I use Cricket Sniper www.cricketsniper.com It is a stand alone program. You pay one fee for the program. No monthly fees.
It is a program designed to bid for you on an eBay or other auction just a couple of seconds before the auction is scheduled to end. You enter in the amount you are willing to pay and the program does the rest. You basically conceal your bid right up until the very last moment. This way you aren't forced to sit in front of your computer until the auction closes. Also, it is possible to get an item cheaper using this method because you'll avoid starting a bidding war with another potential buyer.
I am very happy with Cricket. I have been using it for about 3 years now and never had a problem. Customer support is very good. They keep the program updated as ebay makes changes that could effect it. I have not tried the online service. Just the stand alone Cricket Jr program. I believe it goes for $25.00 right now.
I think you are better off just deciding what price is fair and bidding up to that price. Sniping is a bit like a book bid in a live auction.
Thats what you do. You decide what price is fair for you to pay, input that into the program, and it bids for you. Either you win, or you dont.
I agree with FPP7777 on this. If eBay didn't want to have sniping programs used on their auctions there is a very simple process for eliminating sniping; they could make it so that anytime a bid is placed the auction would be automatically extended by 5 minutes. This would negate all the advantages of using a sniping program, but eBay doesn't do it. Therefore they want people to use a sniping program. The reality is that eBay isn't a live auction, or sniping wouldn't work.
I have to disagree. Sniping hurts ebay also, as it reduces the high bid and therefore their commissions. I think they are too lazy (or some other reason) to change their system.
Ebay does make changes every now and then to try to trip up the snipe programs, but it does not last very long. And as far as ebay being hurt by it, I/m sorry, no sympathy from me. If I can bid on an ASE and get it for 7 dollars vs 8 dollars, and I save a dollar and they lose a nickel. Oh well.
Don't forget that EBay auctions close 24/7. When that item you absolutely, positively must have is scheduled to end at 3 a.m., or even at 3 p.m. if your schedule doesn't allow you to be at a computer then - - - SNIPE it. Doing that any significant time before the auction ends allows someone to bid in small increments until they find your high bid and exceed it just a bit.
If you are bidding up to the maximum price you wanted to pay anyway, letting someone else have the coin for more isn't much of a drawback. If someone wants to bid up in small increments for the sole purpose of "winning," there isn't much that can be done about it. The buyer can only be as intelligent as his dumbest competitor if he/she feels that they must win at all costs. It's just about always bad to become involved in a bidding war. The sniping programs just seem to speed up the process.
My experience in live auctions has taught me to set a highest bid in your head and never go higher. Therefore I am alright with someone trying to edge me out. If they want to pay more that 's fine (you never get hurt on the deal you don't make).
I strongly disagree, you can snipe the auction. I have tried the alternative and the bottom line is that sniping saves me money. I will continue to snipe because of that alone. I repeat, if eBay really wanted to stop sniping they would institute something that would automatically extend an auction by 5 minutes whenever a bid is placed. But they don't, therefore the only reasonable conclusion that I can draw is that eBay wants the sniping to continue.
I don't think it would be possible to demonstrate that a sniping program "saves" money over the dicipline of sticking to a maximum bid price. Sniping might "win" more auctions, but only in cases where the user of the sniping program already was willing to pay more than the diciplined buyer.