buying a straight on ebay--question

[LiveOak]

I have a question about bidding on ebay.

Say, for example, that a razor you are looking at has 3 bids, and the highest listed bid is $35. You really want the razor so you put in a maximum bid of $70. Does ebay automatically give you the item at just over the bid under yours? Say that the bid right under yours was $40. Do you pay maybe $42 or the $70 you bid?

I have bought several things on ebay, but I am not sure about that part of the process.

Sorry about the somewhat out of place question...I figured someone here could answer it.

 

[joshmpdx]

Ebay places your bid at the minimum amount above the previous bidders maximum.






then... there's snipers. Who have an auto program bid for them in the last few seconds.

 

[LiveOak]

I appreciate it! I couldn't find an exact answer to my question on the site.

 

[life2short1971]

My best advice is do not bid at all on the item until the last 1 minute is left and then put in your maximum bid. If you start bidding with 3 or 4 days left it just makes the item that much more expensive at the end . This is not always true but more often then not. Plus if you change your mind you cant back out where if you just have it in your watch list you are not committed. These are my opinions if they help you at all.

 

[LiveOak]

That's exactly my routine. If you bid too early the bidding war starts. I bid once in the last couple of seconds.

 

[life2short1971]

Now you just have to work on the winning part.

 

[BladeRunner001]

Key thing to remember too is to ONLY bid what you are willing to pay at the end. Don't get caught up in a war to win. it is partly psychological.

 

[FiveOhNine]

Snipe or find a Buy It Now in your price range.

 

[natchez]

Key thing to remember too is to ONLY bid what you are willing to pay at the end. Don't get caught up in a war to win. it is partly psychological.

It can indeed be psychological and eBay encourages it, as they are paid on commission. The best way to use eBay is to bid at the end, only what you think you wish to pay, and let the rest go. There are some great sniping programs out there that bid for you automatically at the time you set it to bid. The last few seconds are usually best. I have used Auction Sentry for years. Research has also showed that auctions ending on weekends garner slightly higher prices for similar items than auctions ending on weekdays.

 

[Brownbear]

Here is another approach that I usually use and I've gotten some great things for bargain prices. Peruse the search results. If you see something you want, decide what it is worth to you. Bid that. Forget about it until Ebay tells you you did or did not win.

You will lose 95% of the time. When you win it will be at a price you wanted to pay. If you do this often enough, you will win cool things at very bargain prices.

Don't get caught up in thinking "Oh no, if I'd only bid another dollar I would have gotten that." That is incorrect.

Don't pay attention the the closing moments. Set a snipe if you must and forget it. If you get in bidding wars in the last moments you will not be rational. Lots of research on this. You will be at the mercy of chemicals in your body related to stress reactions. You will pay more than you wanted or should have most of the time.

No one has every won anything away from me because they sniped me. They won it because they were willing to pay more that I was.

There are lots of razors, brushes, whatzits on Ebay. If not now, later you will get something good.

 

[Shavely Manden]

I have a question about bidding on ebay.

Say, for example, that a razor you are looking at has 3 bids, and the highest listed bid is $35. You really want the razor so you put in a maximum bid of $70. Does ebay automatically give you the item at just over the bid under yours? Say that the bid right under yours was $40. Do you pay maybe $42 or the $70 you bid?

I have bought several things on ebay, but I am not sure about that part of the process.

Sorry about the somewhat out of place question...I figured someone here could answer it.

eBay will bit for you up to your maximum. So, if your max is higher than theirs, it'll put you at right above theirs. If theirs is higher, it'll put theirs right above your max (but theirs might be higher still).

 

[Shavely Manden]

Here is another approach that I usually use and I've gotten some great things for bargain prices. Peruse the search results. If you see something you want, decide what it is worth to you. Bid that. Forget about it until Ebay tells you you did or did not win.

You will lose 95% of the time. When you win it will be at a price you wanted to pay. If you do this often enough, you will win cool things at very bargain prices.

Don't get caught up in thinking "Oh no, if I'd only bid another dollar I would have gotten that." That is incorrect.

Don't pay attention the the closing moments. Set a snipe if you must and forget it. If you get in bidding wars in the last moments you will not be rational. Lots of research on this. You will be at the mercy of chemicals in your body related to stress reactions. You will pay more than you wanted or should have most of the time.

No one has every won anything away from me because they sniped me. They won it because they were willing to pay more that I was.

There are lots of razors, brushes, whatzits on Ebay. If not now, later you will get something good.

The only problem with that approach is, if you find a nice, mismarked item (say, a Double Ring just marked as "old shaver"), placing a bid announces that the item has value, which attracts other bids. I tend to put items on my watch list until a day or a few hours before the end, and then take the above approach. There's no reason to mess with seconds-left bidding wars (eBay will take care of that for you), but you don't want to announce "I want this item and you might too" a week beforehand.

 

[LiveOak]

I don't have a sniping program, but I basically do that myself in the last few seconds of an auction. Basically, that means I only bid on auctions that I am physically watching tick down. I place one bid. I know that means I miss lots of auctions that end in the middle of the night, but I would rather punch in the number at the last second myself than let ebay do it.