Can I use two sniping programs at the same time?

[Jane]

This may be a dumb question, but is it a good idea to use two auction sniper programs at the same time, in case one of them fails? Would you set them both for the same amount of time (ex. 6 secs) before the auctions closes, or stagger them?

[Cupid]

The best way IMHO to achieve what you are attempting is to use Gixens Mirror service, at $6 per year its hardly going to break the bank, and is no more difficult to administer than a free account, any other method involves at least twice the amount of administration by you.

That said, yes you can, you have to make sure you use the same eBay id otherwise eBay will raise the price if both snipes are executed, definitely not what you want to happen.

There are issues with using a service independant of Gixen, in comjunction with it, depending how others work they may claim to have won auctions when it was not their software that actually entered the bid (not a big issue). If Gixen is set to bid later, when another tool has already entered a bid Gixen will get a Bid Under Asking Price notification from eBay because eBay does not allow two bids of the same amount from the same eBay id, this will be the case even though Gixen was quite capable of placing the bid if there were no other service trying to do the same, but earlier.

As to staggering them, it's the same question as to whether you should stagger Mirror and Main here on Gixen, the choice is entirely yours depending on what you think works best, but note the slight issues I have outlined above.
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Mark

[mario]

While I hate to see anyone using competition instead of mirror service - absolutely, two sniping programs will work, unless if you use group bids. If you use group bids Gixen will cancel subsequent bids only if it wins the item itself. It will not recognize that you won an item if you use another service or bid manually.

[Cupid]

Ah yes, I forgot about Group bidding, sorry.

There is no way group bidding is ever going to work with using alternative services.
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Mark

[Gixen]

[Jane]

Okay, I am already a Mirror subscriber so I guess I will just stick with that by itself! This is my first time using Gixen (or any sniping service, for that matter) and I really really reeeeally want the item I'm bidding on, so I am a little nervous. Thanks for your help!

[Cupid]

I may be biased, having been here for many years, but I genuinely believe it is quite generally acknowledged that you are in the best place for sniping... The possibility of failure is very small with the mirror service.
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Mark

[mario]

One thing that you can do for very important items, to eliminate non-Gixen caused failures, is to place a small bid manually, just to make sure ebay or seller does not have any requirements that you do not meet (e.g. unlinked paypal account, shipping country requirements or other).

[Jane]

Just wanted to say that I used Gixen Mirror (and only Gixen Mirror) for my "all important item"...and I won. I used it again today for something else, and I won that item too. I wish I started using Gixen a long time ago! Thank you for being awesome - it is most appreciated.

[mario]

You are welcome Jane, thank you for posting back your experience.

[hamish]

I am new to this and have a quick question...

If I have already bid on an item manually and am the winning bidder so far (end in 22 hrs) can I also set an amount through gixen to be sure I get the item? ...or at least increase my chances?

Thanks!

[mario]

Sure, but it only makes sense if you submit the bid higher than the one you submitted already.

[hamish]

Gotcha...thanks!