Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I collect Norwegian Stamps. I buy them on Ebay and in large quantities. What I found now is that i can buy them with so-called sniping. Does anyone have any experience with it? I found https://isnipe.io/?12 this website. Do you recommend it?
thanks
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There are several of these programs and they all more or less work in that they will post bids up 10 seconds or so before the auction ends. Some of them are free some of them you buy and some want a commission. Those are the basic facts. I will now depart the scene before the riot starts ....
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I use Gixen. I have also added its paid mirror service which guarantees me I have the bid in, no matter what. Costs about $6/year but well worth it.
My only regret is I did not add the paid service sooner, as I ended up losing a few very nice lots while Gixen had a few glitches with its regular service 4 years ago.
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I haven't used iSnipe but have been using Gixen for a couple of years. I have subscribed to the mirror service and it is very good. Very simple to use. It helps create a discipline when buying. You set the price you are willing to pay and that's it. No more getting into bidding wars. I would recommend it.
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"No more getting into bidding wars."
To me the more important part is I do not have to choose between sitting in front of my computer at auction end time and doing other things like hiking or fishing on that day! Not to mention those Europe based auctions that end at inconvenient times in North America.
I now place the bid and go out doing what I want to do. If I get a message from Ebay that action is required to pay for my purchase, then I go and pay for what I won and that's the end of it.
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I have not used a sniping tool but had been considering it. I do lose lots but then again I generally try to bid the max I want to pay. The question is does my bid (usually made with 15 to 30 minutes prior to closing) cause someone else to bid.
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I have used eSnipe for years and I believe it has saved me money by limiting my bids to just one. My experience has been that a bid in in the usual way, and especially an early bid, will tempt others to "test the level" of an existing bid and run the price up. Using a snipe service is also just more convenient. As someone above noted, one doesn't have to sit in front of the computer in the closing minutes to monitor end of the auction biding.
I've read criticism of sniping as being unfair to bidders that don't use it, but I don't see it as much different than using a bidding agent at an auction that one cannot attend.
FF
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I think of sniping software as a healthy alternative to enduring heart-pounding stress as you wait for eBay’s digital hammer to fall. I don’t use a sniping service, but I do bid the maximum amount I’m willing to pay and then wait for a “You won!” (or “You lost!) notice from eBay. I figure that I’ve prevented scores of heart attacks (and saved a lot of money).
Bob
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Snipe tools will save you money when the newbie seller sets too low an opening bid. As they say in mmo's its seal clubbing 
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I use EZsniper, but they all work the same way.
The only thing a sniping tool prevents is having someone nibble you to death at the end of the auction, whether a newbie or a shill bidder for the seller. When that happens once on an item over $20 to $50 you will become a believer. Before that, feel free to criticize the practice as somehow unfair. We don't care. It's a tool that some of us find useful.
Nuff said.
Lars
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10:34:17am
I'm not for, or against, sniping. I do what Bob does and sometimes I get the item and sometimes I don't. I go by the philosophy that if it came out once it'll come up again. There was a certain US early souvenir sheet I wanted (#630). It came up numerous times on E-Bay and I would bid $150 every time. Eventually I got it for about $100 and was very happy. If I want something badly I just keep trying and eventually it comes my way. I know I could easily buy a sniping program, but I really just have never bothered - too lazy I guess! Again, please, no nasty comments, I'm not against sniping. It's just not for me!
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Harvey said,
"I'm not for, or against, sniping. I do what Bob does and sometimes I get the item and sometimes I don't. I go by the philosophy that if it came out once it'll come up again."
That is certainly true of the great majority of mint stamps and some used ones, but when that one-in-a-million XF MNH stamp comes along, or you encounter a stamp with a great CDS cancellation (especially when there's a personal, positive connection with the place where the cancellation was applied), you have to open your pocketbook wide and bid to the max with or without sniping software. That's especially true of most non-first-day/non-first-flight/non-event covers, which are often one-of-a-kind. If you snooze with items like these, you lose, permanently. Most common items will indeed reappear again and again.
Here's an example of one of those one-of-a-kind covers, sent in 1940 from Chinatown in Vancouver, my current home town, to a cafe in Silver City, New Mexico, where I grew up. The cafe was only a few doors from the office of the Silver City Enterprise, of which my father was editor in the early 1950s:
As they say, they don't make these any more! For more information about this cover, see my web page, Mail to Silver City from Vancouver’s Chinatown leads to a story of murder.
Here's an example of a cancellation which is unlikely to appear in many collections:
This Italian Social Republic stamp, Scott #4, was cancelled on June 3, 1944, the date that Hitler ordered German troops to quit Rome in the face of the Allied advance up the boot of Italy. There can't be many such cancellations in the marketplace.
Bob
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Another happy eSnipe customer. I've been using it for years, and spend about $10 a year buying their bid points.
I had a screen shot of the consequences of bidding early, but cannot find it right now. In short, it shows an original bidder placing his bid early and a nibbler bidding against it one bid increment at a time until he found the top. Then original bidder went back and bid again, then the same nibbler returned and did it again. Original bidder did win, but the nibbler cost him $100 at least.
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Thanks guys for your responses, I appreciate your help and suggestions. However, I didn't read this until now when I have been using the https://isnipe.io/?12 for half a month now.
I found it really useful and it helped me buy 42 of Norwegian 1966 ore coins, Royal Norwegian mint - Nobel Prize Medals and stamp set from 1966.
I'd say I found sniping pretty easy to do and definitely recommend for the sceptics out there, haha.
Again, thanks for all the suggestions!
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10:08:55am
Hi everyone!
I collect Norwegian Stamps. I buy them on Ebay and in large quantities. What I found now is that i can buy them with so-called sniping. Does anyone have any experience with it? I found https://isnipe.io/?12 this website. Do you recommend it?
thanks
Login to Like
this post
10:19:07am
re: Using a Sniping Tool to Buy Stamps
There are several of these programs and they all more or less work in that they will post bids up 10 seconds or so before the auction ends. Some of them are free some of them you buy and some want a commission. Those are the basic facts. I will now depart the scene before the riot starts ....
Login to Like
this post
re: Using a Sniping Tool to Buy Stamps
I use Gixen. I have also added its paid mirror service which guarantees me I have the bid in, no matter what. Costs about $6/year but well worth it.
My only regret is I did not add the paid service sooner, as I ended up losing a few very nice lots while Gixen had a few glitches with its regular service 4 years ago.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Using a Sniping Tool to Buy Stamps
I haven't used iSnipe but have been using Gixen for a couple of years. I have subscribed to the mirror service and it is very good. Very simple to use. It helps create a discipline when buying. You set the price you are willing to pay and that's it. No more getting into bidding wars. I would recommend it.
Login to Like
this post
re: Using a Sniping Tool to Buy Stamps
"No more getting into bidding wars."
To me the more important part is I do not have to choose between sitting in front of my computer at auction end time and doing other things like hiking or fishing on that day! Not to mention those Europe based auctions that end at inconvenient times in North America.
I now place the bid and go out doing what I want to do. If I get a message from Ebay that action is required to pay for my purchase, then I go and pay for what I won and that's the end of it.
Login to Like
this post
re: Using a Sniping Tool to Buy Stamps
I have not used a sniping tool but had been considering it. I do lose lots but then again I generally try to bid the max I want to pay. The question is does my bid (usually made with 15 to 30 minutes prior to closing) cause someone else to bid.
Login to Like
this post
re: Using a Sniping Tool to Buy Stamps
I have used eSnipe for years and I believe it has saved me money by limiting my bids to just one. My experience has been that a bid in in the usual way, and especially an early bid, will tempt others to "test the level" of an existing bid and run the price up. Using a snipe service is also just more convenient. As someone above noted, one doesn't have to sit in front of the computer in the closing minutes to monitor end of the auction biding.
I've read criticism of sniping as being unfair to bidders that don't use it, but I don't see it as much different than using a bidding agent at an auction that one cannot attend.
FF
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Using a Sniping Tool to Buy Stamps
I think of sniping software as a healthy alternative to enduring heart-pounding stress as you wait for eBay’s digital hammer to fall. I don’t use a sniping service, but I do bid the maximum amount I’m willing to pay and then wait for a “You won!” (or “You lost!) notice from eBay. I figure that I’ve prevented scores of heart attacks (and saved a lot of money).
Bob
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this post
11:12:33pm
re: Using a Sniping Tool to Buy Stamps
Snipe tools will save you money when the newbie seller sets too low an opening bid. As they say in mmo's its seal clubbing
Login to Like
this post
re: Using a Sniping Tool to Buy Stamps
I use EZsniper, but they all work the same way.
The only thing a sniping tool prevents is having someone nibble you to death at the end of the auction, whether a newbie or a shill bidder for the seller. When that happens once on an item over $20 to $50 you will become a believer. Before that, feel free to criticize the practice as somehow unfair. We don't care. It's a tool that some of us find useful.
Nuff said.
Lars
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this post
This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
30 Oct 2019
10:34:17am
re: Using a Sniping Tool to Buy Stamps
I'm not for, or against, sniping. I do what Bob does and sometimes I get the item and sometimes I don't. I go by the philosophy that if it came out once it'll come up again. There was a certain US early souvenir sheet I wanted (#630). It came up numerous times on E-Bay and I would bid $150 every time. Eventually I got it for about $100 and was very happy. If I want something badly I just keep trying and eventually it comes my way. I know I could easily buy a sniping program, but I really just have never bothered - too lazy I guess! Again, please, no nasty comments, I'm not against sniping. It's just not for me!
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this post
re: Using a Sniping Tool to Buy Stamps
Harvey said,
"I'm not for, or against, sniping. I do what Bob does and sometimes I get the item and sometimes I don't. I go by the philosophy that if it came out once it'll come up again."
That is certainly true of the great majority of mint stamps and some used ones, but when that one-in-a-million XF MNH stamp comes along, or you encounter a stamp with a great CDS cancellation (especially when there's a personal, positive connection with the place where the cancellation was applied), you have to open your pocketbook wide and bid to the max with or without sniping software. That's especially true of most non-first-day/non-first-flight/non-event covers, which are often one-of-a-kind. If you snooze with items like these, you lose, permanently. Most common items will indeed reappear again and again.
Here's an example of one of those one-of-a-kind covers, sent in 1940 from Chinatown in Vancouver, my current home town, to a cafe in Silver City, New Mexico, where I grew up. The cafe was only a few doors from the office of the Silver City Enterprise, of which my father was editor in the early 1950s:
As they say, they don't make these any more! For more information about this cover, see my web page, Mail to Silver City from Vancouver’s Chinatown leads to a story of murder.
Here's an example of a cancellation which is unlikely to appear in many collections:
This Italian Social Republic stamp, Scott #4, was cancelled on June 3, 1944, the date that Hitler ordered German troops to quit Rome in the face of the Allied advance up the boot of Italy. There can't be many such cancellations in the marketplace.
Bob
Login to Like
this post
re: Using a Sniping Tool to Buy Stamps
Another happy eSnipe customer. I've been using it for years, and spend about $10 a year buying their bid points.
I had a screen shot of the consequences of bidding early, but cannot find it right now. In short, it shows an original bidder placing his bid early and a nibbler bidding against it one bid increment at a time until he found the top. Then original bidder went back and bid again, then the same nibbler returned and did it again. Original bidder did win, but the nibbler cost him $100 at least.
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06:18:33pm
re: Using a Sniping Tool to Buy Stamps
Thanks guys for your responses, I appreciate your help and suggestions. However, I didn't read this until now when I have been using the https://isnipe.io/?12 for half a month now.
I found it really useful and it helped me buy 42 of Norwegian 1966 ore coins, Royal Norwegian mint - Nobel Prize Medals and stamp set from 1966.
I'd say I found sniping pretty easy to do and definitely recommend for the sceptics out there, haha.
Again, thanks for all the suggestions!
Login to Like
this post