Auction House Strategy

[MarlinsFan1993]

Just want to get the opinion of all the seasoned veterans on here when it comes to bidding strategy for Auction House items. Since most auction houses have 10 or 15 minute rules the bidding strategy differs greatly than say eBay where sniping is the norm. Several auction houses also employ the auction wide extended bidding rules where all the lots in the auction close simultaneously (after the minute rule has not been met for any single lot), which obviously makes for long nights at the office...

Basically just looking to find out how you guys go about your bidding. Do you often place your max bids several days prior to the auction's completion or do you place a modest bid and wait for the extended bidding period? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Phil316]

I learned to get at least an early bid in if you are seriously wanting the item so that you can bid during extended bidding. I cannot remember what auction house it was but because I did not bid before extending bidding I could not bid on the item. It was a lesson learned on my end that is fore sure.

[MarlinsFan1993]

I learned to get at least an early bid in if you are seriously wanting the item so that you can bid during extended bidding. I cannot remember what auction house it was but because I did not bid before extending bidding I could not bid on the item. It was a lesson learned on my end that is fore sure.

That's a great point, wasn't aware of that!

[yanks12025]

Bumping this old thread to see what people think about auction houses 15 minute rule in extended bidding period.

i hate the fact that I'm winning a item for over 6 hours in extended bidding period but get outbidded with an hour before they shut down the auction.

[ndevlin]

On EBay or for an AH, bidding on the first day or super early is only raising the price for yourself. Never understood why someone sees something they like and has a bidding war with someone else with 9 days left.

[Juicyfruit66]

The only time on eBay where it makes sense to put in an early bid is to cancel out a buy it now option. But the bidding wars after that are just ridiculous. Wait til final minutes and save each other $$

[onlyalbert]

I learned to get at least an early bid in if you are seriously wanting the item so that you can bid during extended bidding. I cannot remember what auction house it was but because I did not bid before extending bidding I could not bid on the item. It was a lesson learned on my end that is fore sure.

That's what I do. Then I wait until the last minute and put in my best and final bid and go to bed. If you stay up watching an item your mind will trick you into eventually going higher than you really wanted to.....seriously.

[Phil316]

If you stay up watching an item your mind will trick you into eventually going higher than you really wanted to.....seriously.

That right there is the truth. I have done that a couple times and in the morning when the haze has cleared your like WTF did I just do LOL

[Anabolicollege17]

I always bid my max first bid, and only bid.

For Example if a white Tannehill rookie gamer came up, and lets say it was set at $1.00 (which I think all NFL auction items are set at)

I would put my first bid at lets say 1000$. That would be the only bid I will place as it would be the most I would want to spend. I know a lot of people on NFL auctions use this method. This way I don't have to keep bidding, and if someone wants to pay over my limit price, than I let them have it. Has always worked very well for me. I've won over 20 items from NFL auctions at cheap prices from doing this method.

I also know a lot of people who hate people like me, and always say why do they do it. Why don't they wait until the last day for item to end and then bid...Well I'm lazy and don't like going back. I used to do this and missed out on items I wanted due to forgetting when they end. So I go all in first bid.

[hairyangryfella]

I always bid my max first bid, and only bid.

For Example if a white Tannehill rookie gamer came up, and lets say it was set at $1.00 (which I think all NFL auction items are set at)

I would put my first bid at lets say 1000$. That would be the only bid I will place as it would be the most I would want to spend. I know a lot of people on NFL auctions use this method. This way I don't have to keep bidding, and if someone wants to pay over my limit price, than I let them have it. Has always worked very well for me. I've won over 20 items from NFL auctions at cheap prices from doing this method.

I also know a lot of people who hate people like me, and always say why do they do it. Why don't they wait until the last day for item to end and then bid...Well I'm lazy and don't like going back. I used to do this and missed out on items I wanted due to forgetting when they end. So I go all in first bid.

On ebay this would be a disastrous way to bid, because it gives ample time for people to bid you up (or shill you). It can be a solid strategy on less manipulated auctions like NFL Auctions, though it still gives people chances to bid you up and might end up costing you more.


As mentioned above, you've gotta get at least one bid in early on an item you're interested in so you can at least have a go in extended bidding if you need to.
On NBA Auctions I would bid just before the 5 minute finish (where anytime there's a new bid the auction extends by another 5 minutes), and that's generally it. Though there's a member on here who likes to screw with me and wait until there's only about 30 seconds left and then up the bid (starting a new 5 minute countdown), then keep doing the same thing to me numerous times....