E Bay Bidding Question

[jim stone]

Is there a way, when bidding on some e bay item,
to enter a maximum amount of money you are
willing to bid and to have E Bay automatically
bid it for you in increments at the end of the
auction (which is when people start bidding
in earnest, it seems)?

If so, what is it?
I believe there is such a way but I'm having
trouble figuring out how.

Thanks

[BillChin]

There are quite a few sniper services. A person registers with the service, enters the amount of bid and the item number, and how much time before the end they want their bid entered. The service will enter the bid at that time. Most sniper services offer free trials, after that the fee is like 1% of the final value.

Ebay itself doesn't offer that. A person has to manually snipe and sit at their computer at closing time and type it in then.

[djm]

That is how eBay works. When you put in a bid you will be asked how high you are willing to go, i.e. your maximum bid. You won't necessarily pay this much unless someone else outbids your maximum. Otherwise the bids go up incrementally, usually at about $5 per step.

e.g. Let's say there's a book you want. You have been watching eBay for a while and know this book, or others like it, usually go for about $200. The opening asking price is $25. You put in your maximum at $225. eBay notes your bid and sets the going bidding at $25. If no-one else bids on the book, you get it for $25.

Let's say there are seven days left in the auction. The next guy who comes in puts in his max bid at $200. Your max bid outdoes his, but the current bid price in eBay for the book is now set to $205 (note you haven't hit your max bid, yet.

Most of the action on a hot item is in the last hour, as people outdo each other's max bids. The price keeps going up incrementally as people restate their max bids (or drop out). You will get emails from eBay telling you when you have been outbid and asking you if you want to increase your max bid. This goes on an on up till the final closing of the auction, when you find out if you won or not.

You can see from the above that it is well worth your time to look to see how much previous auctions for the same item went up to. This can help you avoid getting sucked into a very deep pit for really hot items.

djm

[jim stone]

Thank you, much appreciated.

[Agio]

Myibay.com is the new hot lick....they offer a free version as well as an upgraded version for a one time fee of $12.95 that includes all future upgrades...nothing else to pay.

Also offers a 30 day free drive- it- to -see- if -you- like- it trial.

Have had it on my PC for 2 weeks and flawless... accurate sniping down to the last 5 seconds....takes up only 5.6MB...very user friendly. Inserts a clickable icon on every Ebay auction that you visit.

[jim stone]

So, if I understand,
simply placing a maximum bid on e bay sets automatic
bidding in my behalf going.

What then does one need Myibay.com for?
Isn't ebay doing this already?

Also does the highest maximum bid necessarily win?
Or is there a time element involved?

That is, suppose my max bid is 100 on an item
that is at 25 until a minute before the auction
ends. Several people place max bids at 90.
So up it goes by five dollar increments, say.
Mightn'it end before it gets up to the max?

Thanks for this info, trying to figure this
stuff out. There's something I really want,
not a musical instrument.

[emmline]

The sniper services are designed to--wherever possible--get your bid in so close to the wire that no person bidding manually can outbid you in time. I don't know what happens when several snipes are shooting at the same target.

[jim stone]

Thanks, so they are your best hope, anyhow.

Does a standard high e bay bid, your 'maximum
bid,' do the same thing? Or do you need a
sniper service?

[Agio]

Does a standard high e bay bid, your 'maximum
bid,' do the same thing? Or do you need a
sniper service?

A high proxy or maximum bid should be honestly determined by you long before the auction ends depending on how important it is for you to win or what your budget allows....it does not guarantee that you are certain to win over a competitor who has a longer sock than yourself.

There are two major determinants to successful sniping:

First, as another poster mentioned, is to cut off the opportunity for a competitor to top your bid at the last possible moment.

Second, bidding up a desirable item minutes or even hours before the end of an auction is self-defeating...sort of like pouring blood in the water around a school of hungry sharks...you'll likely end up paying more for the item you're after because you helped create a feeding frenzy of publicity among the other bidders.

Last, its just nice not to chain yourself to the computer with a stop watch at inconvenient times.

[djm]

So, if I understand,
simply placing a maximum bid on e bay sets automatic
bidding in my behalf going.

What then does one need Myibay.com for?
Isn't ebay doing this already?

Also does the highest maximum bid necessarily win?
Or is there a time element involved?

Or to answer you another way, yes, eBay keeps using your max bid to automatically put you in front of all other bidders right up to the end time previously posted by the seller.

But what happens when someone else posts a higher max bid than yours? What if they do it three minutes before the end of the auction? Will you get an email from eBay on time to react? That's where things like snipers can help, but to use my previous example, these services basically require you to preset a much higher max bid, so instead of the $225 I may have set as my max bid on eBay, I tell the sniper services to go right up to $500 (must have it, gotta have it, oh yes, it will be mine).

So do you really want to pay up to $500 for this item? You can still lose to another user of a sniper service who is willing to go up to $505, i.e. a sniper service is no guarantee. It just gets you in at the last minute if a slightly higher max bid would win the day for you. If, on the other hand, you already know you are willing to go up to $500 for this item, you can set this as your max bid on eBay from the start. The sniper service isn't all that necessary.

It's an auction, a game, if you will. There's no guarantee of success unless you are willing to lay your money down. I have had b@$ta@rd$ bid me up and up and up just to see how high I would go, I think. Add shipping charges and it's sometimes hard to see that you got any kind of a deal at all (unless it's a rare antique that is available to you nowhere else).

djm

[BillChin]

The snipe helps with two issues. The first is that the bid increments on Ebay are small. If someone is willing to bid say $100 for an item, they are often willing to go to $105. By bidding early, it gives the other bidders time to think if they want to pay just a bit more. Human natures makes some folks just want to win, and that includes auctions, and they will pay a little more just to win and get something in the mail.

The second issue, is that a few unscrupulous sellers employ shill bidders in their auctions. This is against the rules, but it still happens. By bidding early, any would be shills can run up the auction. By sniping, a single shill account can't do much because there is no one else to bid again and run up the price.

[jim stone]

Thanks, helpful stuff, all of this.

OK, there is something I want a good deal,
I know how much these things go for
and I'm willing to bid a good deal higher
than these things go for typically so as
to maximize the chance I'll get it.
Am I right that it's smart to put in my maximum bid
very close to the end of the auction? At that point
the bidding should be a lot lower than my maximum
bid, if the bidding goes as I've seen it before.

That way nobody has time to drive me up very high,
is the idea. What do you think?

[djm]

It's still a game, Jim, and you really have to think about what your own realistic max bid should be, i.e. get some self-restraint into the process. If you know you really can't afford to go higher than $500, and you feel the object is really worth that much, then yes, put $500 as your max bid on eBay right from the start. Others may bid and drive up the price, but as long as none of them are nuts enough to pay $500 for the item then it is probably yours.

djm

[SteveShaw]

No-one bidding knows what your maximum bid is, it's worth pointing out. Your top limit is a secret between you and eBay. My policy is to decide what the absolute maximum is that I would be prepared to pay (and watch out for postage costs), tell eBay what my max bid is, stick in the lowest bid that puts me on top of the pile and leave the rest to them. A sneaky idea to slightly increase your chances for lower-priced items especially is to add a few pennies on top of your max bid, e.g. £20.15 instead of £20. I once watched in amazement as two bidders fought it out in the dying minutes for a second-hand harmonica that finally went for £26 plus postage. I could have walked into any decent music shop and bought an identical brand-new one for £19.99. Keep yer 'ead!

[Martin Milner]

Thanks, helpful stuff, all of this.

OK, there is something I want a good deal,
I know how much these things go for
and I'm willing to bid a good deal higher
than these things go for typically so as
to maximize the chance I'll get it.
Am I right that it's smart to put in my maximum bid
very close to the end of the auction? At that point
the bidding should be a lot lower than my maximum
bid, if the bidding goes as I've seen it before.

That way nobody has time to drive me up very high,
is the idea. What do you think?

Absolutely Jim.

I've been very successful with last moment snipes - say something is currently going for $10 but I'm prepared to pay $20. I'll put in my bid for $20 with about 8 seconds to go. If it jumps over $20, well that was over my maximum, but usually I'll get it for $11 or $12.

This does require me to be at my computer when the auction is ending, but I usually can be. I guess this is where the sniping software can help you.

If you put your maximum bid in early, with days to go, someone can chip away until they reach your max.

As Steve and DJM point out, it's a game, and you need to keep your head. If the item is not unique don't try to bid high, another identical one will come along soon. Especially watch out for people with little eBay experience as they tend to get caught up in bidding wars.