Ebay Auction Sniping
Economic analysis of sniping (Roth and Ockenfels, 2000[3]) suggests that sniping is a rational gain-maximizing (i.e., price-minimizing) strategy for bidders in auctions which fulfill two criteria: 1) the end time is rigidly fixed, and 2) it is possible to gain additional information about the "true" value of the item by inspecting previous bids. For example, a novice antiques buyer may prefer to bid in auctions which already have bids placed by more experienced antiques buyers, on the grounds that the items which the experienced buyers are interested in are more likely to be valuable. In this case, more informed buyers may delay bidding until the last minutes of the auction to avoid creating competition for their bids, leading to a lower winning bid. The highest bid 10 minutes before the end of a contested auction is often not at all representative of the eventual selling price.
Analysis of actual winning bids on eBay (Yang and Kahng, 2006[4]) suggests that winning bidders are more likely to have placed a single bid late in the auction, rather than placing multiple incremental bids as the auction progresses.
Auction Sniping is not illegal and according to Wikipedia is permitted by eBay (there is even a guide on their website – hwddlr). However, some commentators (so-ebayapi) have pointed out that the PlaceOffer API license agreement addendum (PDF) prohibits developers from offering this service.
online
Despite the prohibition, a number of websites offer this service online, making it very convenient and easy to snipe (although for the most part you have to pay a fee).
We have no reason to suspect that any of the aforementioned services is a scam, but they all need your eBay username and password to work, and as such, you run a higher risk of identity theft by spreading your credentials around. A script or program that you run yourself offers a greater degree of protection.
JBidWatcher
This is a venerable and yet still actively developed Java-based, multiplatform application. A Windows executable and installer is provided and you can also download the jar file (currently at version 2.5.6).
sourceforge
This used to be the primary repository for free software. Projects hosted there are generally in the format ProjectName.sourceforge.net, while the files can be found at sourceforge.net/projects/ProjectName.
For example, esniper, a famous and quite old project, yet still updated, has generated even a front-end: es-f or “esniper frontend.” Other such projects include AuctionMage (last upd: 2005), Bidwatcher (abandoned), Biet-O-Matic (bom, in German, frequently updated).
github
This repository seems to long ago have replaced sourceforge as the hip place to commit and store your code. A search (github-srch) finds the following: madprogrammer/sniper 4 y.o., anentropic/esniper-manager 2 y.o. (from backsla.sh/sniper).
jcomeau
John Comeau has created this Python script in 2009 and released it under GNU v2 or later. I am reproducing it here for archival purposes (jcb).
This is a Python script.
#!/usr/bin/python
"""snipe bids on eBay
wait until specified second before auction ends and place bid"""
Copyright = """
bidsnipe - sneaky way to win eBay auctions
Copyright (C) 2009 John Comeau <jc.unternet.net>
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
"""
import sys, os, re, pwd, time
import urllib, urllib2, cookielib
from BeautifulSoup import BeautifulSoup
cookiejar = cookielib.CookieJar()
opener = urllib2.build_opener(urllib2.HTTPCookieProcessor(cookiejar))
def findLoginForm(soup):
pattern = re.compile('(?i)login')
forms = soup.findAll('form')
loginforms = filter(lambda node: pattern.search(node.get('action')), forms)
if len(loginforms) != 1:
raise Exception, 'Document does not contain one and only one login form'
return loginforms[0]
def getInputs(soup):
inputs = soup.findAll('input')
return dict([[input.get('name').encode('utf8'),
input.get('value').encode('utf8')] for input in inputs])
def bidsnipe(item=11111111, maxbid=1, seconds=10):
"""bid on item number with max price at so many seconds before end
takes those 3 arguments, gets login info from $HOME/.netrc file
"""
print >>sys.stderr, 'sleeping %s seconds' % seconds
time.sleep(float(seconds))
ebay = 'm.ebay.com' # mobile eBay site has less garbage to sift through
page = login(ebay)
socket = opener.open('https://%s/Pages/ViewItem.aspx?aid=%s' % (ebay, item))
soup = BeautifulSoup(socket.read())
socket.close()
socket = opener.open('https://%s/Member/Bid.aspx?btnOffer=btnOffer' % ebay)
soup = BeautifulSoup(socket.read())
socket.close()
bidform = soup.findAll('form')[-1]
inputs = getInputs(bidform)
inputs.pop('btnCancel')
inputs['bid'] = maxbid
action = bidform.get('action')
enctype = bidform.get('enctype')
loginurl = 'https://%s' % ebay + action
opener.addheaders = [('content-type', enctype)]
socket = opener.open(loginurl, urllib.urlencode(inputs))
soup = BeautifulSoup(socket.read())
socket.close()
confirmform = soup.findAll('form')[-1]
print >>sys.stderr, confirmform
inputs = getInputs(confirmform)
print >>sys.stderr, inputs
inputs.pop('btnCancel')
inputs.pop('btnBack')
action = confirmform.get('action')
enctype = confirmform.get('enctype')
loginurl = 'https://%s' % ebay + action
opener.addheaders = [('content-type', enctype)]
socket = opener.open(loginurl, urllib.urlencode(inputs))
page = BeautifulSoup(socket.read())
socket.close()
return page
def login(ebay):
pattern = '^machine\s+%s\s+login\s+(\S+)\s+password\s+(.*\S)\s*$' % ebay
login_data = filter(re.compile(pattern).match, open(os.path.join(
pwd.getpwuid(os.geteuid())[5], '.netrc')).readlines())
username, password = re.compile(pattern).match(login_data[-1]).groups()
socket = opener.open('https://%s/' % ebay)
soup = BeautifulSoup(socket.read())
socket.close()
loginform = findLoginForm(soup)
enctype = loginform.get('enctype')
action = loginform.get('action')
loginurl = 'https://%s' % ebay + action
opener.addheaders = [('content-type', enctype)]
socket = opener.open(loginurl, urllib.urlencode(getInputs(loginform)))
soup = BeautifulSoup(socket.read())
socket.close()
loginform = findLoginForm(soup)
inputs = getInputs(loginform)
inputs['uid'] = username
inputs['upw'] = password
inputs.pop('btnCancel')
enctype = loginform.get('enctype')
action = loginform.get('action')
loginurl = 'https://%s' % ebay + action
opener.addheaders = [('content-type', enctype)]
socket = opener.open(loginurl, urllib.urlencode(inputs))
page = socket.read()
socket.close()
if username in page:
sys.stderr.write('login successful\n')
return page
if __name__ == '__main__':
item, maxbid, seconds = (sys.argv[1:] + ['', '', ''])[0:3]
print bidsnipe(item, maxbid, seconds)
else:
# if you want something to be done on import, do it here; otherwise pass
pass
paulschou
Paul Schou has also released an earlier, similar tool, although this one has no scheduling and was written in 2007 (pss).
This is a bash script.
#!/bin/bash
#
# Written by Paul Schou for ebay last minute bidding. 1 Dec 2007
#
ver='0.1c'# Set these parameters to your account details:
user=''
pass='thepassword'
# Do not modify below:
item=$1
max=$2
tmp=/tmp/
if [ `date +%s` -gt 1199174400 ]; then
echo "Please run $0 -v to check for updates"
fiif [ "$item" == "-v" ]; then
echo "Snipe version $ver (EBay Auction Sniper)";
curl -s -A "Snipe Version $ver" --data "uname=`uname -a`" http://paulschou.com/tools/sniper/update.php
exit
fi
if [ "$user" == "" ]; then
echo "ERROR: ebay username / password is not set.";
exit
fi
if [ "$item" == "" ]; then
echo "Usage: $0 [auction number] [amount to bid]"
exit
fiencpass=`echo "<?php echo urlencode('$pass'); ?>" | php`
cookies=/tmp/$user.cookies
rm $cookies
post="MfcISAPICommand=SignInWelcome&lse=false&lsv=&mid=&hmid=&siteid=0&co_partnerId=2&UsingSSL=1&ru=&pp=&pa1=&pa2=&pa3=&i1=-1&pageType=-1&rtmData=&userid=$user&pass=$encpass&keepMeSignInOption=1"sw="-s -L -A Mozilla -b $cookies -c $cookies"
echo "item: $item"
echo "max bid: $max"echo Loading sign in page...
curl $sw -o $tmp/mytest1.html "https://signin.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SignIn"
echo Signing in...
curl $sw -o $tmp/mytest2.html --data "$post" "https://signin.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?UsingSSL=1"
echo Making bid...
curl $sw -o $tmp/mytest4.html "http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?maxbidTop=$max&MfcISAPICommand=MakeBid&fb=2&co_partnerid=&item=$item&input_bid=$max"
key=`grep =.key mytest4.html | sed -e 's/.*key"[^"]*"\([^"]*\).*/\1/g'`
if [ "$key" == "" ]; then
echo "ERROR: Bid not accepted."
else
echo "bid key: $key"
keystr=`grep =.key mytest4.html | sed -e 's/<.t.>//g' -e 's/<input type="[^"]*" name="\([^"]*\)" value="\([^"]*\)"[^>]*>/\&\1=\2/g' | tr -d '\r\n'`
uiid=`grep uiid mytest4.html | sed -e 's/<t.>//g' -e 's/.*<input type="[^"]*" name="\([^"]*\)" VALUE="\([^"]*\)".*>/\1=\2/g'| tr -d '\r\n'`printf "===== Notice =====\nYou are agreeing to a contract -- \n\nYou will enter into a legally binding contract to purchase the item from the seller if you're the winning bidder. You are responsible for reading the full item listing, including the seller's instructions and accepted payment methods. Seller assumes all responsibility for listing this item.\n\n"
echo Confirming bid...
curl $sw -o $tmp/mytest5.html --data "BIN_button=Confirm Bid&$uiid$keystr" http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll
fi
echo Checking status...
curl $sw -o $tmp/mytest6.html "http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=$item"
status=`grep -A 1 status mytest6.html | tail -1`
echo "status: " $status;
grep titleValueFont mytest6.html | sed -e "s/<\/span>/ /g" -e 's/<[^>]*>//g'
grep -A 3 findresulttitle mytest6.html | grep '</td' | sed -e "s/^[ \t]*//" -e 's/<[^>]*>//g' | sed '/\n$/b'
alternatives
If, by now, you are sick and tired of eBay, you might want to consider other services.
Auction sites (also fixed price)
- eBid.net – auction and fixed price, this is perhaps the oldest alternative, with varying fees starting at 3% on the sale price.
- BidStart – complicated fee structure, 8% or less
- Onlineauction – $8/month, started by a disgruntled eBay PowerSeller
- ealtbay – only 1.6% of sale price in fees, but low traffic
- tophatter – entertaining, with avatars and chat
- uBid – sliding scale of 5% and less
- cqout – from UK; no listing fees but $3 for registering + sliding scale of 7% and less
- liquidation – bulk and large quantities; 10-15% or $30, whichever is greater + no bid fee if no bids; NASDAQ
Fixed price (classifieds)
- Craigslist.org – high traffic, absolutely free (no fees); eBay is trying to get their traffic with a similar site, Kijiji, and they have even bought part of it
- Freecycle.org – everything is free, but craigslist has a free section as well
- Facebook Marketplace – run by oodle, used mostly for real estate and cars
- amazon – high traffic, fees 8%-25%, optional $39.00 monthly subscription for a pro seller account
- etsy – focused on handmade and vintage items, $0.20/listing + 3.5% of sale price, free store
- newegg – 8-15% depending on category but free cred card processing
- ecrater – free, with optional 2.9% marketplace advertising
- bonanza – a lot of fashion an handmade items, 3.5% of sale price, no listing fees
- artfire – similar to etsy but $12.95/month
- tias – antiques, it can submit to over 2000 classified ad networks, $39.95/month or 10% of sale price
- storenvy – completely free
- epier – free and very similar to craigslist, but many paid upgrades
- delcampe.net – for collectibles, 5.5% or less of monthly sales volume
Haggle (“make an offer” or fixed price)
- ioffer – free store & listings, 5-10% on sale+shipping
- rubylane – niche, high-end, $15 setup, $54 monthly minimum
Payment (PayPal alternatives)
- Square – 2.75% all swiped transactions, 3.5% + $0.15 for manual
- Skrill (formerly Moneybookers) – their fees may be higher than PayPal
- ProPay $49.95/year, but they have subscription billing service
- Google Wallet – strictly buyer/seller, can’t send money to other GW users
- Amazon Payments – currently only in US, Germany and UK – almost free!
- Dwolla – both buyer & seller must have an account, flat $0.25 per transaction
- Payza – both buyer & seller must have an account, 190 countries + 21 currencies
- Payoneer – they give a virtual + physical prepaid Mastercard; loading fee %1-3.75%, 2-7 days delay
- WePay – website integrator, 2.9% + $0.30 for credit cards and 1% + $0.30 for debit.
PayPal will soon offer Bitcoin processing, but this should not stop you from using it as an alternative.
If you are wondering why we are considering alternatives to PayPal, note that when launched, this was an innovative and agile company, but after having been acquired by eBay, it turned into a dud – see PayPal Mafia.
Sources / More info: Wikipedia, 3, 4, so-ebayapi, ebay-incr, ebay-hwddlr, github-srch, JBidwatcher, jcb, pss, pp-rate, fb-oodle
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