You placed a snipe with BidSlammer, but when the auction ended, you saw that another bidder placed a bid just 1-2 seconds before the auction closed --- even later than your snipe! How is this possible?
Short Answer: You didn't lose to a last-second manual bid. What you're seeing is eBay's proxy bidding system automatically activating a bid that was placed hours or even days before your snipe arrived.
When you look at eBay's bid history after an auction ends, you might see something like this:
| Bidder | Bid Amount | Time |
|---|---|---|
| winner123 | $52.00 | 2 seconds before end |
| you | $50.00 | 4 seconds before end |
This makes it look like someone manually placed a bid 2 seconds before the auction ended, beating your snipe. But that's not what happened at all.
Here's the reality:
The other bidder didn't manually bid in the last second. eBay's automated proxy system simply defended their previously-placed maximum bid.
This means BidSlammer worked exactly as designed. The snipe was placed successfully and on time. You simply didn't bid high enough to beat the other bidder's maximum.
There was no way to "beat" this bid by timing --- the other bidder had already committed to paying $52.00. The only way to win would have been to bid more than $52.00.
Bid your true maximum --- the most you're willing to pay for the item. Don't try to "sneak in" with a low bid.
Consider increasing your lead time to 5+ seconds if you're consistently losing ties. When two bids are equal, the earlier bid wins. A 5-second lead gives your bid more time to be recorded first.
Check the bid history before sniping to see how active the auction has been. Many active bids often means the proxy bid ceiling is already high.
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