Early E-Bay Bidding

[jayt1234]

Well, I finally found something on Ebay I really did not want to lose, and knew I would be able most likely win with pretty large bid (They were NFL cleats)..Most Items I want are simply out of my price range, so it really makes no sense to even worry about bidding...In the past (I have no idea why I would do this) I would put in my maximum bid well outside the end date of the auction...I have lost some bids probally for this exact reason, and it does not make a whole lot of sense...I finally just watched the bidding go on as a spectator, and it was hard to resist the urge to place a bid...It was intersting to watch people put in a current winning bid, then another as if to say "don't even bother", only to find there next bid was like $20 more...I just waited until 1 minute to go, place a ridiculously high bid (maximum I would have actually paid) and won the auction for the exact amount the last bidder had placed earlier the previous day....I just know if I had done the exact same thing (say 4 hours out) my bid would have certainly been pushed near my maximum....It seems like simple logic, but it is so hard to resist bidding....I really wanted these cleats and my only fear was having our wireless service slow down (which happens a lot lately).

Jay

[skyking26]

Re: Early E-Bay Bidding

I usually will open a bid, then try an stay away til the last moments. You still see idiots throwing bids in the entire time of the auction slowly shoving that total upward...

[3arod13]

Re: Early E-Bay Bidding

I usually will open a bid, then try an stay away til the last moments. You still see idiots throwing bids in the entire time of the auction slowly shoving that total upward...

What really kills me is when people continuously bid on an item after they are outbid, with 5 days still left in the auction. Why would you up the bid on yourself when you want it?

I never bid until the last 15 seconds, and win majority of the time.

I can never understand why people bid numerous times throughout the auction.

[suave1477]

Re: Early E-Bay Bidding

I personally think doing any early bidding is a waste of time. Why do it????

1) All your doing is letting yourself be out bid.
2) And driving up the price on the item to somewhere probably you don't want it to go.
3) By placing your bid early gives other bidders a chance to sit there and think if they will out bid you. Chances are they will.
4) Plus the more you show interest in bidding early on the item may peak others interests to think the item may be really worth something more then what it is and spark them to start trying to outbid you on it.

I usually wait till the very end and then bid on it. If I really want it I will put a high max bid at the very end.
I usually end up winning and usually get it for a lot less.

[bigtime59]

Re: Early E-Bay Bidding

The only time I ever bid early is on auctions w/o a reserve, and a considerable difference between the opening bid and a "Buy-it-Now" price. On those auctions, I'll bid the open plus a couple of bucks in order to kill the BiN, put it on my watch list, and snipe it (at a price I'm willing to pay for the item) on the closing day.

Mark
bigtime39@aol.com

[indyred]

Re: Early E-Bay Bidding

Sometimes I will put in one bid early to just show the seller there is interest in the item. I have waited and seen sellers take low ball offers outside of ebay, because they said no one had bid in the first few days of an auction. Plus it makes it harder for the seller to end it when a bid has been placed. More of a hassle to end it then. If it's something I really want. I place an opening bid early, put it in my watch list and then bid what I want to pay at the very end.

[Vintagedeputy]

Re: Early E-Bay Bidding

A snipe is absolutely the way to go.........people make me laugh when they bid the price up over and over.

Jim

[Neely8]

Re: Early E-Bay Bidding

Welcome to the world of sniping. The only way to go.

[jayt1234]

I was going to Use a Snipe

But I was very fearful of it somehow not working correctly (basically me not setting it up correctly)...I am pretty new to ebay and alll of this so I thought I would risk doing it on my own...This was one particular item I had been looking for for quite a whil and was so random that I did not want to miss out...However the other concer was that our wireless connection ahs been malfunctioning as well...I was hoping that at the time I was trying to bid (less than a minute to go) the computer would fail.

Jay

[Neely8]

Re: Early E-Bay Bidding

I have had computer issues several times in the past when I went to put in a snipe bid but that is back when I still had dial up. Even now with cable modem it has happened but not often but I guess that is the chance you take when you try to wait until the end.

[allstarsplus]

Re: Early E-Bay Bidding

Sometimes I will put in one bid early to just show the seller there is interest in the item. I have waited and seen sellers take low ball offers outside of ebay, because they said no one had bid in the first few days of an auction. Plus it makes it harder for the seller to end it when a bid has been placed. More of a hassle to end it then. If it's something I really want. I place an opening bid early, put it in my watch list and then bid what I want to pay at the very end.

I use the same strategy of putting in an initial bid so the seller doesn't pull it and then put in my best bid at the end.

I utilize the same strategy with a lot of the big auction houses.

Andrew

[BergerKing22784]

Re: Early E-Bay Bidding

My main reason for doing it is those listed. I want to kill the Buy It Now option. Also did ebay change it a little bit to where it has to reach a certain point to get rid of it? I had some items of mine I was both selling and bidding on where the buy it now would not go away after people were bidding made me confused.

[Neely8]

Re: Early E-Bay Bidding

My main reason for doing it is those listed. I want to kill the Buy It Now option. Also did ebay change it a little bit to where it has to reach a certain point to get rid of it? I had some items of mine I was both selling and bidding on where the buy it now would not go away after people were bidding made me confused.

The BIN will remain if the item has a reserve set on it which has not been reached yet. That is what may have happened in your cases.