The Last-Second Snipe Plan

A last-second bid timed from your own measured delay and clock: the slowest of five trials, the offset time.gov shows, a lead rounded up so the bid lands early rather than late, and a maximum that still clears the minimum bid when it lands

BidBut's Snipe Timing Calculator subtracts a lead from the auction's close, and its own notes say placement depends on network latency and your clock. It asks for neither. On a phone whose slowest trial took 2.9 seconds and whose clock is 2.4 seconds behind, its default 5-second lead lands 0.3 seconds after the close, while the average trial says there are 0.8 seconds to spare. (We fixed the calculator itself while writing this: it now rounds every moment earlier and refuses a zero lead.) The Last-Second Snipe Plan measures what the calculator cannot. You time your own delay five times and plan from the slowest, add the whole clock offset time.gov reports, and round the lead up: in the worked example, 2.9 + 2.4 + a 2-second margin is 7.3, so an 8-second lead fires at 5:59:52 PM for a 6:00 PM close and lands 2.7 seconds early. Then it checks the number: under automatic bidding the winner pays one increment over the runner-up's maximum, so you snipe your maximum to the cent ($189.37 in the example, never the $165.00 minimum), and you write down the line ($186.87) above which your maximum can no longer be placed. Every figure is an example computed by code from BidBut's own calculators. It promises no win, it quotes eBay's own help pages on sniping and on never handing a sniping service your password, and it is not for pay-per-bid (penny) auctions. Inside: 7 steps, a delay test card, snipe cards, a snipe log, a lead-time table, the increment bands and a quickstart, plus a personalised sheet worked from the numbers in the calculator you came from.

Look inside

Two full pages from the pack, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• The One-Number Rule: what a win costs under automatic bidding against each rival maximum, and the one kind of bidder timing can beat
• The Slowest-Trial Rule: five timed trials on your own device and connection, and why the slowest one decides
• The Whole-Offset Rule: your clock checked at time.gov and added whole, whichever way it points
• The Earlier-Second Rule: slowest trial + offset + margin, rounded UP, and the fire time it gives
• The Line Rule: snipe your maximum, not the minimum, and the shown price above which it can no longer be placed
• The Odd-Cents Rule: why the cents of your maximum stay, and what rounding up or to a tidy number costs
• The Own-Hands Rule: no password to any sniping service, and a log of where each bid really landed
• Three printable working pages: delay test card, snipe cards, snipe log
• Reference tables: the lead to enter by slowest trial and clock offset, the increment bands, and the formulas
• A quickstart checklist and a personalised sheet worked from your own calculator inputs

The pack picks up where the free Snipe Timing Calculator leaves off. That tool subtracts a lead from the close and rounds the moment earlier; it cannot know your delay or your clock. The pack times your own delay five times and plans from the slowest, adds the clock offset time.gov reports, and rounds the lead up to the whole second. With the Bid Increment Calculator it finds the shown price above which your maximum can no longer be placed, and with the Max Bid Calculatorit shows what a win costs under automatic bidding, and when no timing can help. It promises no win, it tells you never to give a sniping service your account password, and it is not for pay-per-bid (“penny”) auctions, where every bid costs money whether you win or not. Every figure in it is an example for you to replace with your own.