Bidding on Ebay.

[Ryan with savage]

Purely out of interest....plus I might learn something.

I am curious as to what methods/strategy people use to "win" auctions on ebay.

Personally if i see an Item i am interested in, I will :-

1) Decide the maximum I would be happy to pay for the item.
2) Place a bid immediately of approx 75% of that, incase i cannot get to a pc/forget etc.
3) If I am then the winning bidder or not I will then leave it until a hour or so before auction ends and then bid to my maximum.
4) I NEVER EVER, over my max.

I quite often do not win and I would say possibly am only successful 20% of the time but then again I never pay more than I want to.

So whats a better method as I'm sure there are many.

 

[vbgagnon]

I won't put any bids until less then 10 min before it finishes. Its called sniping, but from my experience its the only way to win.

 

[hotep75]

If the price of the item is under the max price I am willing to bid then I will wait until the last 2 minutes before I bid. Although this seems foul it's not because of an online company called auction sniper which some people use to try and out bid you automatically. I win about 50/50 with my two minute method.

 

[Plaidfish]

waiting til the last min is the only way...but I also enter odd numbers to slightly outbid snippers.....if you were willing to pay 50 bucks enter 52.65 just to kill those last min penny bidding pricks...

 

[4u2nv]

I'm the same way as Vb. But just because I dont like the wait. Otherwise I use the buy it now. I very varely bid on a item with any more than a day left on it. I'm to damn inpatient..lol

 

[lykan]

Best idea.. put in your highest amount and leave it, but always make it an odd number.. to many people put in 50.00 even only to be outbid by 50.01.

Anothe thing trust me there is no "rare" item on Ebay..the second one person gets out that rare piece, and makes $100 off it thousands of Ebayer's say "oh I got one of those in my closet.." then the market flooded and they get really cheap.

If you wait till that last minute, you're bound to spend more than you wanted.. you may be out bid by .01 cents, but trust me if there is one on Ebay, there's more bid on the next one that comes along.

If you bid the amount you want to spend sooner or later you will get it.

Most importantly.. if you are loking for an item for example a "zippo lighter" or a "tach gauge" try spelling them wrong, common mispellings can save you money, that's where the bargains are found, you may only find one, but your only bidding competition will be the lilleterate lol..

I've bought many a "zipo" lighter, and found people who listed 4 lighters as "4 zippos in a box", or "a box of lighters" bidders can't find these listings..people can make mistakes.. catch them and save some money.

 

[Plaidfish]

yeah I bought 2 Tmax trucks like that.....nobody bid on them and I paid 125 bucks for them...

 

[greenwing7]

If no one has bid on an item and there is a Buy It Now price I will put in the Minimum bid so that some one else can not "BUY IT NOW" and then wait til inside the last 30 secconds if I can be there for it.

 

[RSX420]

I do the same almost as greenwing, I open it up on 3 computers (can use 3 windows on one pc, just not as fast). 1 with my out-bid, 1 with some odd number of change plus a coulpe dollars around my max, and one to constantly click refresh to monitor the other bidders.... I win give or take 1 or 2, 9 outta 10 things that I REALLY want... Hope that helps!

 

[LazyDave]

i hit the buy now button and i win 100% of the time. How does that work? J/K

 

[bigfreak]

Honestly, if I really want something I will note when it ends and just add it to my watch list. Then when it's about to end, I start bidding. I know when to stop because I always look at the completed items search for my product. Total bid + shipping never exceeds what other people have paid for it rescently. I also use completed items when I'm selling to 1) find out how much I might make or 2) if I want money in a hurry I'll make a buy it now a few bucks below the average price.

Ebay can be fun from time to time. good luck.

 

[4u2nv]

Anothe thing trust me there is no "rare" item on Ebay..the second one person gets out that rare piece, and makes $100 off it thousands of Ebayer's say "oh I got one of those in my closet.." then the market flooded and they get really cheap.

That isnt necissaryily true.. Look at Ebay motors. There ALOT of rare cars on there. I for one have sold alot of rare stuff on there. A 1952 Studebaker commander car with a Flathead V8 with 30k on the whole car... a Hand signed SRV strat guitar (Stevie Ray Vaughn), and a few other things that are very rare... Mostly older stuff.. But Ill agree that the new stuff that people say are "Rare" like them sponge bob balloon things are just a joke, and if your not a lazy ass, anyone could find one.

Anyway I'm a big fan of ebay, and buy and sell ALOT of stuff on there.. Gives me alot of spending cash and is just fun to watch the auctions.

 

[LazyDave]

A LOT, it is A LOT. i know look who's talking right.

 

[Ryan with savage]

Hmmm all good answers, I don't like sniping but have done it and felt guilty!!! (Not very guilty I admit!!)

The problem I have is that I cannot get on ebay at work...its blocked so if anything finishes between 7.00am and 7.00pm I'm either at work or going to/from work. So cannot bid with 3 seconds to go.

 

[JESSE G]

waiting til the last min is the only way...but I also enter odd numbers to slightly outbid snippers.....if you were willing to pay 50 bucks enter 52.65 just to kill those last min penny bidding pricks...

I agree if you really want it wait to the last minute to 30 seconds depending on your connection to the internet somtime it takes a bit to process the bid with a slow connection. I dont feel bad about snipping most likely there are others looking at the same auction waiting to do that to you that just part of an auction

yeah I bought 2 Tmax trucks like that.....nobody bid on them and I paid 125 bucks for them...

Thats how I got my T Maxx the guy worded it weird and I came across it and I used buy it now and got it for 100 bucks

 

[jetmechG550]

There is a lot of rare items on eBay but unless your looking for something off the wall you don't know they are there. I know someone who has made thousands of dollars selling odd things found at garage sales, attics, etc. I wait til the last minute to bid and when I sell stuff you can see that is usually how it goes. Tough I have sold a few things with buy it now. What torques me about eBay selling is when you list something as only USA an you geall kinds of e-mails from people in Canada and Australia asking if you'll sell to them. I have started stating in my auctions no international sales and this means you Canada and Australia. It's rediculous. I had one guy from AU ask to buy something I was selling and ship it to a hotel he was staying at in the Las Vegas. Yeah, get right on that. Oh yeah I did get a decent NTC3 Team complete off eBay really cheap cause it was listed funny.

 

[Arrow]

i place a minimum place bid just to get my name on the bid sheet and dont touch the bid.
the last 30 seconds of the bid i go to a decent amount over the current bid(with an odd cent amount) but never exceed the max i set out to bid. I'm 3 for 3 but always have like 3-4 bidders trying to get the item

 

[Plaidfish]

WHAT HAppened to the rest of this thread??????

 

[NCNitro]

It's gone, and I suggest it not be rehashed. Anything else that needs to be said about the rest of the thread can be taken to pms.

 

[Plaidfish]

sent pm instead