O/T: Why do people bid so early on ebay?

[treant985]

You sit around waiting for the auction to end? There are a few websites for sniping. I use auctionsniper.com. You just set you max bid, go about your business, and check to see if you won.

Maybe I get a personal thrill out of watching the last minute or so...it's like sudokus--I can do the method where you solve it everytime by filling in possible numbers and it's faster than the regular method...but it's not any fun.

[otismalibu]

If the seller sets a reserve and a BIN price, there will be bids and the BIN will remain until the reserve is met.

Ah...that would explain it.

[OaklandAsFan]

I hate when people do this during the weekend charity auctions up in Oakland. The items are on display and you can make bids on them as soon as the gates open, whatever you bid at that time is the top bid. in the top of the 5th they no longer take bids and it goes to silent auction. in the bottom half of the 5th they take the silent bids and the top bidder wins at that point but you have these idiots who walk up as soon as the gates open and bid $600 for something that if they had waited until the 5th inning they could have had for less than $300.

[trsent]

We have discussed this before - There are rare cases where a Buy-It-Now remains, without a reserve, when the bid is a low percentage of the BIN.

Here is a live example:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=160329983092

When I posted this link, the bid is $177.50 and the BIN is still there for $495.00 with 23.5 hours left in the listing. There is no reserve. Odd.

Anyway, though I use BidNapper for sniping, if an item doesn't have an opening bid I may open it due to the fact that then the seller cannot edit the listing and the item could change before my snipe hits.

Also, sometimes I just don't care so I'll bid my final bid early and if I get the item, great, if I don't, at least it went for more than I was willing to pay.

Some people are macho, they think raising the price early will scare off others.

[godwulf]

I hate when people do this during the weekend charity auctions up in Oakland. The items are on display and you can make bids on them as soon as the gates open, whatever you bid at that time is the top bid. in the top of the 5th they no longer take bids and it goes to silent auction. in the bottom half of the 5th they take the silent bids and the top bidder wins at that point but you have these idiots who walk up as soon as the gates open and bid $600 for something that if they had waited until the 5th inning they could have had for less than $300.

When it's a charity auction, all bets are off, and nothing really makes sense. Some folks will bid far more than an item is worth, just because it is a charity auction, and it's their way of contributing to whatever the cause is. A couple of years ago, at the Tillman Foundation charity auction, Eric Byrnes ended up being the winning bidder on one of his own jerseys, 'cause he didn't think the bidding had gone high enough, so he just said, "Okay, a thousand dollars" or whatever it was, and he won it.

[treant985]

When it's a charity auction, all bets are off, and nothing really makes sense. Some folks will bid far more than an item is worth, just because it is a charity auction, and it's their way of contributing to whatever the cause is. A couple of years ago, at the Tillman Foundation charity auction, Eric Byrnes ended up being the winning bidder on one of his own jerseys, 'cause he didn't think the bidding had gone high enough, so he just said, "Okay, a thousand dollars" or whatever it was, and he won it.

You can get some good deals if the charity auctions aren't well-attended. I bought a bunch of gift cards at a local charity auction and actually paid considerably less than the cards' face value.

[OaklandAsFan]

When it's a charity auction, all bets are off, and nothing really makes sense. Some folks will bid far more than an item is worth, just because it is a charity auction, and it's their way of contributing to whatever the cause is. A couple of years ago, at the Tillman Foundation charity auction, Eric Byrnes ended up being the winning bidder on one of his own jerseys, 'cause he didn't think the bidding had gone high enough, so he just said, "Okay, a thousand dollars" or whatever it was, and he won it.

Only person stupid enough to bid $1000 on an Eric Byrnes jersey would be Eric Byrnes, why does that not surprise me

[ndevlin]

I use to bid only at the last second but I found this site called auctionshadow.com. They give you 2 percent back on your ebay purchase. So to make sure I get my money I place a low bid through the site and bid higher if I really want to go after the item.


Jojo

Jojo, what is your email? I have a question. Or you can email me at Nathanieldevlin@yahoo.com

Thanks

[ndevlin]

Jojo, what is your email? I have a question. Or you can email me at Nathanieldevlin@yahoo.com

Thanks

Orrrr.....turn your pm's on.

[gingi79]

I am selling a bunch of stuff on eBay now and seeing all red numbers is depressing. Most of the items have opening bids much lower than I would ever be happy selling at but I am forced to do so to get some attention.

I personally never bid on auctions with a reserve unless it is a grail type piece therefore I refuse to use them.

Because people have learned that a bid cancels the BIN and simply bid on it to do so, I stopped ofering BIN on my auctions as well. I put in the description that I will accept an offer on items that don't have a bid and add the BIN if it is acceptable. I sold my Chris Hammonds Throwback jersey this week that way.

I will say not putting in a higher bid has cost he as a buyer and a seller as well. I sold a jersey this week for about $200 less than I ever thought I would let it go for. A bidder emailed that he would pay $200 more for the shirt than the winning bidder but forgot to snipe it. SO he lost the shirt and I was out $200. In these times believe me I thought about cancelling the winning bidder and refunding his money but my conscience got the better of me. Stupid Jimminy Cricket!