At What Point Do You Bid?

[Henry Macomber]

I have heard two schools of thought as too when to place your bid on ebay. The first is to bid towards the end, this way your not nickle dimed at the end and loose. The second is to declare your bid early, this might scare off potential bidders. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this, when do you think the best time to bid is?? This is what I have been doing, and it doesn't work too good, when I see something I want, I bid on it up to what I'm willing to spend, and then wait. Most of the time I loose by a very small amount, but some auctions end in the middle of the night, I can't sit up and wait, there's got to be a better way?

[Handlebar99]

My personal view is that eBay is significantly different from a "traditional" auction. At a "traditional" auction, everyone present (and even the phone bidders) have the opportunity to increase their bid before the auctioneer drops the hammer--putting everyone on an equal footing. With eBay, the guy who gets in the last bid before the auction ends is the winner--this really favors "sniper bidding". Other online auctions use different techniques --such as keeping the bidding open until a set number of minutes has elapsed with no further bidding. This also favors the guy who sets by the terminal with his finger poised for the kill.

My technique? I leave a small initial bid as a reminder to me --then when the auction is within a couple of hours of closing, I will leave my max bid -- and walkaway. If I win, I'm happy--if I don't, I'm happy cause I still have the money to play the game tomorrow.For me buying on eBay is just one facet of the hobby --and for me it really is a hobby.

Ray Rice, happily bidding, in Rifton

[Tim Litzenberger]

I have found it amazing how many items I have lost by the smallest amount. I talked with evilbay about this. They explained sniping to me! Tim

[Brad Kelley]

I'm curious what ebay's opinion of sniping is? Just a fact of life (on ebay), or a problem? I'm sure there are a lot of people who have lost auctions that are not happy with it, and a lot of people that have won auctions that are happy.

Also, you can add an auction to your "watch list" without having to bid. That way the other bidders have no idea how many people are competing for the item. This might make them place lower bids and help your chances of winning, or they might place a higher bid if they're paranoid... I personally don't like to let anybody know I'm interested, until the moment I bid.

[Dave R]

I use a snipe program service called e z sniper. For a small fee they will shoot your bid to e bay at the last fraction of a second. No matter what you do it really boils down to who bids the highest but with a snipe program you beat out anyone who is not bidding as fast as you are at the last minute. You can not beat anyone who bids higher than you before you no matter what.

[Paul Searl]

I don't trust snipe programs, but I always bid last second if I can. I have seen WAY too many auctions end with 10+ bids, each one the same guy raising it a few bucks each time until he finally outbids the high bidder or gives up. I figure on average over a year, these guys cost me an extra 20% over what they probably would have if they just would have put in a high bid and stuck with it rather then being indecisive and pecking away at it and getting stuck in the auction must win mindset.

Those 15 minutes after the last bid auctions are there for one reason, to make money. Sellers and auctions LOVE them. Buyers should hate them.

[Ed Radtke]

If you place your HIGHEST bid at any point during the auction then nothing else matters.Your top dollar is your top dollar,period.If you get outbid then you weren't going to win anyway.

[Craig A]

Like Paul I don't use a snipe program either.
I wait until the last possible moment, bid my max, and that's that.
Early bidders are just bidding against themselves.
When I sell I do 3 day auctions.......who wants to monkey around for a WEEK to find out whether or not you are going to get something?

[dalmatiangirl61]

I buy and sell on ebay, I use a snipe program mainly because I cannot sit around and wait. As a seller I don't mind people sniping, nothing better than 2 or more snipers, something looks like its going to go cheap, then BAM, thats what I was hoping for

[Crosshair]

Originally Posted by Ed Radtke

If you place your HIGHEST bid at any point during the auction then nothing else matters.Your top dollar is your top dollar,period.If you get outbid then you weren't going to win anyway.

Bingo. If I really want something then I'll be willing to pay to get it.

I personally put in my bid early to drive the price up. Then when people search for cheap stuff, it doesn't show up as often and fewer people see the auction.

Always funny to see the snipers come in and lose. All that effort for nothing.

[Junkologist]

Originally Posted by Craig A

When I sell I do 3 day auctions.......who wants to monkey around for a WEEK to find out whether or not you are going to get something?

I think you're cutting yourself short with 3 day auctions. Every potential buyer is not on eBay every day. I have missed many items in the past because I didn't see it until the fourth day after it was listed when I happen to be looking at completed items for whatever reason. I have many searches saved and I don't have time to look at every single one every day. Some I may only look at once a week, and if your item falls under that search and the timing is right, I will not even see it. The way I see it as a buyer.

---------- Post added at 09:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:03 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Crosshair

Always funny to see the snipers come in and lose. All that effort for nothing.

The sniping website I have used for years is free and there is virtually no effort involved. I don't win every time, but it has certainly paid off for me.

[beezerbill]

I simply stopped looking at EBay a while ago. Mostly because of the snipers.

[JWithers]

Both methods have worked for me. Setting a max bid early and checking back later to see if you gotta up it a few dollars seems to work best for me though. And I don't use a sniper program either. No such thing at a real auction.

[topmach]

Originally Posted by JWithers

No such thing at a real auction.

You never know who is hiding in the bushes.

I place my bid when I find something, and usually just pick a value I can live with and bid that.

There is no right or wrong way to bid. It all boils down to, whatever you are willing to pay.

Josh

[IronworkerFXR]

snipe can malfunction, or your just outbid. you just got to think it out , shipping , risk of broken parts, "people do not know how to pack and ship" and I'm really explicit in that they will get it back if packed poorly.
I'd just toward the end put in my max bid of what I want to pay , always better to round up too.
best of luck with flee bay

[rpmalerba]

Originally Posted by Ed Radtke

If you place your HIGHEST bid at any point during the auction then nothing else matters.Your top dollar is your top dollar,period.If you get outbid then you weren't going to win anyway.

Agree 100%. Think hard and honest and put in your highest bid. Highest bidder wins. Doesn't matter when you bid. No rocket science, highest bidder wins.

[Junkologist]

Originally Posted by rpmalerba

Agree 100%. Think hard and honest and put in your highest bid. Highest bidder wins. Doesn't matter when you bid. No rocket science, highest bidder wins.

I have to disagree. When your high bid is just sitting there for the better part of a seven day auction, all your doing is asking people to outbid you. If I place my high bid on an auction and it comes back that I am outbid, I may consider placing a higher bid, thus running up the first bidder. If that first bid was never placed, or it was just a low bid, I would probably stop at my first successful bid. It's the bidder thinking, "one more bid will get it" that will get you outbid almost every time. There's a little psychology involved in successful eBay bidding.

[Ryan Anderson]

I just bid on something and I tried to manually snipe it at the last second. I bid $66.79 and it told me to enter a bid that was at least the next minimum bid. At that point I didn't have enough time to put a new bid it. It sold for $66. What a crock of...... eBay is screwing itself out of money there!

[oldtractors]

And that is why sniping sometimes doesn't work. You could also have a slow internet connection or slow computer that would screw you up. Of course, maybe the other bid was for $100 anyway? You are complaining that you lost it because of 30 cents and the other guy is bragging because he got it bought for $30 less than his high bid. If you were willing to pay $70, then bid $70 whenever it is convenient for you. If the other bidder only wanted to bid $66 then you have it won. If the other bidder bids $71 then you lost it. You lost it by only $1 but it was still $1 more than you were willing to pay. Just like in real auctions.

[Ryan Anderson]

I did bid the maximum I wanted to pay, but its irritating that the other guy won it for less than my bid. It would only make sense to me that his bid would have to be higher than mine.

I'm wondering how much money ebay loses from the minimum bid? Since they are payed by a percentage of the closing price. I can understand a minimum bid at a live auction, but when computers are making the bid I would think it would be in their best interest to let bids be increased by pennies. Of course I'm pretty sure they make plenty of money! What am I missing here?