Ebay bidding strategy... is there a good one?

[Archive]

Posted By: Al

IMO, the only way to bid cards is to snipe. If I see a card I want I put it in my eBay watch list. Then I let a day or so pass to make sure I really want the card. Emotion can make you put in crazy stuff. Should I forget to go back to my watch list, I get an email reminding me that the card is getting close to the end of the auction. I do a bit of research, then decide my top price I'm willing to pay for the card. I put in a snipe and forget it. If I win, I win, if not, there will be another day. The only exception to the above is if I've waited say a year or more for that "very rare" card...then I push my bid up substantially, but not too crazy.

Additonally, sniping allows you to go about your business and not sit patiently watching the second hand on your watch to place a bid. The key is to not put in such a high bid that you actually get bumped up by another bidder which causes you a stinger of a price.

As for BINs, you are correct, those prices are insane. As an example, you can search eBay for 55T PSA 8s, the bulk of those BINs are now on their 3rd 29 day cycle, but the seller has not (that I could see) lowered prices to encourage sales. These are BINs/make offer, but I think he is still very high on the majority of his offerings. I need some of his cards to upgrade my set, but his prices are so high, that any "make offer" I would make may well be considered an insult.