EBAY - Bidding Help :(

[gsferrari]

User ID Bid Amount Date of bid

mikystyle ( 17) US $240.65 Sep-02-04 21:44:45 PDT



gsferrari ( 0 ) US $239.00 Sep-02-04 21:44:28 PDT


vx700guy ( 43) US $235.65 Sep-02-04 21:43:21 PDT


gsferrari ( 0 ) US $235.00 Sep-02-04 21:44:17 PDT


mikystyle ( 17) US $222.50 Sep-02-04 21:40:36 PDT


cnopcguru ( 42) US $220.00 Aug-30-04 09:05:52 PDT




Sh!te!!!

Lost by a measly few seconds...couldnt hit the new bid value in time

Anyone have any suggestions for successful ebay bidding? I have NEVER done any ebay deals before and really am quite a n00b. This was a pretty thrilling experience but I know that sometimes bids are made seconds apart.

What do you do to win an auction like this in the closing stages?

Tips / Advice / Skills - anything - please give me your feedback.

Thanks!!

gs

 

[gsferrari]

Do ebay sellers sometimes use friends to bump up the price?

Look at this :-

photonic420 ( 0 ) US $202.50 Sep-02-04 21:07:20 PDT


gsferrari ( 0 ) US $200.00 Sep-02-04 20:29:05 PDT


photonic420 ( 0 ) US $200.00 Sep-02-04 21:06:09 PDT


photonic420 ( 0 ) US $190.00 Sep-02-04 21:06:00 PDT


photonic420 ( 0 ) US $180.00 Sep-02-04 21:05:54 PDT


photonic420 ( 0 ) US $171.00 Sep-02-04 21:05:48 PDT


photonic420 ( 0 ) US $166.00 Sep-02-04 21:05:38 PDT


photonic420 ( 0 ) US $160.00 Sep-02-04 21:05:17 PDT


photonic420 ( 0 ) US $155.00 Sep-02-04 21:05:07 PDT


20thgti0866 ( 2 ) US $150.00 Sep-01-04 13:48:27 PDT


gsferrari ( 0 ) US $150.00 Sep-02-04 20:28:56 PDT


joeybware ( 24) US $125.00 Sep-02-04 05:53:15 PDT


mindwyrm1977 ( 10) US $100.00 Aug-31-04 13:18:58 PDT


20thgti0866 ( 2 ) US $100.00 Aug-31-04 19:44:42 PDT


pm$ ( 592) US $70.00 Aug-31-04 18:29:44 PDT


alan101575 ( 1 ) US $65.00 Aug-31-04 13:55:10 PDT




that photonic420 dude is upping the price without any competition...Of course he is also a n00b but whassup here ?

 

[D-EJ915]

eBay has a built-in auto-bidding feature in which it automatically surpasses other people's bids up to a certain point. Each time someone else bids it puts in one for you and doesn't show theirs. Oh, btw, I've been beaten by 3 seconds before O_O, it REALLY REALLY helps to have cable (AOL HERE), I would have won like 9 more things than I have if I'd have had cable (evil dad)...

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Yes GS, the sad truth is that sometimes people have their friends bid up their auctions, but if they are caught their acount will be suspended. Some people also bid up an auction in increments, trying to figure out how high the other people in the auction are willing to go. If you really want an item you have to bid as high as you can so it will automatically increase your bid when someone tries to outbid u. Don't worry you'll learn fast.

 

[DanT]

Well my manual methode Prepare the windows with the bid ready. Place the bid the latest I dare. Realy figure out the higest I'm willing to pay without forgeting to include shipping and other related fee. Put 5%-10% more If I'm overbid then it was already overprice for me so.

EDIT: If I realy must have the stuff I usualy put what I consider a high amount so even if they try to overbid me 3 sec after me They usualy got below my high bid. If they put an even higher value well then it is truely overprices and I cannot afford it anyway so I'm happy with losing and not having to spend a ****load of money on an other toy

I used to have a free sniping service but now they charge a minimal fee. I might try some paying service in the future so I don't have to be in front of my computer at the ending.

 

[gsferrari]

Dear god!

I just lost another one

In the excitement of the Klipsch thing (the first thread) I forgot about this thread

n00biness is showing all over my glowing face

How long does it take between bidding and the bid getting registered?

 

[D-EJ915]

Depends on how fast your account is, can be instantaneous (or like 7 seconds on my PC).

I generally keep 3 tabs open constantly refreshing to see if it's updated at all.

 

[warubozu]

gsferrari,

Check out the ebay electronic bidding service esnipe at the following link:

http://www.esnipe.com/

You sign up for a membership at esnipe and then when you find the item on Ebay you want to bid on you set Esnipe to tell it how much to bid and and at what point in the auction to make your bid before it ends. It's as simple as set it and forget it. There is a small charge that you have to pay ensipe for this service but it's very reasonable. I use esnipe to make a bid on a item on my behalf a few seconds before the auction ends when I can't be there myself physically to make the bid.
Yes, there are some dishonest sellers on ebay who have friends or have multiple login names, they use these multiple logins or contact their friends to on purposesly place a bid on an item in hopes to raise the price by starting a bidding war. This practice is called shilling, do a search here on the topic of shilling and you will see it has been discussed here before. This practice is also illegal. A sure way to see if a seller is shilling is to check his feedback history (unless the seller decides to make his feedback history private) on previous auctions to if their is a continuous pattern in the bidding history of the seller's earlier auctions.

 

[warubozu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsferrari Dear god! I just lost another one In the excitement of the Klipsch thing (the first thread) I forgot about this thread n00biness is showing all over my glowing face How long does it take between bidding and the bid getting registered?

That depends on the connection you have with ebay at the time. For me on DSL if my connection is good I can usually snipe in a bid at 5 seconds before the auction ends. If the connection is bad it can take me at least 10 to 15 seconds or not at all. At 10 to 15 seconds in a bidding war their a good chance you might not win the auction because someone else may have a better connection and sneak in a bid.

 

[chadbang]

The only way to win is to snipe within the last 30 seconds. If there's just one or two people bidding against you, raise your bid to about 1/2 of what you're willing to pay - then stop. Your opponents will assume you've given up at a fairly low price. But you've raised their ante. Let them battle it out. Then, at the very end of the auction. Smack them with your biggest bid raise (that last 50% jump). That'll ususally knocks them for a surprise. This method always works for me.

 

[RYCeT]

I always put the maximum amount that I want to pay, shipping & handling fee included, within the last 10-15 seconds. That way, even if I don't get the item, I won't regret it.

edit: Sniping is fun

 

[pank2002]

I always use sniper service. I use snip.pl. It's co much easier. I just put whatever I'm willing to pay. I think I've lost twice on ebay. One of the times I had a too low max bid the other time was bidding manually.

 

[meat01]

What RYCeT said! Pick a price that you are willing to pay and do not bid over that price. That way you do not have to keep bidding in increments.

Sometimes a bid with obscure cents wins the deal if the other person has a limit to the even dollar. Bid $201.59, instead of $200.

Also don't even bother bidding until the last 5 minutes of the auction. All it does is drive the price up. There are enough noobs doing that already, when the winning bidder is just going to put it on his watch list or have a snipe bid and get it in the last second.

 

[gloco]

I started using a bid snipe tool as well since many others do it. My attitude is bid the highest your willing to shell out from the get go.

 

[Hirsch]

I use esnipe. A couple of reasons:

I don't necessarily want people to know I'm interested in an auction.

My bid gets placed about 3 or 4 sec before the end of the auction. Hard for somebody to respond.

I don't have to sit by my computer to place a late bid.

I can set my maximum bid several days before the auction end. That lets me work out what an auction is worth to me in relative calm, and not get caught up in "auction fever" at the end. If I lose, I lose...but I don't wind up overpaying.

Downsides:

1% of winning bids gets paid to esnipe.

If there is a disconnect between esnipe and ebay, the bid might not get placed. I lost one auction this way.