Originally Posted by
due ruote
I am a fan of sniping on Ebay, for a lot of reasons that have been discussed on other threads. It's become my habit to bid through Auctionsniper, no matter how big or small the item. I just find it easier and more effective.
Yesterday I had a new experience (I don't do a whole lot of Ebay-ing), although judging by some web-discussion I've found, this has been going on for at least a few months: I had entered a snipe bid on an item, and that bid was not accepted by Ebay. Apparently in an attempt to curtail hijacking of accounts, Ebay occasionally (I assume randomly) displays a verification window when a bid is placed. Because my bid was being placed by a third party system, I wasn't there to verify the bid, and it didn't go through. Of course I don't know if I would have won the auction, but I do know that my bid was more than double the lone bid that won the item.
I only use Auctionsniper, so I don't know if this problem is plaguing other sniping programs, but I don't see why it wouldn't.
Just a word of warning. In my case this was a small item of no real consequence, but if it had been an item I really wanted or needed, I'd be pretty bummed.
Thanks for posting that info. I use Auctionsniper for everything I bid on except for BIN auctions of course. I wasnt aware eBay was doing this, I've used Auctionsniper and won auctions many, many times, but 3-4 times the bid never went through, with no explanation. What's weird is eBay stated in one such incident that the seller had specified not to allow sniping sites to bid on his item. When I contacted him though and asked about it, he said he had no knowledge of this and didnt understand why my bid didnt go through.
I'm now wondering if these rare cases are the result of eBay's (apparently) occasional use of that verification window.