It worked for me

Greetings.

I’m not a real frequent nor experienced buyer, but this app helped me to land a camera that I was particularly interested in on eBay. I had previously failed to win auctions on similar items when bidding manually, even when attempting to use the same sniping techniques. I noted there are web-based services that snipe for you. It seems silly to employ such a service when a program running locally on your computer can do it without involving a third-party website.

While I don’t really like the idea of snipping, I have lost too many auctions to the practice. The reality is that sniping seems to be the way of life on eBay for those who are determined to satiate their desire to win an item. If your on the other end you and are unprepared you will generally loose, and that can be frustrating. So if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!

I tried the app in two auctions, I barely lost the first and then won the second. The app submitted my one and only winning bid within five seconds of the auction end time and I was victorious. A beautiful snipe. It’s not magic - you have to set a maximum bid that you’re seriously willing to pay and still hope for the best, but you need not be on the edge of your seat. Just let the program do its work and forget about it.

My paranoid side thought that providing eBay credentials to this program is a little risky. What guarantee is there that the program wont collect and use the information for neffarious purpouses? I posed this question to the author and he responded promptly with reasonable assurances. Your password is stored in Apple’s keychain. Nonetheless, I changed my eBay password after the auction ended. I’m not suggesting the author is dishonest. I have no evidence to that effect and the program seems perfectly legit. However, a dishonest programmer would have unlimited control of your eBay account. Just something to consider. It would be interesting to run Little Snitch when exercising the program to see what outgoing connections are made. I’m not a frequent enought buyer to carry that study out anytime soon, but I will when the opportunity presents itself.

I have not tried the automated wake-up or scheduling features yet, I just left my computer up and running and set to not sleep around auction end time. Seemed the safest way to try the program at first.

So far, it’s proved its worth to me despite my paranoia! And the price is right.

Overall, I think it’s a good program.

Maceroni about Auction Sniper for eBay