OT: Ebay Bidding

I lost a bid on Ebay and suspect I don't understand the process. I watched the item at 0.99 cents for three days with two bids. When there was 20 seconds left I bid $3.05. The item sold for $18.72 with a previous bid of $18.22. I didn't see these bids till after it sold, but they happened before my bid. What happened? I want to understand because I see another item I want. Thanks, MikeK

Reply to
amdx
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The optimum strategy is always:

- decide what the item is worth to you. I.e., what is the maximum you would pay for it.

- During the last few seconds, bid this amount. (Or use a program to do it for you).

You don't have to be the very last bidder, because others may be doing this too. You just have to be close enough to the end so that a niave bidder does not have time to see your bid and be prompted to bid "just a little more".

--

John Devereux
Reply to
John Devereux

Computer trading. There are tools for auto-ebaying.

Reply to
linnix

A couple of things may have occurred.

The two bids which beat your might actually have been typed in a minute or so prior to your bid going in, but not actually confirmed ("Place this bid, it's a binding contract!") until a few seconds after. eBay may have listed them on the time of original entry.

It's possible that they were entered after you checked the previous bids, but before you hit the button to confirm your bid.

Either of these situations could have resulted in an unexpected "overlap", in which a bid which you didn't see, but which was apparently entered before yours was, succeeded in outbidding you.

One of those two bids may actually have been one of the two that you were watching for those few days. Somebody might have bid $0.94, followed by a second person bidding (e.g.) $20. During those three days, this would have shown up as "2 bids, item currently at $0.99" (since that's a nickel more than the next-highest bid). If somebody then entered a bid of $18.22, around the same time you were bidding, the original $20 maximum bid would have been automtically "upped" to $18.72 ($0.50 more than the next-highest bid).

My conclusion about eBay auction strategy is straightforward. Decide what you want, decide the maximum amount of money you're willing to pay for it, and enter a bid for this amount just before the auction closes (a well-synchronized watch helps!).

Research the item (look at previous auctions and other market sources for it). Don't overbid out of excitement, and except under unusual circumstances don't bother entering a prior, lower bid... all that's likely to do is stir up the water, and stimulate *other* people into bidding against you out of excitement.

The only time I'll enter a low-ball bid is if I see something that's not being bid upon and has a low starting price, which would be a "nice to have" item but isn't really all that important, and I know it won't be convenient for me to bid just as the auction closes. In these cases, if I win it, I get a bargain, and if I don't win, I don't really care.

--
Dave Platt                                    AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page:  http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
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Reply to
Dave Platt

I have googled "ebay bidding software" and have found lots to choose from.

Those here that use this type of bidding, what software do you use and has it done what you wanted ??

thanks

hamilton

Reply to
hamilton

You got "sniped."

I've solved the bidding problem by using the "buy it now" button. :-)

But I haven't bought a lot of ebay stuff.

Cheers! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

I've used JBidwatcher

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with good success...

Reply to
Joel Koltner

If it is something you really want follow the last few seconds of the auction and bid appropriately. Sniping software automates the process. You have to decide how much are you willing to pay for it and bid almost last (certainly too close to the end for anyone to respond).

I have watched with some amazement as things sell for more than their brand new price on eBay when people get entrained in the action.

It gets very interesting if the seller has more than one (but undeclared) and offers a second chance bid outside eBay.

Regards, Martin Brown

Reply to
Martin Brown

Reply to
amdx

Here are the actual bids made.

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MikeK

Reply to
amdx

Ah, OK, I think I see what happen. I was confused by the fact that the same bidder entered two separate bids, which show up with different times and the same value. Apparently he chose to raise his maximum bid sometime during the auction.

Here's what I think happened:

- The auction started out at $0.99 (no bids).

- On the 23rd, b***d entered a bid of some sort (amount unknown). The auction would have shown $0.99 (1 bid).

- On the 26th, the same bidder b***d entered another, higher bid... in effect, increasing the amount he was willing to pay to win. Since he was "bidding against himself" this didn't result in an increase in the listed price - he'd still get it for $0.99, but eBay showed this as "2 bids". This was the situation which you observed.

- Just before the auctino closed, e***3 bid $18.23. This bid failed, but resulted in b***d's bid being auto-increased to $18.73. The auction closed a few seconds later, leaving b***d the winner at $18.73. I'm not sure when your bid was entered, or why it doesn't show up. I would guess that you may not have actually hit the "enter it" button until after the $18.23 bid came in. In this case, since your bid was less than $18.23, eBay's systems would have rejected it immediately, without actually posting it as a viable bid.

You said that you entered your bid a few minutes before the auction closed... perhaps your system's clock wasn't quite synchronized to eBay time, and it was actually closer than that before you hit the "Enter the bid now" button?

--
Dave Platt                                    AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page:  http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
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Reply to
Dave Platt

Thanks, I think I got it, we'll see in a few days. MikeK

Reply to
amdx

Simple. The winner entered his maximum bid at $18.72. His 'next step' bid only ever shows up if his current bid is beaten. His 'new ' bid will now only show as the next step up...with his maximum bid still 'hidden'. If you had bid $19 in the last 10 seconds, you would have won.

Reply to
TTman

I agree, EXCEPT the "a binding contract" is a total lie. If you are a "little guy" - not a lot of buying + selling, and (in one case) sell to a big guy - and the "biggie" refuses to pay and makes all kinds of false statements (like "a Sony DVD R/W player weighs only 2 ounces" etc), eBay backs the big guy and you are screwed. This is only ONE example.

Reply to
Robert Baer

No. The "winner" could have bid $1000, and as soon as the $19 bid was received, the "winner"'s visible bid would go up to $19.50 or whatever the bid increment is, and he would have "lost".

It's extremely unlikely that the actual bid was $18.72.

Post a link to the actual auction and we can explain.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
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Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

Yes, that's true.... One would never know what the winner actually entered as his highest bid.....In this case, no one had bid higher than, say, $18.50. At some stage, someone must have entered an odd ball amount, say $9.22.... I sort of guarantees a 'stalemate' where 2 ppl bid say 9$. In this case, the person that bid 9$ first would win, all other factors being equal and that was the highest 'winning' bid. From that point on, step bids would go up in

50 cent steps, so the next bid up would be $9.72... At some stage, I guess the step becomes $1 and the cents will stay as 72.
Reply to
TTman

I think this is it!

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MikeK

Reply to
amdx

Ditto. However, there's some quite good stuff in China that never makes it into the shops here.

One of the things that I recently bought was a 10mW green laser pointer for $6 inc P&P

--
Dirk

http://www.transcendence.me.uk/ - Transcendence UK
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Reply to
Dirk Bruere at NeoPax

I'm not sure exactly what happened here with the two b**d bids... looks to me like b**d bid first on Oct 23, don't know the amount but it was more than $18.73 most likely. then b**d increased his/her bid on the 26th by some unknown amount. This is not optimum strategy, but perhaps b**d was not going to be around at the auction end and didn't use software for bidding. Say for the sake of argument that the first bid was $25 and the second one was $35.

The current bid price will still be showing as $0.99 since there are no other bidders.

e**3 comes along on Oct 28 at the end of the auction, and attempts to snipe. He is instantly and automatically outbid by b**d's proxy bid, but only by the bid increment of $0.50.

In this case, in order to "win" e**3 would have had to bid $35.01 at a minimum (note that the exact amount is unknown to e**3 at the time of bidding).

IOW, this is as it should be if e**3 bid what it was worth to him. It was worth more to b**d, and there was no pointless (from a buyer pov) bidding war.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
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Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

But, what advantage does it actually give you, to try to locate the highest bid? All that you do, by entering "probing" bids, is tell the high bidder (and others) that somebody new is bidding against them... and this might push them into "upping" their previous high bid, because *they* didn't actually bid their maximum.

Look at this way. If they've bid their maximum, and it's higher than your maximum, then they're going to win... regardless of when you bid.

If they've put in a bid which is less than their true maximum, and it's less than your maximum, and you enter your bid very late in the auction, they have no time to change their mind and up their bid to a higher number. It's to your advantage to enter your bid late, as this gives them little or no time to react and re-bid.

--
Dave Platt                                    AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page:  http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
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Reply to
Dave Platt

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