[Closed] Can someone explain this ebay thing to me please.

Right.

When you put a number in the box, that's not your actual bid, that's your max bid. If someone else has bid £50 and you put in £80 it won't bid £80, only £51. If someone else then puts in £100 you'll automatically enter into a bidding war with that person until the price gets to £81. It's THESE bids that don't show up.

But they are only hypothetical anyway, since the computer knows full well what your max bid and their max bid is, so it just skips straight to the point where they will out bid you. It's just mimicking bidding by proxy in a real auction - where only the bidders know what their max bids are.

Clear now?

You bit £10
I bid £30
I outbid you but the amount shown will be enough to beat you, say £10.01
Someone else bids £15. Bid shown goes up to enough to beat that, say £15.01, I'm still the highest bidder.
My max bid is never shown.
Automatic bids just means you bid way more than than the current bid and ebay bids for you up that maximum rather than your max being the current bid.
Someone else bids £40, bid goes up to enough to beat me, £30.01

Beyond me. I've largely given up on ebay for auctions. Always lose out by 2p or similar amount, or some mug is going to overbid on something. Pointless. Just use it for the ebay shop sites.

You always lose by the minimum bid value, because the system isn't going to keep bidding up to someone else's max when that person is already winning...!

And you can't overbid on your own.

I could put in a max bid of £10,000,000 and if your max bid is £5 I'll only pay £5.01 (or whatever the bid increment is). Unless someone else bids £9,000,000 and I'll end up having bid £9,000,001.

Place your max bid anywhere between 5 minutes and 5s before the end of the auction.

Yeah, I do that in the final 30s, then I'm in the lead by a tiny amount, but not near my max bid, then in the last second, someone has gone just over my max.

My max is always what I consider the thing is worth. So everytime, some mug has overbid (imo) by an amount that I don't know, but only in the last 1s.

But what about spikes? Some kind of software that shoots in a bid at the last moment.

It's called sniping, and it's a tough world out there. It's not sporting, but you can use automatic sniping sites to help win stuff. Auctions for popular stuff are a bit like professional cycling in the late 90s. Sniping isn't right, but you won't win if you don't cos everyone else is doing it.

So everytime, some mug has overbid (imo) by an amount that I don't know

Overbidding in your opinion isn't in theirs - you just don't want it as much as they do or don't have as money - so the system works.

Does this mean that someone could have bid, or entered a max bid, that doesn't show?

So when someone wins you know what everyone else's max bids must have been, but you don't know how much more the winning bidder was prepared to pay

[googles sniping sites]

hmmmm

[googles sniping sites]

even with sniping sites its still the same thing - the bidder will have set a max bid with them too but the site will make the lowest winning bid not the max bid set so that theoretical maximum is still unknown to the seller

someone has gone just over my max

Not [b]just [/b]over your max. As per all the examples we've had, they've just gone above it, it could have been by 2p, it could have been by £100,000. But eBay won't bid up to their maximum, just enough to win the auction, which unfortunately for you means that you always have the feeling of just missing out.

It's not the case that if you'd bid 3p more you'd win though, unless the other person has genuinely only put a maximum bid in 2p more than yours. Only bidding what you think it's worth it shrewd, people do get caught up in bidding wars and end up paying over the odds.

Sniping sites will only work against people who aren't using them. If everyone does, it's more or less a lottery.

Only bidding what you think it's worth it shrewd, people do get caught up in bidding wars and end up paying over the odds.

Only if everyone does it. If everyone put in the honest max amount they're prepared to pay and then left it, it'd be like a sealed bid auction and it would work well.

However by allowing you to see the bidding process and change your max bid they are allowing people to get emotionally involved - and they recognise that what people are prepared to pay is a highly subjective and fluid concept. This works well for sellers and also for ebay, because fees are a percentage.

Fair enough. Some folk just want to pay more for it. It just reduces the bidding war to some automated thing in the last few seconds then.

I get it, thanks molgrips and maccruisken.

So if an item is showing 0 bids but has a number of people watching, they might be waiting or might never go back to it? Is it better to wait until the last minute?

My max is always what I consider the thing is worth. So everytime, some mug has overbid (imo) by an amount that I don't know, but only in the last 1s.

If their last second bid was lower than yours you wouldn't be outbid. Doesn't matter if that's at 10 days or 1s.

So 2 things then.
My max needs to win regardless.
And if my max is the same as someone elses, my choice of sniping site needs to be quicker in the last second than the other persons.

the number of watchers doesn't really matter - as you can watch auctions for reasons other than to bid. If you have similar stuff to sell for instance and want to get an idea of its value.

I do a lot of watching of auctions for MacBooks before I buy to get an idea of the likely value before I commit to start bidding on items

You only need two bidders who want an item just as each as each other to get the market price, it doesn't matter if there are hundreds of other bidders or non

I think if two bids are the same. First one counts.

I've found that many people watch auctions simply because they have something similar to sell and they want to see how much yours sells for.

Is it better to wait until the last minute?

Yes.. sort of. Because of this fluidity in what people are prepared to pay - it becomes a bit like poker. You don't want to show what you are REALLY prepared to pay because people will then have time to rationalise the idea of bidding more.. so everyone plays their cards close to their chest.

For example I often fish for someone's max bid by incrementing my max bid, then I'll increase my max bid by a chunk. Then at the last minute they'll start fishing for that max bid but I'm ready with an even higher one - so they will think they've won but they haven't!

However - games like this rarely work, because someone will just slap a big fat wadge of cash on the table and make the rest of us look like fools...

I think if two bids are the same. First one counts.

In sniping terms the second one can't be made as you can only bid more than the existing highest. So a snipe can't out bid a conventional max bid through ebay

So back to bid what you're prepared to pay then leave it there then!

However - games like this rarely work, because someone will just slap a big fat wadge of cash on the table and make the rest of us look like fools...

exactly, except the fool might well be the winner.

Tried to buy a trumpet recently. The above happened. The amount went silly imo (ringer mate?). I then thought sod this and went off and bought a similar new one for about the same.

The last minute bid thing is just fun really - theres a bit of adrenaline involved. Watching the price rise also gives you a feel for how much you really want it - particularly if you know there are other similar auctions on the horizon. The point of auctions is bargains so seeing too much interest in an item from other buyers actually puts me off - I'd rather they fight over the next few similar lots and buy when they've all got what they want and they're all out of the picture

The advantage as a buyer of last minute bidding is theres the chance the bidders you're competing with are doing the same thing and you might just catch them napping. Sometimes I'm expecting a last minute flurry and it just doesn't happen

So back to bid what you're prepared to pay then leave it there then!

Well, except that it gives the opposition longer to sit around and convince themselves that that thing is actually WORTH a million quid

A this watching until the last minute is pointless, if you can follow the basic rules of only putting in as your max what you are willing to pay and then dropping it.

The 'trouble' is that others don't follow the rules and put in bids at the last minute trying to find what the maximum others are willing to pay is and then exceeding that by a teeny bit. As said above, it doesn't matter if you're a penny or a thousand pounds over at this point because the system will only add your bid up to the point that you become the winner. With the result being that everyone's trying to find that magic number at the same time hence the last minute bidding frenzy.

My policy is to put in a 'late' bid - so 5-10 mins left - just to reduce the time everyone else has to play this game, but that bid will be a genuine max - and then if someone wants to pay more, so be it.

The advantage as a buyer of last minute bidding is theres the chance the bidders you're competing with are doing the same thing and you might just catch them napping

Yes.. and then we get into stragegy. Search for items that end late at night in the week, or during the working day. That takes a lot of people out of the picture - I've had some REAL bargains that way.

Similarly if you're selling, list items to end at about 7pm on a Sunday.

I love it how the people who are buying all the stuff yak wants,and are denying him the chance to buy it, by paying 2p more than he reckons it's worth, are described as "mugs" 🙂

They may have spent an extra 2p, but they are all sorted, are in the pub and you are still online looking for what you wanted to buy 😉

I find it really interesting what price things go for on ebay. I google to find the best price of said item new, and am often suprised to find people paying over this for a second hand item with all the extra hassle this entails. Caught up in the frenzy I suppose.

There was an 'or' in there 😉 as in overbidding mug, or they've just won by 2p.

But true- either way, they have the thing and I'm feeling like the mug 😕 Pah!

Another tip I use, is biding a maximum that is not a nice round number like £51.72

People tend to bid nice round numbers and rounded to the nearest whole pound. So when they are fishing to find your max they will try £40 -> £45 -> £50 and then call it quits because they think the price is getting too high because they don't know if they bid another £2 they might win it.

Its still the same problem as before; you have to draw the line somewhere and someone else can always draw theirs a tiny bit further. But the odd numbers tend to throw people off the scent a bit more.

When bidding on eBay I always chuck an uneven amount bid in

jairaj - Member
Another tip I use, is biding a maximum that is not a nice round number like £51.72

People tend to bid nice round numbers and rounded to the nearest whole pound. So when they are fishing to find your max they will try £40 -> £45 -> £50 and then call it quits because they think the price is getting too high because they don't know if they bid another £2 they might win it.

Its still the same problem as before; you have to draw the line somewhere and someone else can always draw theirs a tiny bit further. But the odd numbers tend to throw people off the scent a bit more.

I have bought most of my bike collection off Ebay and I find it best to whack a bid in for about a 1/3 of what I consider the value is - straight away. It deters other bidders and has given me some great results on auctions I had forgotten about.

Of course if it's something I really want, then I am there biting my nails with the rest of you, at the end..

I just bid what I am willing to pay when I see the item. If it goes over that then so be it.
Have done pretty well out of a fair few auctions.
I only ever find out I have won something when I can be bothered to check my emails.

Last 3 seconds for me. Stops the outbid thinking I'll just go another £5