ebay .. outbid ... what the point ?

[Nikko]

An anagram of snipe is penis

[altis]

If you have a radio controlled clock or watch then click to confirm your bid EXACTLY one second before the auction closes. That way your bid ends up tagged with the same time as the auction close. And remember, always bid the maximum amount that you are willing to pay and NOT the amount shown as the minimum bid the last time you looked - others will be doing the same.

I'm not sure why eBay doesn't extend auctions for at least 10 minutes after a bid. I have a vague recollection that they used to. Perhaps they could list it as, yet another, charged-for service.

Originally Posted by Graham

In *some* types of auction...!

Ever been to a (Reverse) "Dutch Auction"?

In a Dutch Auction the price starts at, eg £200 and drops by eg £5 increments until someone bids, at which point the auction closes.

In a Reverse Dutch Auction, there's a timer (IIRC it used to be a candle set to burn through a string that would drop a hammer on a bell) that determines when the auction closes, the last bid received before the bell gets the item.

It's a way of ensuring that auctions don't go on too long.

Ebay dont do reverse dutch auctions and no one was talking about reverse dutch auctions. We were talking about the type of auction that ebay runs and sniping.

Originally Posted by altis

I'm not sure why eBay doesn't extend auctions for at least 10 minutes after a bid. I have a vague recollection that they used to. Perhaps they could list it as, yet another, charged-for service.

No need to charge, if the sale price goes up because of it then Ebay gets more money anyway.

[Gareth]

Something that I often do when buying on ebay is to put my max bid at £n plus a few pence... I often see people putting their max bid at a round figure, so a bid of just 1 penny more than theirs will be enough to secure you as the winner ....if you're as tight-fisted as I am

Originally Posted by gary_580

Ebay dont do reverse dutch auctions and no one was talking about reverse dutch auctions. We were talking about the type of auction that ebay runs and sniping.

You made a statement that that was "what happened in real auctions". I was just pedantically pointing out that it's not *all* auctions.

[Neil]

Let's keep this thread on the original topic of EBay please.

Keep any other questions to PM/EMail etc please.

Thanks.

[philip.j.fry]

Originally Posted by gary_580

Or extend the auction after every bid. After all thats what happens in a really auction.

I'm pretty sure there is that option, but it is up to the seller to turn it on. If a bid is made in the last minute or so the auction gets extended by ten minutes.

Originally Posted by philip.j.fry

I'm pretty sure there is that option, but it is up to the seller to turn it on. If a bid is made in the last minute or so the auction gets extended by ten minutes.

I just had a look and couldnt see anything. I might be wrong though.

[andygrif]

Originally Posted by Chris T

Kind of makes a mockery of the auction being open for several days if all the action takes place by bot in the last few seconds!

It does a bit, but the advantage of having it run for several days is that you get your items seen for longer, get on to people's watch lists etc. I recently decided to flog off about 100 CDs that were surplus to my collection, so stuck them on eBay for a 9 day listing. You can see day by day how you get on to people's watch lists, plus you do get quite a few bids in the days before.

But as everyone says, it's the last few 10 mins or so when it gets interesting - my pot went from 120 quid to over 200 quid in a few mins!

Originally Posted by aliferste

Thats what used to happen with Yahoo auctions.........a great feature!!

Sounds like a good idea.

Originally Posted by Nikko

An anagram of snipe is penis

Originally Posted by GDW1975

Something that I often do when buying on ebay is to put my max bid at £n plus a few pence... I often see people putting their max bid at a round figure, so a bid of just 1 penny more than theirs will be enough to secure you as the winner ....if you're as tight-fisted as I am

And I thought it was just me that did that!!

The bottom line to winning any auction, against a person or against an automated sniper program, is to bid more money than the other person. If you decide that an item is worth £y but the person using the sniper reckons it's worth £x then you will win the auction plain and simple.

It's part of the fun of using eBay, some you win some you lose!

[altis]

Originally Posted by GDW1975

Something that I often do when buying on ebay is to put my max bid at £n plus a few pence... I often see people putting their max bid at a round figure, so a bid of just 1 penny more than theirs will be enough to secure you as the winner ....if you're as tight-fisted as I am

I don't think this will work.

Let's say in the last few moments of an auction you bid £50.01 and someone else bids £50. If you are first then, even if you had bid £50, you will win. But if you are second, your bid will not be accepted by eBay 'cos it doesn't exceed the previous bid by £1 (or whatever the increment is at that price level) - hence you lose.

[andygrif]

Originally Posted by altis

I don't think this will work.

Let's say in the last few moments of an auction you bid £50.01 and someone else bids £50. If you are first then, even if you had bid £50, you will win. But if you are second, your bid will not be accepted by eBay 'cos it doesn't exceed the previous bid by £1 (or whatever the increment is at that price level) - hence you lose.

But it does work the other way around - if you place your £50.01 before the person comes along at the last second bidding £50.00 then you will win the auction. If you do this around 10 seconds before it ends, then it's unlikely the other person will see the increase even if they keep refreshing, as it takes about 4 seconds to compose the page. Damn I'm sounding sad now, I'm gonna shut up!

If they bid £50.02 in the last seconds, they won't win, becuase you're in there with £50.01 before them and the increments would be wrong. Of course if they bid £60 then you've lost!

[hjf288]

I snipe at 5 seconds with a exorbiantly high amount of cash that im willing to pay for an item, even if they do respond with a counter bid, I still out-bid them and get my item for a good price

[altis]

Why not snipe on the line and avoid giving them the opportunity to bump up the price you pay?

[goldoni]

This should answer all questions link hope this is not This really is quite funny - click play in the tiny box at the top...