Main and Mirror optimum times to win

[vincentmann]

Hi. What are the Main and Mirror optimum times to win from your experience?

Should the Main and Mirror times be the same? Why or why not?

Is there a time that you would never go under to prevent a bid from not reaching eBay before the bid ends?

There was a recent blog that recommended 8 seconds with no mention of Main or Mirror. What are your thoughts on using this 8 seconds?

Thank you very much for a reply

[vincentmann]

I just read that "Bids for all Gixen mirror subscribers are now submitted at the last second of the auction, in addition to the time (offset) user has chosen." So is the optimum times already in the settings for the paid user and they do not need to worry about the time to set?

[Cupid]

This is a perennial discussion (the reason there's already a blog on the subject), for which there is no 'right' answer.

Different strategies work best in different scenarios, unfortunately you never know, for sure, what scenario any particular auction will fit into, you can only make a best guess.

I generally schedule snipes on auctions where I know there will be other snipers interested and willing to pay a similar amount as I am. So, 8 to 10 seconds works best for me as my bid more often gets placed before theirs is scheduled to be and they have to take their chances that their bid will get rejected because of the bid increment rule.

In scenarios where there are no other snipers, or manual bidders might be watching the auction thinking they can place another bid manually if they get outbid, and haven't already submitted the maximum amount they are willing to pay, then the lowest offset is the best strategy. Personally I find this scenario is less prevalent than it used to be with more and more people realising that it makes far more sense for them to use services like Gixen to place their bids for them.

Offsets being the same or different is really not much of an issue either, in the vast majority of cases the server you choose to have the greatest offset is going to be the one that places the bid with the second one being blocked and only occurring when the other server has an issue placing the bid, which, as we all know, is not very likely on Gixen. Occasionally if you have the same offset you get two bids of the same amount registered on Ebay, but that has never been an issue for any seller I've ever dealt with.

As far as I am aware 1 second offsets are still pretty reliably getting to Ebay before the auction ends, that's not the issue for me, it's too late because of the bid increment rule not a reliability issue with Gixen or Ebay.

There is a caveat to "Bids for all Gixen mirror subscribers are now submitted at the last second of the auction, in addition to the time (offset) user has chosen." which is, "Gixen squezees [sic] bids between the time when fraudset [sic] retracts a bid, and auction end time.". That is, the bid is only placed this late if Gixen has not already been able to place the bid at the offset specified due to fraudulent activity by another bidder.
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Mark

[vincentmann]

Thank you very much Cupid for your reply and information.

Again should the Main time and Mirror time be the same? Why or why not? Which should have the greater time?

[Gixen]

[Cupid]

As I said, it's not really an issue either way, there are no advantages of having them different or the same, it just makes a difference as to which server you would prefer to win the vast majority of the time.
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Mark