You guys RELAX!!!
 

I also have made the mistake and it is down right stupid and ignorant.

Regarding (AUCTIONS); simply RELAX and do not bid early. All that you are doing is working the price up so that you end up paying more out of your pocket than you need too. I have fallen into the trap before also!

Do not bid on an item or items that you are interested in until within 5 minutes or less (preferably 15 seconds) of auction ending. If you want to bid on multiple items, allow 10 or so minutes to start and put your best bids in.

Try to keep the number of bidders on each item at 1 or 0.

Keep in mind to "RELAX".

Craig

For ebay auctions, I agree with you, makes zero sense to bid early.

But at an auction house it often makes sense, and delaying your bid till the end can be bad advice. Say you wait until the last minute of an auction, and the item you want has a bid standing at $3000. You have to bid several hundred $$ more (minumum!) to win the item. Yet say you had bid sooner and put your max bid at $3000, if the other bidder is not willing to go higher than that, you win at $3000 which saves you $$ over choosing to delay till the end.

This is especially true as you get higher in price. The higher the price, the higher the bid increments, and the wiser you are to bid early and get yourself in the right position before others beat you to it.

Another thing to consider is psychology of other bidders. If there is an item I really really want, I will often bid early, and have a max bid in place. That way as others bid up the price, I am still the max bidder, and it sends a message that there is somebody else out there that really wants the item, and is willing to pay for it, so it may make that somebody decide to pass on the item. Most bidders don't want to get in a bidding war.

Pointless thread.

If the merchandise is quality, the final price will always been the same whether 50 bidders bid with 30 days to go or 50 bidders are waiting to bid with 1 minute left to go.

People are always going to pay what they want and overpay no matter how many people are waiting to be that last-minute snipe.

Yea I poke bid at the beginning of auctions, it gets me in trouble once in awhile but I don't really see the harm in it.

Ebay's all about timing the snipe

I think the difference is between whether you want the item vs. whether you want to get a good deal on the item.

If you want an item and are willing to pay what it's worth or a little bit more, it's good to bid early to "scare" off bidders just looking to get a good deal.

If you want to get a good deal, and don't mind if you lose the item to someone willing to pay full price... then you GOTTA snipe it.

last seconds
 

in regards to this. how much time left until you bid on an ebay item.

if im not overly concered that my bid gets in i do 2 or 3 seconds from wifi on my laptop. i have about 70 percent success rate at 3 seconds. i have 100 percent success rate of getting my bid in at 4 seconds and about half of the time can 1 increase bid in with the time it registers and the time i see im no longer the highest bidder

kevin

Robert GT...I see that you probably think that every thread is pointless with your low post count since being a member here in 2009.

Why did you post today, it's pointless!!!

gavelsnipe

Free and easy to use. Paste the eBay link, set your max bid.

Under My Account - My Gavelsnipe Preferences - Buffer (seconds) set it to 3

Only caveat is you can't cancel a snipe within 5 minutes of an auction ending.

Bid early and often, I always say.:)

If you are bidding on something I want, then wait till there are 0 seconds left and then bid.

This is exactly right, you can bid right away and if you put your absolute max ceiling bid, a bid where you wouldn't pay another penny even if someone put a gun to your head, then that's it. you will either win it or not, and someone elses max bid will either be more or less than that. it doesnt matter if everyone bids right away or with one second left.

he happens to be right, though.

trav...even you got sucked into it. Making a pointless post in a pointless thread.

Good one!

This^

:)

auctions
 

I dis-agree...I like to bid very early..and be proud when I see my name as the top bidder..I hardly ever win..but Its a big thrill.
I also often bid on stuff I don't like or want..just to get the goat of someone I don't even know.
I often keep bidding on stuff when it gets too high..just to annoy other bidders.
I often bid on stuff I don't need ,but just want to see how high I can bump up the price
I often bid.......

RalG

I've already set all of my REA max auto bids. They are all what I value the lots. If I win.. Great. If I lose... Oh well.

I agree with this... It seems it's human nature to not want to lose out on something, or not to win. So, if you bid on something, and someone ups you, you want to throw in another bid because you don't want to lose, and then they do the same... Pretty soon, there's twenty bids and everyone else looks at the auction and thinks, this must be something cool with all these bids. They start bidding... The thing about eBay is that they send you an email reminding you about the item, and everyone else. So all these people who bid, or even just clicked the watch button are getting notifications... This creates demand and soon enough, everyone has to have it.

However, many times I stumble across items with very little time left, and little or no bids that go for a lot cheaper than they should. Or, I've sold things that sat, and sat with no interest for multiple auction cycles, but when one person places a bid, others seem to want it and it goes for more than it would have if someone just bid at the last second. It's strange!

eBay behavior is strange... I don't understand it, but I'm sure there is a pattern to it!

When "post whores" start threads like this it usually deters lurkers from participating. Thanks for creating a thread that tells others how you think they should bid on ebay. How should I order food at a restaurant? I need your input on that to be sociably acceptable, please help me.
GB

There is no one way. I put in early bids and I snipe and I get great prices both ways. I also get run over like a turtle trying to cross an interstate both ways.

I recommend ordering the food before eating it and paying for it afterward.
Sometimes menus, especially those with pictures, are helpful.

As for bidding, there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Cat picture selected to attract rather offend lurkers.:D

Bidding
 

I know some of you (many of you) think this thread is pointless, but as a buyer and a seller I enjoy the threads that discuss bidding habits, sniping, and closing auctions early. These threads give me some insight which may help me receive higher prices for the items I am selling and they may help me save some money on purchasing.

If a lot of people feel the way that Craig does, which is no bidding until the last few minutes of an auction, then that may support letting your ebay auctions run until the end even if you receive some decent offers to end an auction early.

This is the same reason that I enjoy Pawn Stars, Auction Kings, etc., because I can improve my negotiation skills and bidding skills from watching these shows. In fact, one of the guys that I have purchased many collections from told me the other day, "Don't go all Pawn Stars on me when you counter offer".

As far as the sniping goes, sometimes I will put in my max bids several days in advance and that is as far as I will go. I don't use a sniping service. The sniper still has to set their max snipe above my max price, and if I get sniped, that is OK because the sniper was willing to pay more than I will. If you let an auction sit at 99 cents for too long you might get several bidders involved who wouldn't be bidding if if the item was already bid up to $20. Then you get into Tony's scenario, where several bidders jumped in when the price was low and now their manhood is at stake and they don't want to lose.


It does seem that some of the newer members are making way too many pointless threads but I am enjoying this one.

I think discussing bidding makes a good thread. We almost all bid in auctions for our cards. What could be more relevant to what we do? On ebay, I snipe with about 5-7 seconds left, approximately 95% of the time. In auction house auctions I usually put in a marker bid early, then wait till the last day and last hours to see how things shape up....and to decide what I will go for in earnest. Even if I HAVE to have something I will usually use these methods. Every now and then I will try the straight HIGH bid methodology very early on, in order to dissuade some bidders. But that usually doesn't work. I remember about 10+ yrs ago, it was the first day of a Lipset Auction. He had 8 of the E94 overprints in one lot. No bids were placed yet. I called Lew and asked how high I could do a straight bid. He said I could bid anything I wanted above the minimum. The starting bid was $1000. I told him to put an $8000 bid in for me. He thought I was crazy but did it. That was the first day and first bid on the lot. It held up for the next 2-3 weeks and I got it for that bid plus the BP. LL

if you put your maximum bid in the first day and forget about it, you will either get the card or not. if sniping were to get a card for less, because someone else didnt get a chance to top your bid, then why is he willing to let time run out before he can put in a higher bid? that's stupid. he has a price where he is willing to go so he is just going to put that in as his snipe bid or early or whatever. it's just psychological but at the end of the day everyone is putting in their max bids one way or the other so either yours is higher than his or vice versa.

Travis in a rational world you are right but in an irrational one when someone sees a bid he might decide to go higher even if it exceeds what his max would have been in a vacuum. Thus a reason to snipe and not show your hand.

I do the same thing with the same snipe site, love it

I wonder what would happen if you both put in the same $$ snipe on the same auction - if you are both set to bid at 3 seconds..?

Split it.

The winner would cut the card in half and get each side graded 8s..consign them to REA with evidence of trimming, win each others cards....file claim with TPG...get refund....everyone wins.

This is what I intended for the thread when I started it; to begin discussion and get an idea of what methodology guys are using to win auctions. I encourage guys to not work themselves up!!!

Since I solely collect T206's, I have allowed myself $1000 per week to buy T206's. I also know that I only have $4k to spend in a month on T206's. I keep an eye on auction items that I want without putting a bid in and monitor closely.

If a particular lot or item goes above what I want to pay, I stop watching it and concentrate on watching the other lots/items that I have a chance to win with my budget.

In regards to guys posting comments that this thread was pointless; I found it humerous and returned the fun.

Have a great upcoming week and stay safe!

Craig