Explain Ebay to me!
Ok, so i thought i'd break my ebay virginity and bid for something, it was a 5 day listing and I managed to enter the auction in the last hour - and i was the only bidder so far. I entered the price it was suggesting and confirmed. I watched the auction throughout the hour and no one else placed a bid. During the last minute of the auction I refreshed the page constantly - until the last 10 seconds I was told i was outbid. Frantically I tried to up my bid, but by the time i'd upped it, the auction had closed and i'd lost.
Obviously, im well pissed
not least because it was something i really need rather than wanted.
I could accept I was outbid at the last moment, but seeing as i was the only bidder in 5 days i think statistically something odd has happened here.
I was only outbid by 50p. How could this happen? Did I not meet the reserve price or something? Sneaky bidding by the seller?
Obviously, im well pissed
not least because it was something i really need rather than wanted. I could accept I was outbid at the last moment, but seeing as i was the only bidder in 5 days i think statistically something odd has happened here.
I was only outbid by 50p. How could this happen? Did I not meet the reserve price or something? Sneaky bidding by the seller?
Comments
You should only bid in the last thirty seconds or so. That is the only way to win, take them by surprise so they don't have time to place a bid over you.
Im kicking myself, i was going to up the bid in the last 30 secs to ward off any potential disappointment, but as i was the only one in 5 days i thought i was safe....
im interested though. I was given an option to enter a higher bid, lets say i upped my maximum bid by £20, if someone else bid for the item (but less than my maximum), would it show them as loosers by the amount of my maximum, or just a little over thier bid, 50p say?
There are three strategies for bidding on ebay:
- only bid on "buy it now" items.
- bid the maximum that you would be comfortable paying, and ignore the listing while you wait (if you are outbid, then the new bid was above your comfort level anyway so no worries).
- bid in the last second - this gets the best deals but is also the highest stress, this is what your oponent did.
You tell it what auction, how much your absolute ceiling is, and how close to the end of the auction you want to place the bid. They generally include an Ebay/your computer time synchronizing utility to keep things working properly.
I've won several auctions with JBidWatcher (free, Java based) while busy doing other things. Just come home and check the log, cool, I won!
If you really want something you kind of have to use these programs because so many other people are. Unless you're really good at estimating how long your bid will take to register and sneaking it in with a couple of seconds left.
Ok, so i thought i'd break my ebay virginity and bid for something, it was a 5 day listing and I managed to enter the auction in the last hour - and i was the only bidder so far. I entered the price it was suggesting and confirmed. I watched the auction throughout the hour and no one else placed a bid. During the last minute of the auction I refreshed the page constantly - until the last 10 seconds I was told i was outbid. Frantically I tried to up my bid, but by the time i'd upped it, the auction had closed and i'd lost.
Obviously, im well pissed
I could accept I was outbid at the last moment, but seeing as i was the only bidder in 5 days i think statistically something odd has happened here.
I was only outbid by 50p. How could this happen? Did I not meet the reserve price or something? Sneaky bidding by the seller?
The "Buy It Now" option is best if you need to have the item straight away, don't want to waste time bidding, and are willing to pay that price.
Other than that, everything lies in the art of "sniping". That is, the last few seconds before the item ends. The only thing is that you need to give things a few minutes before it ends, and have a clear idea of your maximum bid.
You were outbid because the "maximum" bid of the other person was a tiny bit higher than yours. Ebay bids on your behalf up to your maximum. So the bids shown are only incremental ones, not an indication of what someone's maximum is.
Yeah, there are tools and various things of finessing your sniping skills. I too was very confused by eBay and I still don't know *that much* so don't worry, it takes time to get into it. Skilled peoples here on AppleInsider will guide you, young padawan.