eBay Tools: alternatives for hammertap
I've been using hammertap for a while to find out trends, and what best price to sell my particular items. Problem is it uses data from united states ebay and I live in the UK so it's not entirely accurate... authors of hammertap also have no plans in the future for supporting uk ebay :-(
Has anybody used a similar program to hammertap? What alternatives are their? I prefer an application rather than a web based service if such an alternative exists out there. Tried searching google but their doesn't seem to be many alternatives out there...
Any ideas?
Has anybody used a similar program to hammertap? What alternatives are their? I prefer an application rather than a web based service if such an alternative exists out there. Tried searching google but their doesn't seem to be many alternatives out there...
Any ideas?
Post edited by Hercules on
Comments
I just look at completed listings on ebay to see 'rough' prices but still believe in the whole 'put it on cheap and let the bidders show what the market value is'.
Just put on my 'used to be expensive' mini PC on ebay, 50 quid starting price. Got 55 watchers already but no ones showing their hand yet. Should be an exciting finish on sunday !
I do the same Paul. Put my old motherboard and processor combo on last week at the default of 99p and was utterly gob-smacked to get 55 quid (not incl P&P) for it. It was 4 years old. The CPU was nothing special - AMD 3800 X2 - which you can get for peanuts.
That all well and good putting stuff at a low starting price to generate interest, but in some cases some crafty bugger can put a snipe in, and if you got loads of buyers sniping one auction then your item goes for pittance.
But never had a 'snipe fenzy' at the end before.
Saying that the computer i'm selling..
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/OQO-Model-02-with-VGA-and-case_W0QQitemZ290426528833QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_Laptops_EH?hash=item439ec52441
No ones showing their hand (50 quid starting price), currently 52 quid 3 days later.
Got over 50 watchers. Some cheeky git offered me $150 dollars for it ! Hell no ! Hoping to hit 200 quid at least. Should be a good finish on sunday i hope
Back on topic if anybody know and alternatives to hammertap then let me know.
Cheers me dears :-D
What does "sniping" mean?
I use http://www.ezsniper.com/ . You pay for 'credits' which means you put in your bid.
Say an auction ends at 4am or say it ends and youre away for the weekend or out for dinner with parents.
You put in your highest bid and then the site automatically puts in your bid with 1 second left. I've won many items like this, handy as hell for when i cant be online. 'Some' people are anti them, still dont know why. Even before snipe tools i used to put my bid in with 10 or 5 seconds left.
No point 'showing your hand' until the very end anyway as you'll just get into a bidding war.
Most require paid for subscriptions as they access ebay statistical data of ended auctions in the past 90 days... I been searching all day and came across a free service called get4it.co.uk...
How to find out how much your item is worth:-
http://www.get4it.co.uk
^ Simply click the 'research' button, register, then key in your item your selling it will analyze auctions in the past 90 days to work out how much it is worth. get4it.co.uk seems to cover uk items too (whereas hammertap only displays statistical data of U.S. auctions)...
Researching keywords to get optimum sales:
... and here is another gem. This one is for working out what keyword will best get your auction noticed when posting ads. It includes a tutorial of how to use ebay's keyword research tool:-
http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2009/11/a-great-e-commerce-keyword-res.htm
Anyone else know any other ones similar to hammertap or get4it.co.uk then let me know... These two are pretty good though if you want to do research before placing your ad :)
I am anti-snip Paul, because it just becomes infuriating with 1 second to go. Also the fact I don't trust 3rd parties with my ebay details.
same person I got snipe bid on maybe 20+ items.. after about the 5th I got fed up of it, and made sure the snipe bidder paid over the odds..
I had a chess game for the CPC , I had 2 tapes (same thing).. 1 I listed.. it was going crazy.. I think it was up to ?8 or ?15.. I listed the 2nd to stop it going any higher.. maybe people think thats off, but well thats me. I have a cut off point with things I buy.. if it goes beyond it , I am not drawn into any bidding war.
the only thing that annoys me more than snipers is shrill bidders.. a few made it very obvious they were and you could spot them a mile off... I love it when they come back to me and offer me a 2nd chance because the original "buyer" hasn't paid.. yer right (see znor it's in context ;) ) .. I tell em to shove it 9 times out of 10.
Someone got prosecuted for that the other week 10 items at ?5,000 a time
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8632357.stm
http://labs.ebay.com/
The key to winning auctions on eBay is that at some point before the auction ends, you enter a maximum bid of whatever the maximum you're willing to pay is. This is not necessarily the amount that you'll actually end up paying if you win.
If you fail to do this, because you're waiting for someone else to up the price before you make your next move, then YOU ARE STUPID.
If everybody used eBay sensibly, and placed bids according to what they were actually prepared to pay instead of waiting for the price to rise, then the ending price would accurately represent the item's value in the eyes of the bidders - and there would be no reason to use sniping, and no reason to be bothered by it. But as it is, people (myself included) do it because it gives them a tactical advantage over stupid people who can't use eBay properly. The key to beating them is to not be stupid (and to be prepared to pay more than them, but then you knew that already right?)
I normally put the maximum amount I wish to pay for an item in and eBay noodles it up according to other bids. Easy really.
which is what I normally do, but to counter Gas's argument .. say something is ?10 or well thats what it normally goes for.. I'm sure some will put a bid of ?50 to attempt either they get it / or whoever gets it pays silly money ..and thats what I saw with the specific things I was buying, again and again.
there is the argument, because it's well known a lot use snipe-bidding tools, it actually encourages bidding wars... like you'll get a bid, say 5 minutes before it ends to test if anyone up's it.. things like that. So what happens if everyone bids with 1 second to go? hehe
I'll give you a laugh of how "sensible" some folk are on ebay.. I had a game up, it sold... must be all of ?1.50 inc postage.. I get a message 2 days later saying he wants to pay by postal order.. WTF..hehe
the vast majority of ebayers I never have issue with either buying or selling, but the odd one you get who tries it on simply because it's "good will" just hhmm messes it up.
Okay... so if you bid ?10 on an item because that's what it normally goes for, and then someone comes along and snipes with a ?50 bid, then they'll end up paying something like ?10.50 - which is more than you said you were willing to pay, so where's the problem with the item going to them?
If you're suggesting that the sniper is bidding well over the odds in the expectation that they'll actually have to pay much less - well, that's a pretty reckless thing to do, and every now and then they'll get burned and have to pay the full amount due to another bidder either genuinely valuing the item that highly, or playing the same game of chicken - which, judging from your "made sure the snipe bidder paid over the odds" comment, is basically what you were doing on that occasion (and that's not a criticism - it's something you're absolutely entitled to do). Hopefully, both of you were aware of that risk, and were prepared to take it on the chin if you did end up winning the auction...
it was brought up here recently when someone was selling a machine, but the thing is that lots of people here would have bought the machine, regardless ,so they were valid bids.. just someone saw here and thought WTF..
I haven't explained it well enough I guess.... 1 item.. ?10.. I bid a max of say ?30 to secure I get it (as I'm out when the auction finishes)... but obv.. every time say you bid.. it goes in increments.. maybe the most you wanna pay in reality is ?15.. but you set it to autobid till you win.. so maybe ?30.50.. is the end total.
I'd like to know how the heck it knows with 1 second to go it knows how to bid that much, which is totally over the odds. and it's in quick succession. it's a bid like when you see share dealers get done for insider trading.. thats what it reminds me of.
I'd like ebay to do something to make snipe bidding things useless, but I'm sure someone will come out with something to get around that.
Thats one way to stop snipers.