I tried to buy an item from ebay these days. I bid one and wait until it end. For the last ten minutes, my bid was the highest ($55). My max bid was ($60). When the countdown comes to 10 seconds, I thought it pretty much should be mine. However, in the last second, I saw the bid changed to $61 so I lost it.
Really confused how this worked? This was my first time buying used staff on ebay. How could I prevent this happen again?
Thanks.
If you want to win what you think is a coveted item with the potential for other bidders you need to bid late, usually at the very last second. It's called sniping. There are even websites that will do it for you. Set and forget. Look it up. It will only work though if your bid is higher than the others. Get outbid and there is nothing you can do.
However, in the last second, I saw the bid changed to $61 so I lost it. Really confused how this worked?
Simply, someone else bid in the closing seconds with a higher maximum bid than you. If you were willing to pay more for the item, you should have increased your maximum bid.
For a buyer, there's no advantage by bidding early. You only need to place one bid, at the maximum price you're willing to pay, a few seconds before the auction ends. If you're forgetful, or have unreliable/slow Internet, you might consider using a sniping service.
The only way you'll lose is if someone is willing to pay more than you.
The only way you'll lose is if someone is willing to pay more than you.
It's the same situation whether you bid early or late.
But by bidding early, you're giving your competition a chance to react to your bid. Why show your cards early?
It can drive up the price early, as bidders try to win the auction rather than the item. $60 for a $40 gift card? It doesn't matter, the winner can simply not pay, giving a flimsy excuse with little repercussion.
It can motivate a naughty seller to place shill bids to drive up the price.
And if the price exceeds your maximum, you might attempt to rationalise increasing your maximum. Soon you're the one paying $60 for a $40 gift card.
But by bidding early, you're giving your competition a chance to react to your bid. Why show your cards early?
The only way anyone can know your highest price is to bid higher. That's true whether you bid first or you snipe.
@Thrift: If I bid the highest that I want to spend, and someone else is prepared to bid higher, then I'll lose no matter when I bid.
@Thrift: Which of your statements? I can't see which statement you mean.
Do you mean this?
Simply, someone else bid in the closing seconds with a higher maximum bid than you. If you were willing to pay more for the item, you should have increased your maximum bid.
Yes, I agree that someone else bid higher than the OP was willing to bid. And that if the OP was willing to bid higher, he should have. I also agree with you that it doesn't matter whether the OP casts his highest bid at the start or the end of the auction, because the only way that someone can win an auction on eBay is to cast the highest bid.
If I am prepared to bid $60 for something that someone else is prepared to bid $61 on, they will win. And that's regardless of whether I bid first or last.
It doesn't matter whether someone can potentially work out my bid by upping their bid a dollar at a time - if $60 is all I am willing to bid, and they're prepared to bid $61, then they win.
@pjetson: I meant the statement you quoted in your initial reply:
The only way you'll lose is if someone is willing to pay more than you.
However that is incorrect. I should have said you lose if someone else actually bids higher than you, irrespective of what they are willing to bid.
Because…
It doesn't matter whether someone can potentially work out my bid by upping their bid a dollar at a time
… it does matter. You don't want to be in a bidding war with a nibbler. Sniping is more effective.
… it does matter. You don't want to be in a bidding war with a nibbler.
But you're not in a bidding war if you've cast your highest bid!
nibbler
The article you quote on nibbling says "the reason for them not winning the auction is mainly that they bid not high enough, not the actual act of sniping."
Seems pretty clear that the author agrees with me, lol.
@pjetson: And that is talking about a competing nibbler. The preceding sentence puts that statement into context.
Nibblers feel deceived, because some of them would have been willing to pay more than the winning price, but they hadn’t been able to raise their bids again.
Again, if you bid early you're just encouraging people to outbid you. Lol.
There's no advantage to bidding early. There are disadvantages to bidding early.
Bid sniper.
Perhaps what is confusing you is the fact that you were 'coincidentally' outbid by just $1? This is because if you win an ebay auction, you are not charged whatever the amount you entered as your 'highest bid'; you are just charged $1 more than the next highest bid.
Example:
John bids $30
Mary bids $35
JV bids $40
The auction ends…
JV will be notified that he has won the auction, with a winning bid of $36 (not the 'maximum bid' of $40 he actually entered as his 'highest bid'). To this extent, (Fe)Ebay sort of 'bids for you'.
Then Jv will email back "is this a bargain"
You can put in your maximum bid to bid on your behalf. As his maximum bid was higher than yours, he won because he bid +$1
Gixen.com is a free reliable sniping service. I have no connection, but have used them for a few years with 100% reliability.
I even snipe when it is unnecessary.
As previously mentioned above.
Bid only once, Bid High and Bid Late…….do it in the last 10secs and put you're maximum price.
This way you will always win within your range or lose it outside your price and you want be disaoppointed.
You will always only pay $1 more then the next highest bidder.
Bid higher.