Why is it............

[kaiser]

I never bid until the closing seconds.

Ah but when you do that and really want it, the auction gets pulled as someone does a deal behind the scenes!

If its something I really want I message the seller to ask if they are letting the suction run or if they have a price in mind.

Freudian slip?

 

[lewis1641]

Haha absolutely

 

[White2505]

last minute sniper baby!

 

[gavinda]

I buy all my eBay stuff that way. I figure I know what I want to pay and usually just add a quid or two on top. The only thing you have to check is what the bid increments increase buy when you get to certain thresholds. I did miss out on a bike by about 30p once because of this. Just lately I've got ti quick releases and a slingshot for half the 'buy it now' and avoided those 'inching' bids by using the great gixen.

Gixen is one of the few times wife has beaten me with her Internet knowledge

 

[ozone1]

Gixen...huh, and here I was thinking I was being the sneakiness I could be ?

 

[cyfa2809]

Gixen...huh, and here I was thinking I was being the sneakiness I could be ?

We know all your tricks!

Sniper vs sniper = highest bid wins still.

 

[gavinda]

True to a point, but It also allows me to put a bid on that won't get me embroiled in a bid war or allow me to forget the auction. I name my price and on it goes right at the end. If someone bids lower than me and isn't watching the auction, then I've got a good chance of winning by very little

 

[dyna-ti]

.......that your watching something on E-bay, that's 5 days into a 7 day listing and has no bids, and has soon has you place the opening bid, within one hour someone has outbid you? Strange! :?

either shill or just someone else watching you feels he has to be the bid leader before bidding ends
Totally stupid way to bid. :? the goal is to buy it for the lowest price possible and to do so you must wait,then pop your bib in in the dying seconds :?

You bid then he bids and long before it ends a bidding war has erupted driving the price higher and higher :?
I watched a commencal[?] front end finish.No bids at 99p ,not surprising as it wasnt in that great condition,but still worth a fair bit more than 99p
As i watched and at about 3 seconds to go a bid popped up and he got it for the start price
If he had bid much earlier then it would leave an invitation for someone to try to out bid him,it might only be a fiver but thats still another £4.01 MINIMUM that he will pay for it.
All because he couldnt wait :?
OK ,i accept not everyone can be there at the very end so you must judge when to bid early and when not to .

 

[gavinda]

thats excaclty the point i was making about gixen, more absent last minute bidding than being a trick sniper.

a second hand but unridden honey b17....£20

 

[kaiser]

I think its alot more complex than that. Opening bidding early with a moderate bid can dissuade alot of speculative buyers. How many of us have watched things not because we need them but because they may go cheap? Now if no one bids on an item and it remains low the number of watchers will increase, the more watchers the more competition. Also if that item is in someones watch list its in their conscience, would that item change from 'could be a bargain' to 'just what I need for X build'? I've passed up countless items on my saved searches because a decent bid has already been tabled.

Moderate/strong early bidding will separate the wheat from the chaff.

I don't see a point in low counter bidding, it just alerts other parties to the competition and gives a chance for the original bidder to rethink their top bid.