How to outbid the fanatics

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Sep 9, 2002

NEW YORK (NYT) -- If you still think eBay auctions run completely on luck, it's time to wise up to the world of e-sniping. Many successful online auction buyers use sniping software to cloak their interests in items on the block until the last possible second before placing a bid that's just high enough to win.

Sniping has been around since auctions hit the Web: It began as a manually executed trick of the trade that was quickly automated with software that offered extra features. Now eSnipe 3.0, the latest version of the industry-standard service, offers outbid notification. For 1 percent of the winning offer, up to $10, eSnipe will not only swoop in at the last minute (or second, for that matter) to bid on your favorite item for as much as you're willing to spend (though even eSnipe can't help low-ballers), but will also begin checking 90 minutes before the end of the auction to see if you have been outbid and if necessary alert you by e-mail to update your snipe.

This option won't be of much use to the casual eBay user who goes to sleep early and hopes to win an auction that closes at 4 a.m. But Tom Campbell, the eSnipe chief executive, says that the collectors and resellers who use the service (www.esnipe.com) would find it invaluable. Our customers can be fanatical," Campbell said, "and they want every high-tech tool available to them to make sure others don't get the item they want."