Question
I have spent most of the day finding items to "watch". I have a whopping 20 items that I am considering.
So far, only one of the items has a bid ... so a newbie’s logic tells me NOT TO BID until right before the auction closes. Is this the way to do it? How long should I wait? 5 minutes before, one minute before? Is there a way to schedule my bid (probably not)?
Oh and one last question ... should I e-mail these people ahead of time and ask if they will deal with a newbie? I am an eBay virgin as you know ... not one feedback yet.
And for all you “sellers” ... try to put your buyers hat on ... I have a feeling you guys would prefer that I just bid now!
Answer
As a SELLER: I would prefer you just bid now.
As a BUYER: I usually wait however long I can. Why Bid on it now and then 4 other people come in and bid and drive the price up? W'ell bid back and forth until someone decides theyve reached their limit. However if everyone waited til later in the auction to bid, the auction is likely to end at a lower price since their was less time to get into any bidding wars.
Answer
Hi canuck:
With all the sniping services available, such as http://www.esnipe.com/, I find that my auctions are nothing more than a 6 day, 24 hour, 55 minute preview for potential buyers.
I still have a lot of low-feedback bidders who duke it out back and forth and drive prices up, but a lot of people don't bid until the auction end. I have had many, many items sit there with one or two bids and then jump anywhere from a few dollars to several hundred dollars within the last five minutes.
You just have to find what works for you. If I find something that I want I just set a snipe for what I'm willing to pay and pretty much ignore it until the end.
Answer
i use esnipe and bid in the last 6 sec the only time I will bid ahead of time is if there is a buy it now that is higher than I want to spend I will place a min bid to kill the BIN and then go to esnipe with my real bid .
one added advantage of esnipe is I can cancel the snipe up untilll the last 5 min with no ill effect as no bid has been placed on eBay
your lack of feedback has nothing to do with it
sometimes its funny to watch the newbees go at it I just won a item tonight that had two fairly new bidders going at it a couple of dollars at a time up to 110.00 my esnipe was for 225. and I won for 172.... against another sniper
the two who had been bidding all week never knew what hit them
Answer
As a seller, I agree, bid now, bid often
As a buyer, here is what I use: http://www.auctionsniper.com/default.aspx
Answer
Oh great! So on top of all the OTHER things I have to learn about ebay, now I have to figure out this sniping thing!
Hey mango man, you better hope not to go against me in an auction ... I plan on setting my snipe at 5 second before the end! But thanks for the advise all the same!
All joking aside, you guys are helping me so much. I feel like I owe you a commission or something.
Answer
I never bothered looking into the sniping stuff because I'm not a frequent shopper (and maybe I've been hesitant to try), so here's what I do - when I find something I definitely want to buy, I just put in in my watched items and don't bid right away. Then, I set my cell phone alarm to go off 10 minutes before the auction is scheduled to end with little note to go bid. I open two browser windows - one to bid in, and one to refresh and keep an eye on it. I know... kinda old fashioned, but it has worked for me. ok... so I need to look into the sniping software
Answer
naww, don't waste brain space on that sniping software
I don't buy much but when I do
I bid now
yeah I know, it ain't the coolest thig to do
but
1} I hate not seeing any bids all week, so I figure other sellers do to
2] I don't snipe, I bid my best offer up front, if the guy is a jerk and shill bids me up, so be it, if he over bids me, his problem not mine.
and that has happened too.
Answer
If I kinda or just want the widget I bid right away. If it's something I really want I snipe!
Answer
I think the key point as a buyer is to do whatever research you can if there's not a clear market price known for an item, decide what you're willing to pay max, and hold to it. Seeing other bids go up and then changing your mind upwards only because somebody else exceeded your personal estimate is the road to serious overbidding. Learn your market values, if you don't know them, why the hell are you playing the eBay bidding market anyway? Then place that max bid in the last ten seconds and live with the result. At least you won't talk some fluff-head bidder into upping his own bid, thinking "somebody else must know something," if you snipe.