Is there actually any decent free snipping tool for eBay that wont get me banned or steal my login info? Im trying to win a rare vintage watch ending this Friday night and my budget is strictly zero right now since I just dropped too much on rent here in Chicago. I checked out Gixen and AuctionSniper already after seeing them mentioned on some old Reddit threads, but it looks like they either charge fees for extra snipes or require you to hand over your actual eBay password which kinda sketches me out ngl. Are there browser extensions or open source things that run locally on my machine instead? Let me know what you guys use.
Works great for me
Since you want something that runs locally and keeps your credentials safe, you might wanna look into some python-based command line scripts if you are even slightly comfortable with that kind of stuff. There are a few open-source projects on github that use the official eBay API directly instead of screen scraping or storing your password on some random server. You just generate an OAuth token through the developer portal, meaning the app never actually sees your plaintext password. Another solid route if you prefer a GUI is setting up an automated browser macro using something like Selenium locally, though honestly that can be a bit overkill for just one watch. The main thing with local snipers is making sure your system clock is synced properly via NTP. If your local machine is off by even a couple seconds, your bid is gonna hit late and you'll lose out. With a zero budget, spinning up a local python script is probably your best bet for peace of mind. Good luck with the watch on Friday, Chicago rent is no joke right now so you definitely need a win!
Hey man, totally get the security paranoia since handing over ebay passwords is super sketchy! You actually dont need those cloud services at all. Check out JBidwatcher instead. Its a totally free open source java app that runs right on your local machine so your login credentials never leave your computer. Been using it for years for vintage gear and it has never let me down. Good luck with the watch on Friday!