Help me about bidding on EBay

[Ancalimon]

How does the bidding system works on Ebay? Is it ok if I bid on the last few minutes?

[Flashlab]

You can bid anytime you want as long as the auction hasn't ended.

[Ancalimon]

So I can bid on the last 10 seconds? And I'll win if I do this?

[Flashlab]

Yes; it's called sniping and it's not forbidden. A lot of people do it.

[Ancalimon]

I'll give an example. For example there is an item and current price is 100$ I am ready to pay 250$ for it but wouldn't want to if noone bidded more then lets say 150$. Will the bidding system automaticly bid up to 250$ if someone outbidded me. or will it bid 250$ on my first bidding?

[A1260]

automaticly bid up to 250$ if someone outbidded you

[orange]

I don't like it, and neither will you when you meet another 'sniper'

[amigadave]

orange wrote:
I don't like it, and neither will you when you meet another 'sniper'

If you bid the maximum you are willing to pay, why don't you like the system?  If you are out bid and don't like it you should have bid higher.

[lurkist]

I think what you mean is, will your max bid be used (example $250) if the next highest bidder is only $150.  Answer is no, it will go up by the bid increment for that price range (you'll have to check what that is, but it's probably something like $10 resulting in you paying $160).

Cheers

[weirdami]

You may or may not win by bidding in the last ten seconds. It depends on how high the other guy's maximum bid is. If you bid more than his max, then you will win. If you don't, all you end up doing is making what he ends up paying be higher.

As a buyer I think sniping is the ultimate goodness because people don't get any idea of how high you're willing to go and don't do that lame creep-up type of bidding to make your price higher.

As a seller, I hate sniping. I want to get as much as I can and sniping doesn't allow for bidding wars, which is what makes auctions cool. Either way, I'd rather that ebay implemented anti-sniping procedures, like pushing back the auction end time by ten minutes if someone makes a bid right near the end.

[A4000_Mad]

FaLLeNOne wrote:
I'll give an example. For example there is an item and current price is 100$ I am ready to pay 250$ for it but wouldn't want to if noone bidded more then lets say 150$. Will the bidding system automaticly bid up to 250$ if someone outbidded me. or will it bid 250$ on my first bidding?

 That is correct. If the current bid is for example £150 and you enter £250 as your maximum bid, then you would become the highest bidder providing the current highest bidders maximum bid is not set above that amount. If the current highest bidders maximum bid was £175 for example, then you would probably become the highest bidder at £176. As other bidders bid above this £176 your bid would automatically be increased for you up to your maximum bid of £250. At that time you would no longer be the highest bidder and have to enter a new maximum bid figure if you still wanted the item. You do not have to pay the amount you have entered as your maximum bid for the item. The amount that you have to pay is determined by the maximum bids entered by the people bidding against you. If at the close of the auction the next highest maximum bid entered below yours was £180 then you would get the item for £181 (depending on the minimum amount by which bids can be increased of course).

I often here of people saying that they were outbid right at the very end. In my opinion there is no point sitting there for days nudging up your bid to keep as the highest bidder by £1. I think it best to decide the maximum you will *really* pay for the item and enter that towards the end of the auction :pint:

[IslDreamer]

I prefer all items that have reasonable Buy It Now prices.  You may never get a rock-bottom bargain price, but you avoid all the hassles and uncertainty when you're a serious buyer.

[AmigaHeretic]

FaLLeNOnE wrote:
So I can bid on the last 10 seconds? And I'll win if I do this?

Well, unless someone else outbids you in say the last 3 seconds ;-)

Another important thing to do on EBay is skim through the seller's feedback.  If they have 0 feedback for example and are selling a $1000 item that might be suspicious.  Also, check some of the threads here for "known" crooks and a few examples of sellers to stay away from might look like this:

hgcsales
pacificanw
retrogeeks001
spenceranne

Goodluck on your bidding!

[orange]

If you bid the maximum you are willing to pay, why don't you like the system? If you are out bid and don't like it you should have bid higher.

I know that. But, its not that simple.. I'd say that somehow my 'maximum bid' depends on others bids, too. It is hard to say what is the reasonable price for Amiga hw.

[Kin-Hell]

Flashlab wrote:
Yes; it's called sniping and it's not forbidden. A lot of people do it.

Actually, Sniping on eBay is usually done Remotely. That is, via software. You just put in the MAX amount you want to, the link gets watched & your software does the rest for you. Clever.....But totally F`kin sneaky if you ask me. User don`t even need to be at his keyboard ffs! :angry:

Your Maximum Bid can only be determined by yourself. Put that Bid on & walk away. Avoid getting dragged into "Last Minute" shoot-outs. Fix a Max price in your head & leave it at that.

Good luck with your conquests! :-D