Ebay question

[jshouse]

is it typical for someone to wait till that last minute and swoop down and raise the bid to win the item?

i havent bought anything off of ebay in years, so long that my account wasnt good any more and i had to register again. i placed the first bid on a bat 2 days ago, its still in the wrapper and the price is super low compared to a new one at the store, nobody else has bid on it although there are several more "watching" it....

i says i can "raise my max bid," if i do that does it raise my bid to that max now or will it automatically just increase my bid up to the max as other people bid?

[Graysonhogs]

is it typical for someone to wait till that last minute and swoop down and raise the bid to win the item?

i havent bought anything off of ebay in years, so long that my account wasnt good any more and i had to register again. i placed the first bid on a bat 2 days ago, its still in the wrapper and the price is super low compared to a new one at the store, nobody else has bid on it although there are several more "watching" it....

i says i can "raise my max bid," if i do that does it raise my bid to that max now or will it automatically just increase my bid up to the max as other people bid?

It will increase when others bid, up to your max. So just put in the max you're willing to pay. I got sick of watching the auctions, so I shop Buy it Now, or Best Offer.

[miket]

is it typical for someone to wait till that last minute and swoop down and raise the bid to win the item?

i havent bought anything off of ebay in years, so long that my account wasnt good any more and i had to register again. i placed the first bid on a bat 2 days ago, its still in the wrapper and the price is super low compared to a new one at the store, nobody else has bid on it although there are several more "watching" it....

i says i can "raise my max bid," if i do that does it raise my bid to that max now or will it automatically just increase my bid up to the max as other people bid?

It will increase when others bid, up to your max. So just put in the max you're willing to pay. I got sick of watching the auctions, so I shop Buy it Now, or Best Offer.

Yep. To the bolded above, I dont know if it is typical, but its what I do. If a person feels you are directly bidding against them, it is human nature to feel like its a competition. This makes people bid higher than they should, all because now they want to "win". This is tempered by waiting till the last second or 2, then bid the absolute most you are willing to pay. This gives you the upper hand, that way you cannot lose. If you are out bid, you didnt lose, despite how you feel.

[texaspacker]

No, max bid does NOT automatically go to your max bid.
If your maximum bid is $5 and it sells for $4 and your the "max bidder" you only pay $4.
Bids will vary on the amount the item is selling for .25, .50, $1. Unless it's a big money item like a car.
YES people will "swoop" in with less than a minute and try and steal something for nothing. Your maximum bid will "keep up" with other bids unless someone bids more than your maximum bid. It's an adrenalin rush just like hunting.
I hope this helped?

[Timemachine]

it is VERY typical. It is called "sniping". The action site Gunbroker has a 15 minute rule which means if you place a bid when there is less that 15 minutes left, the clock gets reset to 15 minutes and counting. You still have to watch the screen but it give you a chance to bid again.

Best practice: Place you maximum bid, the most you are willing to pay. that way you might now win the auction, but whoever did had to pay a fair price for it.

EXAMPLE: i just won a bid on a lever action 22mag, NIB, rifle. I put in a max bid that was still $100 less that retail. Had a guy kept waiting till the one minute mark then swoop in at bid $10 more than the current bid. My bid automatically bumped up. He did that 4 times. In the end, I won the bid and got the item for $200 less than retail. He never came close to what I was willing to pay.

[jshouse]

thanks fellas, thats what i needed

[Shane]

I use BidNip to place last second bids on ebay, if I'm ever bidding on something there. Mostly I just look for Buy It Now items so I don't have to wait though. I rarely buy anything on ebay anymore, however. Amazon Prime is awesome.

[stickbowcoop]

As others said, in the rare instance I bid (I mostly use Buy it Now or Make an Offer sales) I just set the max I am willing to pay and forget it. eBay will auto update each opposing bid until they reach my max. If someone snipes at the end and outbids me, it was more than I was willing to pay so I don't feel like I lost.

[quarterback]

Happens every day on ebay. I have bought a lot of old coins there and it is a given that someone will snipe the bid within the last couple seconds. If they bid over my max bid then it's their baby and they paid more than I wanted to pay. That's life in the big city. With coins there is always another one coming up to bid on.

[cj_sandman]

I am always leery on stuff that has a bunch of watchers and no bids. I'll even sometimes hold off on bidding until the very end, too. My reason is that I am thoroughly convinced that some of these savvy sellers have multiple accounts and they'll go driving bids up by trying to get you to compete or bid against their secondary account, but once the price gets high enough they'll stop bidding and leave you paying more than you intended to. If you don't outbid them, you'll end up seeing that item "Re-listed" (no one won or buyer didn't take possession of the item)... VERY SHADY.

I dislike eBay. Amazon is a lot safer if the product is available and also faster shipping.

[Artos]

Gunbroker will add 15 minutes to the auction (if a bid is placed within the last 15mins before closing) & send an email to you that you have been outbid. This gives you time to consider a raise.

It's great for the seller & just depends on your situation in regards to any benefit for the buyer.

[dustoffer]

Snipers have been a part of on-line auctions from the beginning--as Shane posted.