eBay bidding strategies- why do people go so high so early?

[beepbeeprichie]

Looking at something on eBay (not super rare or amazing)- one bid already at say £10, a week before the auction finishes. So I bid £11 and I’ve already been outbid. I go again and again and then at £16 I am the highest bidder. Right before the auction ends there’s a flurry of activity and that pushes the price up even higher. Or something is on at £10 with one bid, so I try £11, £12, £13...still not the highest bidder so leave it there. Maybe there’s an obvious explanation for this but why do people put in maximum bids so far in advance of the auction ending? Surely this just bumps up the price for them?

If you put in your maximum bid and somebody else is bidding, it only pushes it up as far as anyone else has bid (well, just over). It’s an effective strategy if you have a ceiling price but aren’t bothered about getting that specific item, because you don’t have to keep changing your bid or drawn into a bidding war tempting you to bid more than it’s worth.

Use Gixen - it sneaks a bid in at the dying seconds so gives you a better chance of winning

It only bumps up the price if someone else bids.
I can't use a phone at work. So I just bid the maximum I am prepared to pay when I spot the item. Then I leave it until I either get notified I've won or have been outbid. I don't ever bid again after my original bid, can't be doing with trying to outbid people right at the end, that's just not for me.

I decide much I’m willing to pay for something and bid that amount and then don’t bother with it until it’s over.

I decide what I’m willing to pay and put that in. If it makes more then it makes more and I miss out. I don’t like to get drawn in to paying over the odds just in order to “win”.

I do the same as Whathappenedtothelego, bid what I will be happy to pay straight off.

eBay automatically bids upwards by suitable amounts (50p, £50 depending!) until either I'm in the lead above all other bidders or someone else's high bid outbids mine.

If that puts me in the lead, it does. If it bumps up someone else's to above my max, it does.

Either way, it looks like what you're seeing.

I'm fully aware of the psychology of auctioning preferring 'sniping' ie racing someone else to a high bid at the close of the auction, but that's a mug's game that leads to overspending - don't do it unless you desperately want that specific item.

Just use gixen. It’s way better. Doesn’t keep bumping up the price

Because I cannot be bothered to make sure I’m online in the last minutes. Plus sometimes it will put others off knowing someone’s put an instate high bid if every time you go up by £2 or whatever you are instantly being outbid.