Would YOU Ever Use A Sniper On eBay
We all know what a sniper is, it’s a soldier that stays hidden and waits until he has a clean shot as his target.
Did you know that snipers also operate on eBay?
An eBay sniper is a third party that will enter a bid on your behalf in the last moments of an auction, leaving you to go about your routine as normal. Some people may think “wow what a good idea” and in theory it may be, but in practise is it really that good? You see, for a sniper to operate on your behalf you have to give them the item number, your maximum bid and (more alarmingly) the username and password to your eBay account.
We should all be aware of Identity Theft and never give our details out. I don’t even let windows remember the passwords to my eBay or PayPal accounts. So I would never give them to any third parties, and I wouldn’t advise you to either.
A couple of years ago a friend of mine used a sniper on eBay to try and get a car. He didn’t win the bid but he did get his password changed and as a result couldn’t sign into his eBay account. He got in touch with eBay who told him that there had been a third party operating his account. For his security he closed the account and lost his feedback of over 300. He had to start all over again. He also had to call his credit card company, explain what had happened and cancel his credit card, just in case. He then had to wait for his new card to arrive before he could even go and do the weekly shopping.
Shortly after this he started getting emails saying that he’d won an item and payment was overdue. Now these could’ve been spoof emails, (as described in my last blog post), or they could’ve been a direct result of him giving out his account details.
Because he used to be on eBay most days he discovered the problem fairly quickly. Some people however only use eBay now and then. Imagine what might have happened if he hadn’t tried to sign into his eBay account for a couple of weeks.
I’m not attacking snipers here; we all know that there’s good and bad in every group, but how do you tell a good one from a bad one? Exactly!
The point I’m trying to get across to you is The SECURITY of your personal details, and the fact that you should NEVER give them to anybody, and certainly not to any third party that you don’t know. No matter how much you want the item in question, after all, it could end up costing you a whole lot more than the maximum bid you entered.
Until next time, Barry Wells
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I have used an auction sniper before. Honestly, it was a reputable sniper and it came from a source I trusted BUT I never won an auction that I used the sniper on! There were two reasons:
1) My bid was not high enough.
2) The auction sniper failed me for some unknown site glitch on their end.
So, while I’m not averse to the concept, I’m not big on it right now. And, Barry, your warning is EXCEPTIONALLY IMPORTANT and bears serious consideration.
I’m in the process of working with the P90X system. I gotta get back in to my pre-injury condition before summer. Six days a week. An hour a day. One of my focuses will be strengthening my quadriceps. The larger and more active those muscles are the more calories they will burn when I’m just resting. Thanks for the blog!
Doug and Judy Kramer
http://www.faithfamilyandfinancialfreedom.com
http://www.intothewilderness.com
Twitter: barry_wells
Hi Doug & Judy, thanks for the comment. I will be adding to the post to cover the views of those for and against snipers.
What was your injury? I’m paraplegic so know a bit about getting back fitness levels.
Take care, Barry
Hi Barry
I used a sniping service for several years and have never had a problem. It was quite essential for my business which was buying up albums of postcards and photos then stripping them down and reselling individually. The sniping service worked brilliantly for me and I can honestly say the only time I lost was when my bid wasn’t high enough.
The beauty of a sniping service is being able to sneak in under the radar and not bid until the very last minute. Being a buyer on the other side of the world I found most auctions I wanted to bid on finished in the middle of the night my time so a sniping service was a practical solution for me.
eBay themselves have managed to expose my (and thousands of others) username and pw to a third party so really I expect the safest thing to do is make sure you cahnge your pw regularly.
Your warning does bear serious consideration however I would use a sniping service again. People need to do their homework, obviously, before signing up and I have always used a separate buying and selling account on eBay so if anything untoward happens with my buying account then my selling account, which is much more precious to my business, remains active.
You’ve got some great information here. Thank you.
Cheers, Erin
Twitter: barry_wells
Hi Erin, thanks for the comment. You raised some very good points, some of which I will add to the blog post so as to give the reader a view from both sides, those for and against snipers.
Hi Barry,
I have just run through your Feb 2009 posts and have to say that you have given some fantastic tips on ebay. As someone who hasn’t used it but intends to, I found them really useful.
Also your blog is really good, have you always been into computers? As an ex manual worker it’s amazing the progress you have made if you were a newbie when you started MC.
I will carry on tomorrow.
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill
Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment.
I was a newbie to Internet Marketing when I started the MC course, but had been selling eBooks on eBay for a couple of years before that. Being an ex manual worker I found this quite difficult to start with. All i done was follow the course and visit other blogs to gain the info i needed.
I’ve visited your blog, its coming along nicely Bill. Keep up the good work mate.
Regards, Barry
You give some very good points. I have never used a sniper, and would now be more careful. Having had some blogs hacked, I know what a nightmare something like this can be when someone takes over an account.
Like someone above, I think it is a good idea to have a buyer and seller account and change passwords regularly. It is time for me to change mine too.
Twitter: barry_wells
Hi Jeannie,
I’m doing less on eBay these days but still wouldn’t use a sniper unless it came from a reputable source. Goofbay have one set up but I’ve never tried it.
Yes it is a good idea to have 2 accounts if you’re going to get serious with your selling. And yes it’s always a good idea to change passwords on a regular basis.
Thanks Jeannie,
Barry
No, I would never use a sniper on eBay nor would I ever trust anyone to give out any of my usernames and passwords, be it for eBay, Paypal, email, facebook, client list, etc etc etc….
If I wanted something so badly on eBay, I’d rather stay up in the middle of the night and wait for that last second bidding. I’d sleep better after, even if I lost the bid.
Randal
Twitter: barry_wells
Hi Randal,
You’re very wise. Especially with the amount of tricksters that are out there these days.
Thanks,
Barry