Bidnapper is a Web-based sniping service that requires no extra software on your computer. All you need is an Internet connection, a browser, and a subscription to the service. After you've signed on, Bidnapper lets you set up one or more snipes at its Web site, and then it automatically makes the bid at the proper time using high-speed servers that are continually synchronized with the eBay clock. Their system also takes into account the amount of current Internet congestion and eBay traffic to determine when to make the snipe bid. During heavy traffic times, the bid is made sooner, while at lower volume times it's made closer to the auction end.

You can try the Bidnapper service free for 10 days by signing up with your eBay username, eBay password, and email address. No additional information is needed during the free period. Once your account is set up, click the Auctions link from the Bidnapper menu to go to the main Auction sniping page. Here you type the eBay number of the auction you're interested in, enter a maximum bid price, and click the Snipe button. The item is added to your auction list, which appears along the bottom of the window. You can sort the auction list by any of the column headings, which include eBay ID, Description, Seller, Quantity, Ending Time, Current Bid, Your Bid, and Status. To edit a pending snipe bid, select the bid and click Edit. You can also delete the bid, view the actual eBay auction page in a new browser window, or update the auction list with the latest bid prices from eBay. To get more information about the seller, click the Seller Profile link to display a summary which includes the positive and negative feedback numbers and the details of any negative feedback the seller has received.

Besides using the Auction page, you can modify your browser toolbar to include a Snapper button that lets you find an item through the normal eBay screen. You can then click to have a snipe window open with the eBay auction number already entered. The snipe window looks just like the snipe box on the regular Bidnapper screen, and clicking the Add button adds the auction to your current snipe list. Bidnapper also provides a bulk-add feature, which allows you to add several items to your snipe list at once. In situations where you want to snipe a group of items that are the same, but only win one, Bidnapper has a Contingency Bidding option that lets you link snipes together. If an item from the group is won, the rest of the snipes are deleted.

One other feature Bidnapper provides is called Shadow, and it allows you to create and save keyword or seller searches that are updated daily. From the Shadow screen, enter your keyword, add it to a certain category (if you want), and then add it to your Shadow list. Click the Update Listing Link immediately to perform the search and display the results, which you can review and choose to delete or snipe. Any item you delete will be omitted from any future Shadow searches. Once created, a search is automatically run each night with the results available for review each morning.

If you decide to subscribe to the Bidnapper service, but only bid occasionally, you can purchase 10 winning snipes for $19.95 or 25 for $36.95. For more extensive bidding, there are subscription plans where you can pay monthly ($6.95), every 3 months ($16.95), every 6 months ($26.95), or yearly ($45.95). There is also a one-month subscription that costs $9.95.

AuctionSleuth
AuctionSleuth
15-day trial; Various service plans
www.auction-sleuth.com

AuctionSleuth is a buying tool that has sophisticated sniping and searching capability, but it approaches eBay auctions a little differently than most other tools. The software is designed around the idea that the two best ways to win an auction are either through sniping or through Buy It Now (if you can find Buy It Now deals when they are first posted). The software helps you in both situations by providing an automated search that retrieves only Buy It Now items or items close to the end of an auction.

After you install and launch the software, you open a Search Configure window and set up a new search by entering the search location (eBay, eBay Motors, or Yahoo!), the type of search (End Of Auction or Buy It Now), an eBay category, the search criteria, the minimum and maximum prices you're comfortable with, the type of notification alarm, how often the program should update search results, and, if it's an End Of Auction search, the amount of time before the auction ends. Once created, the search is listed on the main AuctionSleuth screen, which is split to show a tree of auction types on the left and search listings on the right. After you've created one or more searches (200 is the maximum), you start them from a button on the main toolbar and watch as results are retrieved, or you can wait for AuctionSleuth to notify you via an alarm. AuctionSleuth continues to update the search results at preset intervals until you tell it to stop. With updated results, you're always seeing the newest Buy It Now items or those items close to the end of their auction.

Once you find an item that interests you, double-click it to open a browser window that lets you either bid directly on the item or set up a snipe. If you decide to set up a snipe, you can open a snipe window showing a list of current snipes. (Here, you can also start a new one.) In a separate window, you can configure how close to the auction end the snipe should occur. To place the snipe bid, your computer must be on, but AuctionSleuth automatically handles connecting to the Internet, logging onto eBay, and placing the bid. Because it's critical to have your computer clock set to the correct eBay time, you can also automatically synchronize the program and the clock at certain intervals.

You can download a fully functional 15-day trial version of the program from its Web site. If you decide to continue using it, the first year of registration is $19.95; after one year, there's a yearly subscription fee of $9.95. You can also purchase a lifetime version for $39.95. The program requires Windows 98 or newer.

Add Some Management & Tracking

A number of buying tools that were originally only for sniping have responded to market competition by adding tracking, monitoring, and management features. Although they are still mainly for sniping, these programs have enough extra features to make them useful for auction management, even if you don't plan to snipe.

Auction Sentry
Auction-Sentry.com
10-day trial; Various service plans
www.auction-sentry.com

Auction Sentry's strength lies in sniping, but it also works well as an auction viewer and organizer, letting you choose what auctions to monitor and displaying them in a grid on your screen. Auction Sentry does not automatically connect to the Internet, so before you start using the program, you need to make and maintain the connection yourself.

When starting the program the first time, you'll have to select various settings, including your eBay username and password, the auction refresh rate (how often you want auction information is automatically updated), snipe time, various alert settings, and automatic time synchronization.

Once you have everything configured, it's time to add the auctions. To add an auction, enter the eBay auction number into the program, and Auction Sentry automatically pulls down the information. You can also add auctions directly from your My eBay Items I'm Watching list, add all the auctions from a particular seller, or add all auctions that you are currently bidding on. Once loaded, auctions appear in list form on the main screen and are color-coded to indicate your bidding status. For example, red indicates you are outbid, green shows you are the current high bidder or have won an auction, and yellow indicates you have a snipe set for the auction. The screen also displays options for showing only auctions that are currently open or have already ended. Auction information is automatically updated at the interval you set on the option screen.

From the main screen, you can update the auctions you are tracking, place an instant bid or a snipe, cancel a snipe, create or edit notes about an auction, or open a separate browser window to view auction details or bid history. Auction Sentry also lets you save a set of auctions as a separate file, allowing you to organize auctions into viewing groups. Once a snipe bid is set, Auction Sentry requires that you have your computer on and connected to the Internet and that Auction Sentry is running. The program does not automatically connect or use an online server to store your snipe information.

For more features and easier addition of auction items, the Deluxe Edition of Auction Sentry adds a built-in browser that includes a one-click option for adding auctions to your list, the ability to create bid groups where snipes are performed on each item until you win, support for multiple eBay IDs, and a screen grid you can customize to show only the columns you want.

Auction Sentry costs $14.95 to download, and you can purchase a CD of the program for $19.95. The Deluxe Edition costs $10 more than the Standard Edition, or $24.95 for a download and $29.95 for a CD; however, you must relicense Auction Sentry Deluxe Edition each year at a cost of $9.99. Fully functional, 10-day trial versions of both the Standard or Deluxe Editions of Auction Sentry are available for download. To use the software, you'll need Windows 95 or newer.

SnipeRight
Legendary Software
20-day trial; Various service plans
www.sniperight.com

As a highly regarded sniping tool, SnipeRight Professional makes the task of setting up an auction snipe as simple as finding an item, clicking a button, and then logging off to have lunch. But as you might guess, there's a lot more you can do. The SnipeRight design is based upon the Internet Explorer interface, but it adds a left pane of various folders (such as Snipe, Bidding, and Watching), as well as a series of specialized buttons that are intermixed with the regular browser buttons. To start, you can download your My eBay list of Watch Items and Bid Items directly into the program and set up a snipe on any item in the list.

Once you've set up the snipe, you can enter a maximum bid, set how many seconds left before the bid is made, and add the item to a snipe group. When an item is added to a snipe group, if any in the group is won, snipping for the other items is automatically cancelled. This lets you focus on multiple items at the same time, with the assurance you'll only really win one item.

To set snipes on new items, SnipeRight provides a search box that works like eBay's. Enter some keywords and click the search button, and you'll see the results displayed on the eBay screen inside the SnipeRight window. As with your watched items, you can set a snipe on anything you see or add the item to a list of favorites.

Once a snipe is set, it appears on the program's active snipe list, making it easy to track and, if necessary, change or cancel. Because the program uses the SnipeRight servers to store your snipe information and make the bid, you don't need to leave your computer connected to the Internet or worry about synchronizing your system clock with eBay's.

To keep sniping naysayers happy, SnipeRight includes what it calls a Friendly Mode that submits occasional bids during the auction, giving anyone who views the history the impression you've been making bids all along. To keep from pushing up the price too much, you can set how many in-auction bids the program makes and the percentage price increase.

Although sniping is its main purpose, SnipeRight also includes simple features for tracking favorites, tracking your auction payments and receipts, and automatically leaving feedback. Upgrading to the Gold Edition gives even more features, including the ability to access multiple eBay accounts, a more advanced search tool, automatic auction payment through PayPal, notification of auction status through email, and automatic currency conversion. It also includes a feature called the Score Card that analyses a seller's feedback rating, time on eBay, and other profile information and gives the seller a grade, helping you weed out the good from the bad.

There are 20-day, fully functional trial versions of both SnipeRight Professional and SnipeRight Gold Edition available for download from the programs' Web site, and if you decide a program is right for you, you can pay online without having to download anything else. Cost for the Professional version is $19.95 and, for the Gold Edition, $129.95 (and there's a $14.95 annual fee for the Gold Edition). To run the program, you need Win98 or newer.

AuctionTamer
Envision Software
14-day trial; Various service plans
www.auctiontamer.com

AuctionTamer is a full-featured buying and selling tool that makes managing and watching multiple auctions and auction sites much easier. The program includes a built-in browser, eBay clock synchronization, the ability to select auction items to watch, multiple auction search capability, and bidding or sniping features. The AuctionTamer screen is divided into two main areas: a browser window on the top and a Watch List window on the bottom. The general idea is that you use the browser to find an item and then add it to your Watch List. Of course, there's a lot more to it than that. Your first priority is to open the Preferences window and set some important options, including your eBay User ID, default eBay site, browser home page, which Web-based snipe service to use, and which auction sites to access (it supports several other auctions sites such as Amazon.com, Yahoo!, and BidVille), to name a few. You can also customize the Auction-Tamer screen, including customizing what details are shown for an item on the Watch List.

With the preferences set, you're ready to add auctions to the Watch List. The browser window has tabs for some common auctions sites, including eBay, and you can customize it to include any site not already there. When you click the eBay tab, you're at the eBay top page, and from there, you can either use the standard eBay search or click the browser Search button to display a special window that lets you search multiple auction sites at the same time. When you find an item, click the browser's Add button, and it's added to the Watch List. You can also add an item directly from the eBay search list by clicking and dragging the item link to the Watch List window.

The Watch List consists of eight tabs that let you select exactly which items you want to see. When you add an item, it's first placed on the Open tab, or if you're the seller, it's added to the Selling tab. When the auction closes, it automatically moves to the Won, Closed, Sold, or Not Sold tab. You can also customize tabs to create your own organized lists of items. The Watch List displays the most important details of an item, including the Time Left, Last Bid, Number Of Bids, High Bidder, and Buy It Now status. When you select an item, buttons above the list let you delete it, and you can also display the seller's other items, view seller feedback or history, email the seller, or snipe the item.

The browser displays the eBay auction page and your bid is automatically filled in, once you complete the My Bid column, and to complete the process, click Confirm Bid in the browser window. For snipe bids, AuctionTamer uses one of the Web-based services listed in the Preferences section. Before you can snipe, sign up with one of the services and then enter your user ID information in the program preferences. To snipe, you select the item, fill in the My Bid column, and click Snipe, and the snipe information is automatically copied to the snipe service page, which is now displayed in the browser window. To complete the snipe, move to the browser window and click a confirmation button. Since the snipe service is Web-based, your computer doesn't need to be on or connected to the Internet when the snipe bid is placed.

Although we've focused mainly on the buyer side of AuctionTamer, the program includes a large number of selling tools, especially if you upgrade the program with the Seller Add-On package, which has a higher monthly and yearly subscription rate. AuctionTamer requires Win95 or better. To continue using the buyer's program, the cost is $2.95 per month or $24.95 per year.

Research Is Key

Inexperienced eBay buyers often jump into the bidding fray without doing their homework, which in the eBay world means doing auction research. The more particulars you know about an item and who's selling it, the more intelligent your buying decisions will be. Searching through eBay's current and past auctions and reviewing seller feedback is a big help, but there are a few extra tools you can use to give your research an edge.

BayCheck
Free Standard version; $19.99 for the Professional version
HammerTap
www.hammertap.com

eBay buying tools don't have to be sophisticated or complex to be useful, and that's certainly true for BayCheck. The program has one purpose: to give you a bird's-eye view of a user's eBay history. Yes, the information is available through the regular eBay interface, but BayCheck gives you access to that information all in one place and lets you sort it in ways that eBay doesn't offer. Plus, it provides a user's bidding history, something that's tough to get through the eBay Web site. As a way to verify who you're dealing with, it can be a big help.

When you start the program, the main window has a User ID box you manually fill with the eBay ID you're interested in knowing more about. Click the Check button, and the user's information is displayed. You can separately view Seller History, Bidder History, Feedback Received, and Feedback Left For Others by selecting the appropriate tab. For each, you can sort the options in various ways. You also have several options for what time period should be used.

To get a few extra features, you can update to BayCheck Pro for $19.99. (A 30-day trial of BayCheck Pro is available.) Besides everything the standard version offers, you'll have more sort options, an extra tab for just browsing eBay, an option to save your favorite buyers and sellers, the ability to access international eBay sites, and (what is probably the nicest feature), an option for seeing only negative or neutral feedback. This last feature is great for users that have hundreds or even thousands of feedback entries, and you want to see the negative without having to scroll through pages and pages of feedback comments.

To run the software, you need Win95 or better.

SmartCollector
14-day trial; Various subscription plans
SmartCollector LLC
www.smartcollector.com

Veteran eBay buyers and sellers know that one critical factor in getting the best deal is knowing what an item is worth. eBay provides a completed listing search just for this reason, but it only provides historical data for the past 15 days. This is where SmartCollector comes in. SmartCollector is a Web-based service that gathers and analyzes up to three years of eBay collectible and antique transaction data, and it makes the results available to those who want to discover the value of their collection or make good decisions about what they want to purchase or sell. Unlike eBay historical searches, SmartCollector only includes data from successful auctions, giving a better view of an item's real market value. The only real limitation is that the service collects auction data only from the eBay collectible and antique categories.

SmartCollector provides three different services: Value It, Trend It, and Manage It. Value It lets you search historical data to determine a single item's real value. When using Value It, you'll enter keywords describing your item and then choose how far back the search should go, with choices ranging from 15 to 120 days. When the search is complete, a summary screen displays an estimated value range, a price accuracy rating, and the number of items found sorted by price range and eBay category. You also have options to refine the search, view a detailed list of found items, or chart the results. The item list displays the title, close date, duration, bid number, opening price, and final price of the auction. You can click an item to see its details, choose to find similar items in the SmartCollector database, or see a detailed bid record showing the bid history of an item, including the true proxy amounts.

If you chart your search results, you have options to display time-based graphs showing the average daily price, bid volumes, and sales counts. Although this feature is more useful to sellers, it can show potential buyers if the average price of an item is moving up or down and help them make decisions on when to buy.

Trend It, the second tool offered by SmartCollector, focuses on collectable and antique market trends using three years of eBay historical data that the service updates every quarter. Rather than provide specific pricing information, it organizes and analyzes data by eBay category, providing customized graphs showing auction volume, Buy It Now trends, bid volumes, total sales, average price, and maximum price. For the buyer, it can help make decisions regarding what antique and collectible categories are the best investment and also provide historical views that aid in knowing when to get the best buy.

The last SmartCollector tool, Manage It, is an online database system that helps you track and value your inventory or collection. Using a Web-based interface, enter the details of your item, including price and category information, or directly import an item you purchased through eBay from the auction page. You can also include pictures with an item description. Once in your inventory, Manage It tracks the value of your items by comparing them to the SmartCollector database of historical data.

A 14-day trial of all three services is available at www.smartcollector.com, and the basic Value It service, which includes only 15 days of eBay historical data, is free. For the full Value It and Trend It tools you pay $4.95 per month. If you want to use Manage It, there are various plans that offer different storage amounts, starting at $8.95 per month. All of the Mange It subscriptions include both the Value It and Trend It services at no additional charge.

by John Lortz and Susan Leavitt