounts? Buy larger quantities from people on NA and locally and they might give you a discount.  
  • Yeah...eBay has sniping tools. It's been going on for years and eBay doesn't do shit about it. I've been sniped on quite a few things...that's why I don't bother with auctions anymore...fuck that noise.
  • Originally posted by: Mega Tank



    Apparently people have auction sniping tools. It is 2019, so I would assume even more tools are available that I don't know about as I don't use any auction tools other than saved searches.



    You want discounts? Buy larger quantities from people on NA and locally and they might give you a discount.  

    I'm working on my saved search list, but yeah people have tools other than auction sniping. Just for SNG go to an item that you are searching for and use advance to check the sold listings. Some of the deals that you might see will make you cry. But those deals were made sometimes minutes from when the item was BIN listed.



     
  • Originally posted by: Astor Reinhardt



    Yeah...eBay has sniping tools. It's been going on for years and eBay doesn't do shit about it. I've been sniped on quite a few things...that's why I don't bother with auctions anymore...fuck that noise.

    The auction sniping doesn't bother me as much because if I want to bid 200 at the end of an aution on an item that the current bid is less than $10, then I'm most likely going to win that auction with a bid no higher than the last highest bid from mine. But the BIN sniping is much worse, believe me.



     
  • Originally posted by: 14u2ponder

    But those deals were made sometimes minutes from when the item was BIN listed.



     



    Bots.

     
  • Originally posted by: Tulpa

     
    Originally posted by: 14u2ponder

    But those deals were made sometimes minutes from when the item was BIN listed.



     



    Bots.

     

    where can i get me a bot, lol



     
  • There are billions of people on this planet. I'd guess that there are thousands of people manually searching Good BINs every minuite of the day.
  • Well, this tool exists. And you were looking into using it. And you saw that other people are using it. You can't be surprised about it.



    I would imagine that people grabbing something in the first few minutes just buy anything that appears under the average, not looking for anything specific.
  • Originally posted by: acomicbookguyc



    There are billions of people on this planet. I'd guess that there are thousands of people manually searching Good BINs every minuite of the day.

    For some, sure, but it doesn't explain the instances where people have reported items bought the second it's listed. Before a page view had generated (and well before it hits public view.) There are definitely bots being used.



     
  • Originally posted by: 14u2ponder

     
    Originally posted by: Tulpa

     
    Originally posted by: 14u2ponder

    But those deals were made sometimes minutes from when the item was BIN listed.



     



    Bots.

     

    where can i get me a bot, lol



     

    Russia


     
  • Originally posted by: Tulpa

    Originally posted by: acomicbookguyc



    There are billions of people on this planet. I'd guess that there are thousands of people manually searching Good BINs every minuite of the day.

    For some, sure, but it doesn't explain the instances where people have reported items bought the second it's listed. Before a page view had generated (and well before it hits public view.) There are definitely bots being used.



     





    I buy within seconds of items being listed quite frequently, especially if I'm "following" a person that is currently listing items. I do believe bots exist for cheap, common games (Mario Kart 64 cart listed for $20) but it's all manual on anything that's seriously undervalued.
  • Originally posted by: Maertens29

     
    Originally posted by: Tulpa

     
    Originally posted by: acomicbookguyc



    There are billions of people on this planet. I'd guess that there are thousands of people manually searching Good BINs every minuite of the day.

    For some, sure, but it doesn't explain the instances where people have reported items bought the second it's listed. Before a page view had generated (and well before it hits public view.) There are definitely bots being used.



     







    I buy within seconds of items being listed quite frequently, especially if I'm "following" a person that is currently listing items. I do believe bots exist for cheap, common games (Mario Kart 64 cart listed for $20) but it's all manual on anything that's seriously undervalued.

    Like I said, I don't doubt that it happens, but even people here have reported stuff selling faster than humanly possible. Like, they hit list and PayPal immediately reports money received. Those are definitely bots.



     
  • I've read speculation that some folks have access to the ebay API, and can get access to listings seconds before a person could actually get the page to load. And depending on which server a lister is using (continent, or side of the USA), there can be a half minute or minute delay before people accessing different ebay servers are able to see it. There are definitely people with complex search strings sniping listings automatically the second they list. I'd only question what they do when they accidentally get a false positive and accidentally auto-pay $100 for an "earthbound box that is complete" instead of a "complete in box earthbound."



    If you have indeed had a listing sniped the second you listed it, can you share the name of the buyers here? I'm not asking for personal info, but just whether it's an obviously automated random account name used for sniping, or if it's a big seller on ebay like Pedro or JJ Games.
  • Also, it's more or less known that there are sellers using other software systems on places like ebay. I've unknowingly bought from them a few times. Basically what they do, is they have software tracking a series of generic brand new items and what they sell for somewhere like Amazon. Then they calculate what their profit margin would be after fees, and undercut that seller on ebay a certain amount. When someone buys their ebay listing, they just have that Amazon seller ship to the buyer. On the ebay seller's end, there's zero human involvement.



    They're basically flipping other peoples' items, but they're operating on smaller margins than a human would find worth their time, and do it in volume.
  • Long search strings and a second monitor while browsing newly listed and BIN's. Sniping tool for auction only items always, unless the ending date lines up to a time that I'm already free and home.
  • Originally posted by: BalloonFight



    Long search strings and a second monitor while browsing newly listed and BIN's. Sniping tool for auction only items always, unless the ending date lines up to a time that I'm already free and home.



    Which sniping tool do u use?

     
  • Originally posted by: VelvetElf

     
    Originally posted by: BalloonFight



    Long search strings and a second monitor while browsing newly listed and BIN's. Sniping tool for auction only items always, unless the ending date lines up to a time that I'm already free and home.



    Which sniping tool do u use?

     



    I've been using Ezsniper.com for over a decade. Been super reliable.

     
  • Remember back in the day when WE used to be the sniping tool???



    I would just remember when an auction I was watching would be ending and be on my computer for that time.



    I wouldn't bother with what has to be hell trying to outbid bots (even possible???) and millions of dorks like us trying to bid on ebay now. BIN BAYBEEEEEEE.
  • Originally posted by: AirVillain



    Remember back in the day when WE used to be the sniping tool???



    I would just remember when an auction I was watching would be ending and be on my computer for that time.



    I wouldn't bother with what has to be hell trying to outbid bots (even possible???) and millions of dorks like us trying to bid on ebay now. BIN BAYBEEEEEEE.



    You can outbid a bot easy, just make your bid what you are willing to pay rather than making it "just enough to nudge over the current high bid" You are still not full-proof here, but if you wait to bid till the last 5 seconds and then make a healthy bid on something, the bot would have to be set to bid OVER your high bid, which it doesn't know what that is. 

     
  • Originally posted by: 14u2ponder

     
    Originally posted by: AirVillain



    Remember back in the day when WE used to be the sniping tool???



    I would just remember when an auction I was watching would be ending and be on my computer for that time.



    I wouldn't bother with what has to be hell trying to outbid bots (even possible???) and millions of dorks like us trying to bid on ebay now. BIN BAYBEEEEEEE.



    You can outbid a bot easy, just make your bid what you are willing to pay rather than making it "just enough to nudge over the current high bid" You are still not full-proof here, but if you wait to bid till the last 5 seconds and then make a healthy bid on something, the bot would have to be set to bid OVER your high bid, which it doesn't know what that is. 

     



    Yo guy... that's not beating a bot, that's paying my maximum price. 



    I want to get it for as LOW as possible.



    If I'm going to pay my max price, why bother with the auction? I'll just BIN. Which, as alluded to, is my preffered method now because it's just much easier and I don't have to bother watching auctions. 



    Back in the day when there was much more available it was worth it to watch auctions, and FUN, but not so much anymore. 
  • Originally posted by: AirVillain

     
    Originally posted by: 14u2ponder

     
    Originally posted by: AirVillain



    Remember back in the day when WE used to be the sniping tool???



    I would just remember when an auction I was watching would be ending and be on my computer for that time.



    I wouldn't bother with what has to be hell trying to outbid bots (even possible???) and millions of dorks like us trying to bid on ebay now. BIN BAYBEEEEEEE.



    You can outbid a bot easy, just make your bid what you are willing to pay rather than making it "just enough to nudge over the current high bid" You are still not full-proof here, but if you wait to bid till the last 5 seconds and then make a healthy bid on something, the bot would have to be set to bid OVER your high bid, which it doesn't know what that is. 

     



    Yo guy... that's not beating a bot, that's paying my maximum price. 



    I want to get it for as LOW as possible.



    If I'm going to pay my max price, why bother with the auction? I'll just BIN. Which, as alluded to, is my preffered method now because it's just much easier and I don't have to bother watching auctions. 



    Back in the day when there was much more available it was worth it to watch auctions, and FUN, but not so much anymore. 



    I guess with this, two people the highest amount they are ok with paying, then it goes to whoever was going to pay the highest. Just put the most your willing to pay at the latest time you can then, but if someone else put a higher maximum bid you're going to lose.



    So either you will get it for just over what the other person put as their highest amount they would pay, or you dont get and dont sweat it because it went for more than you wanted.



    For example, if you put a maximum price of $200, it does not mean your going to pay $200. If you put $200 and someone else puts say, $120, then you will get it for $121.



    I know ebay used to be you put a maximum bid and thats what it would jump to (regardless of what others put), but doesnt really work like that now (or for a while)

     
  • Originally posted by: AirVillain

     
    Originally posted by: 14u2ponder

     
    Originally posted by: AirVillain



    Remember back in the day when WE used to be the sniping tool???



    I would just remember when an auction I was watching would be ending and be on my computer for that time.



    I wouldn't bother with what has to be hell trying to outbid bots (even possible???) and millions of dorks like us trying to bid on ebay now. BIN BAYBEEEEEEE.



    You can outbid a bot easy, just make your bid what you are willing to pay rather than making it "just enough to nudge over the current high bid" You are still not full-proof here, but if you wait to bid till the last 5 seconds and then make a healthy bid on something, the bot would have to be set to bid OVER your high bid, which it doesn't know what that is. 

     



    Yo guy... that's not beating a bot, that's paying my maximum price. 



    I want to get it for as LOW as possible.



    If I'm going to pay my max price, why bother with the auction? I'll just BIN. Which, as alluded to, is my preffered method now because it's just much easier and I don't have to bother watching auctions. 



    Back in the day when there was much more available it was worth it to watch auctions, and FUN, but not so much anymore. 

    You actually don't pay the maxium. 



    Example: say you are looking at an auction that is currently sitting at $9.87 with 2 bidders for Kid Dracula loose cart (mint condition). There is 1:36 seconds till the gavel. You want to beat the bots and whoever else is willing to bid. SO:

    you judge that you'd be willing to pay $88.65 for the cart. You feel if you can get it UNDER $90 then you got a bargain. With this number in mind, you decide to put a final bid of $90 on the cart and cross your fingers.

    At 5 seconds left to go, you unleash your bid: $90. At the same time, the bots and other humans who are trying to get it release their bids, and here's where ebay makes it FAIR and why the bots aren't better than anybody else bidding.

    Ebay's bot system is sorting through all of these bids at a lightnighing pace. It does 3 things.

    First it looks to see what the current high bidder's maximum bid is. When the high bidder put in his bid, he had the option of putting a number that HE was willing to buy the game for. So for example, let's say that the current high bidder put in a $50 bid, and so he outbid the person who was the previous high bidder's mark, and was sitting at $9.87 as his CURRENT high bid. Remember, that when HE placed the bid, he did not BID $9.87, he bid $50. So in order to beat his bid you need to go over that amount.

    So now comes the more complicated part. At the end of an auction, everybody is putting in last minute bids and say you do the same. Say you bid $10, and then look to see you have been outbid to $10.50. The important part here is that the person who bid $10.50 did not have to do anything. Ebay's bot saw that he has a bid of $50, so ebay took your bid, and increased the high bid accordingly. This concept is important. Because let's go back to your $90 maximum bid. If you bid $90 at the end of the auction and no one else bid anything, then you WIN that auction and your final bid would not be $90, it would be $50.50, or just over the maximum bid that came in or was already in.



    So see, the bots don't have an advantage on you other than the fact they are willing to bid more than you.



     
  • A lot of people have time to waste sitting at a computer trying to buy a game for 20 they can flip for 35 and make an 8 dollar profit for a couple hours of work.



    Let them have that shit.
  • I use Item Alert all day (because it's easy, not because it's fast) and I don't really keep tabs on it. But every day I'll see underpriced games scroll by, although I'm at work so I usually miss them. Yeah you can find a $25 PS2 game for $8 if you watch all day, but you'll also see $60 hangtab Metroids, etc. There are definitely people sitting there watching retro new listings scroll by more intently than I am getting really good stuff.
  • Originally posted by: MrWunderful

    A lot of people have time to waste sitting at a computer trying to buy a game for 20 they can flip for 35 and make an 8 dollar profit for a couple hours of work.



    Let them have that shit.





    Thats basically where I'm at with this. If people want to waste hours to save $12 more power to them.
  • Originally posted by: Jono1874

     
    Originally posted by: MrWunderful



    A lot of people have time to waste sitting at a computer trying to buy a game for 20 they can flip for 35 and make an 8 dollar profit for a couple hours of work.



    Let them have that shit.







    Thats basically where I'm at with this. If people want to waste hours to save $12 more power to them.



    they are saving a lot more than $12 dollars relative to ebay prices anyway. Although admittedly ebay prices are outragously high, so anything that sells for close to game value now prices looks like a steal on most games. This usually doesn't affect loose carts as much as it affects boxed gameboy games. Since there are so many loose carts for every gameboy, only the rarest title gets sniped the way I'm talking. But BOXED games, oh my lord - since you may not find a similar box listed for who knows how long, if the prices are normal and not inflated, it's gone as fast as it's listed. 

    Although timing is also an issue: I bought a sealed gameboy advance and spent $40 more than one that got listed less than a week after I bought mine. At the time, the one I bought was $70 less than any other one listed. The problem is you don't know if another will be listed for a lot lower price, so you have to buy it when you can.

     
  • Originally posted by: 14u2ponder

     
    Originally posted by: AirVillain

     
    Originally posted by: 14u2ponder

     
    Originally posted by: AirVillain



    Remember back in the day when WE used to be the sniping tool???



    I would just remember when an auction I was watching would be ending and be on my computer for that time.



    I wouldn't bother with what has to be hell trying to outbid bots (even possible???) and millions of dorks like us trying to bid on ebay now. BIN BAYBEEEEEEE.



    You can outbid a bot easy, just make your bid what you are willing to pay rather than making it "just enough to nudge over the current high bid" You are still not full-proof here, but if you wait to bid till the last 5 seconds and then make a healthy bid on something, the bot would have to be set to bid OVER your high bid, which it doesn't know what that is. 

     



    Yo guy... that's not beating a bot, that's paying my maximum price. 



    I want to get it for as LOW as possible.



    If I'm going to pay my max price, why bother with the auction? I'll just BIN. Which, as alluded to, is my preffered method now because it's just much easier and I don't have to bother watching auctions. 



    Back in the day when there was much more available it was worth it to watch auctions, and FUN, but not so much anymore. 

    You actually don't pay the maxium. 



    Example: say you are looking at an auction that is currently sitting at $9.87 with 2 bidders for Kid Dracula loose cart (mint condition). There is 1:36 seconds till the gavel. You want to beat the bots and whoever else is willing to bid. SO:

    you judge that you'd be willing to pay $88.65 for the cart. You feel if you can get it UNDER $90 then you got a bargain. With this number in mind, you decide to put a final bid of $90 on the cart and cross your fingers.

    At 5 seconds left to go, you unleash your bid: $90. At the same time, the bots and other humans who are trying to get it release their bids, and here's where ebay makes it FAIR and why the bots aren't better than anybody else bidding.

    Ebay's bot system is sorting through all of these bids at a lightnighing pace. It does 3 things.

    First it looks to see what the current high bidder's maximum bid is. When the high bidder put in his bid, he had the option of putting a number that HE was willing to buy the game for. So for example, let's say that the current high bidder put in a $50 bid, and so he outbid the person who was the previous high bidder's mark, and was sitting at $9.87 as his CURRENT high bid. Remember, that when HE placed the bid, he did not BID $9.87, he bid $50. So in order to beat his bid you need to go over that amount.

    So now comes the more complicated part. At the end of an auction, everybody is putting in last minute bids and say you do the same. Say you bid $10, and then look to see you have been outbid to $10.50. The important part here is that the person who bid $10.50 did not have to do anything. Ebay's bot saw that he has a bid of $50, so ebay took your bid, and increased the high bid accordingly. This concept is important. Because let's go back to your $90 maximum bid. If you bid $90 at the end of the auction and no one else bid anything, then you WIN that auction and your final bid would not be $90, it would be $50.50, or just over the maximum bid that came in or was already in.



    So see, the bots don't have an advantage on you other than the fact they are willing to bid more than you.



     



    That's how I won without over spending a lot of the time.



    I would factor in pricechart, condition, shipping....etc. Then I would come up with a price of what it would cost and what I thought most would try to pay for it. I'd go over that by a whole 50c. If a seller had multiple items I'd factor in combo-shipping and email the seller before bidding. It's not worth my time or money to sit there for hours watching for games to save a few buck here and there.



    If it went over that...good for them but they overspent. I had a few go to crazy amounts for no reason at all. 



    I caught one low priced BIN at random. It ended up being a return(lying seller about disc rot) so I don't really look for those anymore. I figure there's a reason those are cheap. 

     
  • Originally posted by: 14u2ponder

     
    Originally posted by: Jono1874

     
    Originally posted by: MrWunderful



    A lot of people have time to waste sitting at a computer trying to buy a game for 20 they can flip for 35 and make an 8 dollar profit for a couple hours of work.



    Let them have that shit.







    Thats basically where I'm at with this. If people want to waste hours to save $12 more power to them.



    they are saving a lot more than $12 dollars relative to ebay prices anyway. Although admittedly ebay prices are outragously high, so anything that sells for close to game value now prices looks like a steal on most games. This usually doesn't affect loose carts as much as it affects boxed gameboy games. Since there are so many loose carts for every gameboy, only the rarest title gets sniped the way I'm talking. But BOXED games, oh my lord - since you may not find a similar box listed for who knows how long, if the prices are normal and not inflated, it's gone as fast as it's listed. 

    Although timing is also an issue: I bought a sealed gameboy advance and spent $40 more than one that got listed less than a week after I bought mine. At the time, the one I bought was $70 less than any other one listed. The problem is you don't know if another will be listed for a lot lower price, so you have to buy it when you can.

     



    Relative to ebay prices are irrelevant. If you are going to be a dirty reseller, at least make money. If you want to buy things at market value because “its cheaper than ebay prices”, it seems like nonsense. Im not going to tell people how to spend their time, but I will for sure make fun of them for it!





    Edit: not “you” OP, “you” in the global sense. !

     
  • Originally posted by: Outdoormongoose

     
    Originally posted by: 14u2ponder

     
    Originally posted by: AirVillain

     
    Originally posted by: 14u2ponder

     
    Originally posted by: AirVillain



    Remember back in the day when WE used to be the sniping tool???



    I would just remember when an auction I was watching would be ending and be on my computer for that time.



    I wouldn't bother with what has to be hell trying to outbid bots (even possible???) and millions of dorks like us trying to bid on ebay now. BIN BAYBEEEEEEE.



    You can outbid a bot easy, just make your bid what you are willing to pay rather than making it "just enough to nudge over the current high bid" You are still not full-proof here, but if you wait to bid till the last 5 seconds and then make a healthy bid on something, the bot would have to be set to bid OVER your high bid, which it doesn't know what that is. 

     



    Yo guy... that's not beating a bot, that's paying my maximum price. 



    I want to get it for as LOW as possible.



    If I'm going to pay my max price, why bother with the auction? I'll just BIN. Which, as alluded to, is my preffered method now because it's just much easier and I don't have to bother watching auctions. 



    Back in the day when there was much more available it was worth it to watch auctions, and FUN, but not so much anymore. 

    You actually don't pay the maxium. 



    Example: say you are looking at an auction that is currently sitting at $9.87 with 2 bidders for Kid Dracula loose cart (mint condition). There is 1:36 seconds till the gavel. You want to beat the bots and whoever else is willing to bid. SO:

    you judge that you'd be willing to pay $88.65 for the cart. You feel if you can get it UNDER $90 then you got a bargain. With this number in mind, you decide to put a final bid of $90 on the cart and cross your fingers.

    At 5 seconds left to go, you unleash your bid: $90. At the same time, the bots and other humans who are trying to get it release their bids, and here's where ebay makes it FAIR and why the bots aren't better than anybody else bidding.

    Ebay's bot system is sorting through all of these bids at a lightnighing pace. It does 3 things.

    First it looks to see what the current high bidder's maximum bid is. When the high bidder put in his bid, he had the option of putting a number that HE was willing to buy the game for. So for example, let's say that the current high bidder put in a $50 bid, and so he outbid the person who was the previous high bidder's mark, and was sitting at $9.87 as his CURRENT high bid. Remember, that when HE placed the bid, he did not BID $9.87, he bid $50. So in order to beat his bid you need to go over that amount.

    So now comes the more complicated part. At the end of an auction, everybody is putting in last minute bids and say you do the same. Say you bid $10, and then look to see you have been outbid to $10.50. The important part here is that the person who bid $10.50 did not have to do anything. Ebay's bot saw that he has a bid of $50, so ebay took your bid, and increased the high bid accordingly. This concept is important. Because let's go back to your $90 maximum bid. If you bid $90 at the end of the auction and no one else bid anything, then you WIN that auction and your final bid would not be $90, it would be $50.50, or just over the maximum bid that came in or was already in.



    So see, the bots don't have an advantage on you other than the fact they are willing to bid more than you.



     



    That's how I won without over spending a lot of the time.



    I would factor in pricechart, condition, shipping....etc. Then I would come up with a price of what it would cost and what I thought most would try to pay for it. I'd go over that by a whole 50c. If a seller had multiple items I'd factor in combo-shipping and email the seller before bidding. It's not worth my time or money to sit there for hours watching for games to save a few buck here and there.



    If it went over that...good for them but they overspent. I had a few go to crazy amounts for no reason at all. 



    I caught one low priced BIN at random. It ended up being a return(lying seller about disc rot) so I don't really look for those anymore. I figure there's a reason those are cheap. 

     

    That's how I do it to. The worst auction I ever had was I was bidding on an "unused" OG gameboy, complete in box. The bid was at $100. With 5 seconds to go I bid $175 and STILL lost it to somebody that bid I don't know how much. In hindsight, I'm actually glad I didn't win that one. That was probably the only time that I really wanted something that I DIDNT win. I'm not even sure it was so-called unused, so I'm betting that the guy that won it probably regrets that he bid over $175 for it. But I don't know. 

    In hindsight, I'd rather pay $300 for an ags-001 sealed than an "open box" og gameboy for $200. If I really look, I could find a really nice OG gameboy and spend $60 or less for it.



     
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