I’m very new to ebay, I am in only my 2nd auction (as a buyer). I won the first one because no-one else was bidding - yay me!
Anyway, I see there is bidding from one other bidder on the current auction. Based on this history, I have a max bid in which would probably hold. But my question is: if they swoop in with a bid in the last second that is under my max bid, does the system have time to counter with a bid for me?
I assume it would, I just don’t want to have an anxiety attack at the last minute.
If your max bid is higher than his max bid, you will absolutely win. Ebay will automatically increase your bid up to the max you set.
It is still often a good idea to bid your max amount at the last moment, some folks will chip away, bidding over and over again until they exceed your bid. Last moment bidding prevents them from doing this.
Nitpick, it’ll automatically increase it to just over his max bid, not right up to your max. If his max is $50 and yours his $60 (at the end of the auction), you’ll get it for $51.
Pro tip: If you really want it do not bid on it right away. Snipe it instead, and here’s how:
Add it to your watch list and make a note of when it ends, date and time.
The day that it ends set your phone alarm to go off 2 minutes before the ending time.
Use the automatic countdown timer provided by eBay and countdown to 5 or 6 seconds
Snipe: Enter your max bid
You will either win it or your max bid won’t be high enough but it was your max anyway.
The reason for doing this is to keep the bid count low. The more bids an item has the more attention it attracts and the more potential buyers who want to compete for it and who may drive up the price. And there is no need to drive up the price when the idea is to get the best price you can. If you are bidding in an area that has a lot of followers (buyers and collectors) you will learn fast that early bidding simply gives your position away.
When I find something that I really want it bugs the heck out of me when two bidders start a bidding war 5 days before the auction ends, each bidding one dollar increments, and by the ending day there are 30 one dollar bids and now everybody knows about it.
Some people don’t like sniping and snipers but it is your best weapon.
I learned very quickly that there was no point in bidding days before an auction ended because, like you said, it just drove the price up.
For the same reason, when I used to sell stuff on Ebay, I used the shortest auctions I could (3 days I think) because most of the bids came in in the last hour or so.
Yes, I know, longer auctions may have started bidding wars, but I wasn’t here to make tons of money, just to get rid of crap around my house.
Yeah, snipe it. I have an app for my phone that does it for me. I can’t remember the last time I bid on something where someone wasn’t sniping at the end.
If you have the eBay app on your phone, it will let you know when something you’re watching is getting ready to end. I think your first warning is about 15 minutes. So, you don’t even have to set other alarms if you use the app.
I recommend the app, by the way. It’s actually easier to use than the website!
Lukeinva: I’ll have to remember that for next time. It’s too late not to bid early on this one.
If there is a next time. I have been trying to complete a collection of a certain set of books, and this was the last one. I don’t know if I will be doing it any time again soon.
Sniping doesn’t work because of autobids and new bids don’t increase the time remaining.
Let’s say for example you see something that normally sells for $10 currently up for $5 with 10 seconds left. There’s a hidden autobid for 9.50. You hit “bid minimum increment” for the last ten seconds. Because time doesn’t increase with new bids, you will either lose the bid or overpay for the item.
In the past couple of months, I’ve won something like 100 auctions for items at half the going price. My system is simple: do your research and rely on supply outstripping demand. My usual target is 5-6 coin US proof sets. They normally sell for about half book value on ebay. However, I can get about 10-25% of what I buy at half of that. At any given moment, there are anywhere from 10-20 of a particular proof set online. About half of them sell for 2X book value, 25% sell at book value, and 25% sell at half book value or less. For that final 25%, I put in bids at 50% and I win about 10% of those.
This isn’t how sniping works. Sniping is taking your best and final offer for the item, and entering it once, at the last moment. The point is to avoid the people who bid up over and over again, don’t give them the time to enter their bids and raise your cost or outbid you.
You don’t overpay because you choose the exact amount you’re willing to pay up front, you don’t lose unless someone else is willing to pay more than you, which you should be totally OK with.
I still think it doesn’t work as well as my method. If there are 10 of the same item that retails for $10 starting at $1. I do the research and find that 10% sell for $2.50. I put in 10 autobids for $2.51. I will get at least one for 1/4 the retail price usually regardless of when each auction ends. The main issue with my system is that often I end up with 3-4 of the same item.
Usually around $2.50 per tray per set for most years, 1970-1980 and late 90’s “purple” sets. 2000-2009 I pay 3.50 per tray ($7 per.) 1999 and late 80’s “green” sets I pay around $5-7 per tray. I use USAcoinbook, but I believe I’m even getting lower than dealer White Page prices.
Search for listings with misspelled discriptions. Vacuum equipment usually sells for big bucks. Vacum, vaccum, or vacume stuff often attracts few bids, and that is how you get good deals. Use wildcards (vac*) to pick up random spellings.
Sniping defiantly helps. Not only from emotional bidders, but also to foil shilling.
I have not seen sniping services mentioned yet in this thread. Gixen has good tools so you can set up snipes on multiple items and have the rest cancel automatically once you win one.
Right, whereas had you placed exactly the same bids on exactly the same items, only using a sniping app instead, you could’ve cancelled your (yet-to-be-placed) bids on the remaining items as soon as you won one. Sniping is at worst equivalent, and in many cases superior, to standard proxy bidding.
Well, I won this auction too, but I possibly paid $15-$20 more than if I had waited and sniped as suggested. Anyway, it was under my max bid and that’s what counts.
Superhal, your method seems to depend on the existence of multiple similar items being for sale by different sellers. The items I’m looking for tend to be more towards the collectible side - that is, they are not always available and they tend to come up one here and one there, not at the same time. For example, this auction was for a lot of 5 books, one of which is very hard to find, and two of the others are also pretty hard to find. They are not in collectible condition, but finding them in any decent condition isn’t easy. That’s why I was interested in the set.