I've been bidding on something on ebay. Each time I bid I have been outbid by someone by one penny.

The thing is, when I go to place the next highest bid, I have to add at least one extra pound. How come the other bidder is able to outbid me by a single penny. Seems they are managing to circumvent the system somehow?

 

Sounds to me like they have already put in a higher bid than your maximum, each time you bid, it automatically ups their bid by just enough to win until you exceed their preset maximum.

 

hmmm, that could be it. I shall have a play with that feature to see how it works out

Thanks

 

It's the default operation of eBay. If you're first to bid and bid £30 on an item starting at 99p, it will put you down for 99p. If somebody then bids £2, it will automatically up your bid for you. I can't remember the break points, but I think it will do 1p increments to a certain value then it goes to 10p then £1 (or something, I'm sure somebody will correct me). Ebay will keep auto bidding for you up to your maximum.

 

Why bid at all? Just wait until about 15 seconds before the end of the auction, then enter the maximum you are willing to pay.

I just don't understand the theory behind bidding on items with about 5 days to go, all you are doing is putting up the price of the item you are after!

Plus, if you keep bidding there's nothing to stop the seller bidding against you under a different ID. People I know do this all the time, get their mates to bid up items to see how far they can push the price up.

 

And here starts another debate on the morality of snipe tools

 

Who needs Snipe tools? Do it yourself, it's more fun!

Believe me, when it comes to morals and ebay, I couldn't give a sh*t!

 

I was bidding near the end of an auction. Its just I kept losing by one single penny, a penny it would appear I was not able to bid.

Eg an item was £20, I put in £30 within the last minute, the auction is won for £30.01. Yet the minimum increment was £1 at that level.

I guess the other person put in £30.01 before my £30. Its a strange system

 

Snipe tools are handy when:
1) You can't be near a PC in closing moments of an auction
2) You want to avoid getting caught up in a bidding war or bidding more than you planned
3) You want to set up a bid group, although you can now do this on eBay anyway.

 

They probably put in £50, but eBay will only increase their pre-existing bid sufficiently to beat what you bid. If you'd have put in £51 for example, it would have shown you winning with a bid of £50.01. Again I think the increments are more.

Also you don't have to bid a round amount, rather than bidding £30 or increasing your bid by £1 you can bid £30.01 or up your bid by £1.01.

 

Exactly. It is also why waiting until the end is a little pointless. Just put in what you are willing to pay in the first place. If it goes over, you didn't want to pay that much anyway, if someone tries to "snipe" you with ten seconds to go and sticks in a bid you've already got yours in because that's the way ebay works.

5t.

 

right, next time I bid I will beat this chap at his own little game

 

The only thing with bidding early is that others may well nid against you to try and win bumping up what you have to pay (although still within your preset limit). By sniping, you still avoid going over your limit, but you stand a better chance of paying less for the item.

 

i use this if i REALLY want it , so far i won a fair few goodies, for example a kenwood 7200

 

JBidWatcher is also good, and that is totally free.

 

Quote:
Exactly. It is also why waiting until the end is a little pointless. Just put in what you are willing to pay in the first place. If it goes over, you didn't want to pay that much anyway, if someone tries to "snipe" you with ten seconds to go and sticks in a bid you've already got yours in because that's the way ebay works.



That makes no sense at all, you are just enabling someone to bid against you (as I said earlier, probably the seller)! By bidding early the only thing you can do to the price is to raise it, by waiting to the end, you have a good chance of getting the item cheaper, and if it goes past your maximum, then you don't want it anyway.

 

That equally makes no sense. If you all wait until the end you are all just bidding against each other anyway and bumping up the price.

If an item is listed at 99p and you put a max bid of £50 in and the only other max bid is £40 it doesn't matter if both bids are recived with 3 days or 3 seconds to go, it is going to cost you the same.

Also shill bidding is illegal and can be quite obvious. You'll find ebay took a report of that very seriously (for a change) if you suspected that of happening.

5t.

 

How can you possibly be bumping up the price when you bid so late that no-one can bid against you?

 

The point of late bidding is that a lot of people do not have discipline when it comes to auctions. They put in their "maximum of £50". Then you go in with your £60 bid. If you do this early, they see your bid and have time to think. A lot of people end up thinking, oh sod it, I will bid more to save waiting for another auction. Ergo the price gets bumped up, and you lose.

Sniping at the end does not let people have time to rethink. Therefore more chance of winning at a lower price. That is the theory of course.

Also shill bidding is not that obvious if done well. Its not that hard to find some mate who does not use ebay often to bid on an item of yours once, and then a different friend the next time.

 

Exactly, It's also not that hard to open about 6 different accounts in different names using multiple proxy servers to bypass IP Address checking.

Not that I advocate such dishonesty.

 

er... because as i said, it doesn't matter when you bid, you are still bidding against someone else and so the price you pay will be the same. There are now at least ten people in this thread all waiting untilthe last second to put in their maximum bid. What difference does it make if weveryon bids in the first minute or the last? The person willing to pay most still wins.

ok people could have a think can come back but usually this is when people get carried away in the heat of the moment i.e. at the end of the auction in a bidding war.

I've bought loads of stuff on ebay and been out bid on several items but i've stuck in my max bid only to find someone along in the last minute who bids, finds they are not paying enough, and bids again and if they have chance bids again. I've lost some and i've won some but i've never paid more than i want to for an item. Chances are these last minute bidders would have paid more for it than me - if they'd got their bids in early they'd have had time to do so as well.

5t.

 

You're really not grasping the concept here so I think we'll leave it.

If you can give me one instance though, where bidding early can possibly get the item at a lower cost I'd love to hear it!

 

No i understand what you are on about but you are mistaken unfortunately.

Ok simple question

Your max bid, if you enter your max bid does it ever change? If it is your max bid then surely it doesn't matter when you enter it, you are only willing to pay that amount for the item. True or false?

Bidding late. If you bid late, and there are another ten people bidding late on the same thing are you or are you not still in a bidding war? The one prepared to pay the most wins whether they use a sniper or not. True or false?

Here's an item i won recently for 99p I didn't bid last minute and guess what - no one else bid:

Bidders:1
Total Bids:1
Time Ended:07-Sep-07 18:14:35 BST
fivetide1978, you're the winner.
Only actual bids (not automatic bids generated up to a bidder's maximum) are shown. Automatic bids may be placed days or hours before a listing ends. Learn more about bidding.
Bidder Bid Amount Bid Time

fivetide1978( 29) £0.99 07-Sep-07 16:32:51 BST

Starting Price £0.99 04-Sep-07 18:14:35 BST

Now, if i'd wasted my evening hunch over the computer and bid in the last minute i could have claimed a "victory" for my last minute bidding tactic... or perhaps no one else wanted to bid anyway?

Please demonstrate how buy bidding at the last minute you have saved money. How do you know that other people actually wanted the item as much as you?

We've already established that the person willing to pay the most wins the item with their maximum bid, no matter what. So if you win it is just becasue you were happy to pay more, simple as that.

5t.

 

The point has been made before that many people get caught up in the moment and so if they get outbid they will come back and place a higher bid putting you out of the game, unless you up your bid. By bidding in the last moments (usually with an automated snipe tool) they don't get this opportunity to come back. It's more like a best offers in a closed enevlope scenario rather than an open auction. It does work better for buyers but it can be a PITA for sellers.

 

That's fair enough but i disagree. The problem with something like this is people get caught in the thrill of the chase so to speak. Like gambling, they are cheering the horse over the line, or a bit of a run at a roulette table might encourage someone to bet more than they would normally and they end up losing.

Walking away and cooling off gives people time to think "nah not that bothered" if it is over their maximum, chances are they'll look at the next on the list as it will be cheaper.

If the bids are last minute they are likely to chance that extra tenner to win.

Also you are still bidding against them. Either they want to pay more or you do. The person paying most wins. Snipe tool at the last minute or automated bids by ebay, your max is your max and you have no idea what the current bidders maximum is.

There shouldn't be any need to worry about people coming back at you if you enter what you think it is worth. If it goes for more, no loss, if it goes for less you are on a winner but no matter you still haven't paid more than you wanted to and you've still been part of a bidding war.

It really doesn't matter when you bid at all although agree it becomes more like closed envelope best offer than an auction chances are that someone will still offer more than you no matter when you enter your bid.

5t.

 

Bidder 1 bids £20 on day 1
You bid £30 on day 1
Bidder 1 decides to up the ante and bids £35 and wins
You didn't win as it went above your max

Bidder 1 bids £20 on day 1
You bid £30 on day 1 (You currently pay £21)
Bidder 1 ups his bid to £29 and bails
You now pay £30 for the item

Bidder 1 bids £20 on day 1
You bid £30 in the last 2 minutes
You win, you pay £21

That's how it often ends up costing you less or you win more at your max bid when you may have lost in the past.

 

Anyway, why am I worrying? You keep doing it your way and I'll keep benefiting from you showing me your hand in advance!

 

Fair enough but i'm not showing you my hand, it doesn't show you what my total is at all. You've ignored my point about putting in your max bid.

in your scenario against me i'm bidder 1

Bidder 1 bids £20 on day 1 but has a £30 max bid.
OllyK bids £30 in the last 2 minutes
I win, i pay £30 no more or less than i wanted to. Olly goes home empty handed.

How has it helped? I was happy to pay £30 in the first place. It is exactly the same as scenario 2 just that you put your bid in at the last minute.

5t.

 

Fivetide, you are still missing the point. You have come up with a couple of examples where you haven't lost out by bidding early, but no examples of where you have got an item cheaper by bidding early (probably because it's impossible to get an item cheaper by bidding early).

Of course if no-one else bids on something it doesn't matter when you bid, but what relevance is that?

 

But if I'd bid that £30 10 mins after you I wouldn't have won it either, so I don't see your point.

Anyway, you carry on paying close to your max doing it your way and we'll carry on getting it closer to a starting bid doing our way, the fewer people sniping the better as far as I'm concerned as I save more money and win more auctions.