How to Source to Resell with eBay Snipes | Gixen + Goofbid

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What is eBay Sniping?

You know by now that eBay has two basic selling formats: Buy It Now, or online auctions. eBay sniping helps with the latter of the two. With auctions, the public fight it out over a listing. The price rises with each bid, until the auction comes to an end. It's fun, and triggers impulse buyers to act irrationally – bidding more than they initially would have intended to pay.

Sniping is act of automating the bidding process. Rather than inputting your bid on eBay in real time, you schedule a bid in the last seconds of an auction. If your bid is the highest, you've sniped it from the unassuming competition, before they get chance to bid again.

Why Should I Snipe?

Auctions are a battleground. You may be faving off against one other buyer, two or even more. You don't know how much money they have, how much they want the item, or when they'll be free to bid. The fewer bids a product gets, the less it generally tends to sell for. By bidding so late – like the last seconds of a 10-day listing – the more chance you have of winning.

Auction bidding to resell is very different to when it's for personal use. If you want to own the products personally, you may be more emotional and willing to increase your bid until you win. With reselling, you know how much you need to buy for to make a profit, so it's easier to set a price and see what happens after.

There's also the timing aspect. You can't be awake at all hours. Sniping not allows you to be there without being there. If the auction ends while you're at work or asleep or driving or abroad, it does it for you.

What is the Best eBay Sniping Service?

Gixen is all you need. Free to use for the basic sniping functionality with x4 winning bids, it's all a typical user would require. Simply sign in using your eBay account details, input the listing number and your maximum bid, and see how things pan out.

The website may not look pretty, but it's the functionality that matters. All of my auctions wins in the past two years have been with Gixen, because it's so effective. It does exactly what it's meant to do, so as long as you put in a suitable bid, you will win the auction.

A feature you may also consider using is the group snipe. Imagine you see three of the same product listed, one ends at 8pm, one at 8:30 and another at 8:45. Gixen will only trigger a bid on the 8:30 listing if you lose the 8pm one, and the 8:45 one if you lose the 8:30 one too. This sort of automation is essential when you're sourcing at scale.

Goofbid is a popular alternative, and its website has other great features, but the cost doesn't seem worth it. Gixen is free for up to x4 winning bids, and then $6/year (or $11 for 2 years) for unlimited bids (well worth the cost when you consider its uses.

Don't forgot to get their Chrome extension too, as it means you don't even need to navigate to the website; simply add your bid an eBay listing.

Is Sniping Legal?

Absolutely. eBay wouldn't give Gixen API access if they were completely anti-Sniping. It's been around for ages and it's here to stay.

What Else Do I Need to Know?

Sniping, much like any other auction buying, requires that you think rationally. Don't overdo it. Pay what you're willing to spend. When you're doing this to resell, have a strict ROI or net profit in mind. Put that maximum price in and leave it be.

If you're not sure if your bid is likely to win, check previous sold listings to see what the current market value seems to be. This will be a key indicator of what to expect for it. If previous sales were Buy It Now or auction, that will also play a part on whether it's going to sell for a similar price next time.

Another major thing to note is if you're scheduling lots of bids in the future, you actually have the budget available, if you win them. Bids are binding agreements, remember. It's too late to back out after you win.

After your first snipe, you're unlikely to return to manual bidding. There's just no need. It makes you pay more than you have to, it requires your full attention at awkward times in the day, and it's something you simply don't need to do.