Need quick replies please, Ebay question

[hdidt]

Posted here as bid is ending in an hour..

I have never used ebay before so not really sure how it all works, I have been reading up on bidding and wanted to check I have this right in my head before I do this.

I have seen something I would like to get my daughter for xmas, Without giving too much away she collects memorabilia of a certain tv show and this is a very rare item that she has been looking for for years. No option to buy it now so will have to bid.

What I am not clear on is the actual bidding side of it, Say I have a price in my head that is the maximum I am willing to pay for it, going to say £500 just as an example, Do I bid £500 straight away or a lower amount and keep making it higher? Also, is it better to leave it until near the end to bid or bid now?

I'd do lower and build up.

The opposite of PP - bid once at the highest you'll pay. Some people use software that throws in bids at the last minute - you won't be able to place a higher bid because it will all be over.

I'd also wait closer to the time

You make a bid and it will auto increase in increments up to your maximum bid.

With an hour to go, I would probably watch the bids and with half an hour to go put a bid in that is quite a bit higher than current bid, but less than my max. Follow the auction until nearer the end and then put your max bid in.

Hold your nerve, leave it until the last 8 seconds and bid the most you’re willing to pay, otherwise if you keep bidding lower and build up you could get into a bidding war. It also discourages shill bidding which sometimes happens.

Bid the maximum you would want to pay, as near to the end of the auction as possible. eBay will bid on your behalf, in increments, up to that maximum but you will only pay as much as it takes to outbid the nearest highest bidder.

Good luck!

Leave it until the last 39 seconds then put your max bid in. Gotta be quick though.

lola does this mean, Say I bid the £500, I might win it for less than £500 or have I got that wrong?

30 not 39 😂

Thank You all, Got it now!

Bidding before the end of the auction just pushes the price up.

If it is an auction, not buy-it-now or make-an-offer, then you can bid the most you are prepared to pay.

If, when you do, the item price is at £35 , you will be winning the auction at £40 (probably - eBay automatically increases the difference between bids the more expensive an item becomes ).

If no one else bids, you’ll pay £40.
If someone bids £45, eBay will automatically outbid them on your behalf to say £50.

Unless someone bids more than £500 , you will win.

You put your maximum bid in now. If you bid is higher than anyone else's highest bid you become the highest bidder but the price won't automatically go up to your highest bid, it will go the next incremental bid above previous bidders highest.

If you put in your highest bid now that is recognised by ebay and if the bidding gets to that amount the first person to bid that amount will win.

There are sites like drop hammer (or at least there used to be) you can sign up to and they will bid on your behalf at the end. It's often why you see a flurry of activity in the last 30 seconds with new bidders suddenly coming in - it's all computer generated.

Put in your highest bid 30 seconds before it ends. Bidding before just ups the price. If you win it you will get it at the bid below yours. Eg you put in 500, person before you puts 300, you win for 310. Always bid in odd numbers as well ie 502.57.

Bid the most you will pay now. It will then continue to increase up automatically until the deadline. It wont place a massive bid now, just one high enough to beat the current bid until the end of the auction or meeting your limit.

Yes it does mean that, your bid will be a fiver (or whatever) above the next lowest bid

I'd download an eBay sniper app
And get it to bid up to your max at 1 or 2second to go. Otherwise if you keep bidding it will push the price up if anyone else is keen. If you don't want to use a snipe app then bid at the end about 5 or 10 seconds to go so that you can make sure it goes through with your maximum.

Are there watchers, or other bids on the item?

Absolute maximum (plus a weird amount so £507 to just overtake a matching max bid) in the last 5 seconds. Bidding before pushes the price up. Don't show your hand or interest just set your price and make price with it if that's not enough rather than over doing it

Make sure your internet is good though otherwise bid slightly earlier

Good luck OP! Do tell us if you won it.

Decide on your maximum (eg £500) and make yourself available (if possible) at the time the auction is ending. In the last minute bid your £500 (make it not a round number so £500.84 in case someone else puts £500). eBay will bid on your behalf in increments so you will only pay the amount that would beat the next highest bidder eg £436.74.

To be honest if this was my first time with bidding I’d find another auction item I wanted (cheap one!) and bid at the last minute/30 seconds just to practise! Good luck!

The bid you enter is your max bid. EBay will automatically bid for you in increments depending on the current highest bid eg for £10 or more I think it goes up in 50ps, £1000 will be higher.
You're essentially bidding against someone else's highest bid.
Eg current winning bid £10, person A.
Person A has a max bid of £12.
Person B comes along. Enters max bid £15.
Ebay will bid in 50p increments up to £12.50 for person B. B is now winning.
Person C comes along. Max bid £13.
Ebay will bid again, Person B can outbid C, winning bid now £13.50, Person B still winning.
In theory if you're really set on £500 and if it goes for £505 then you wouldn't be sad, you can put £500 max bid and go off and do something else.
In reality sellers sometimes use unscrupulous tactics prior to the auction end to push prices up towards someone's max bid and overprice. So I'd usually work my way up to my real max bid in increments and, depending on how competitive it's likely to be, be prepared for a mad scramble in the last minute.
Good luck!!

possums it has 12 watchers including me, Started off at £10.00 when it first went up a few days ago, now its at £113.00

Bid now with the maximum you would be willing to pay , don't leave it to the last minute as things can go wrong and you may not get a bid in , ebay will only make you pay the amount it bids you to

Well, people won't like me mentioning this, but as mentioned above, if you want to beat the snipers to something that you really, really want then join them. Register for a well recommended software like Bidslammer. When you enter up the auction item set the highest bid that you want to pay.

There are two benefits to this. First is that you don't do any bidding at all, it's done by the sniping sofware, so you don't get excited at the last minute and go over budget.
Second is that the software will be much more efficient than you can be at submitting last minute bids. It will only bid up to the highest bid amount that you entered when you set up the snipe, not over. If it can win the item for less it will. You can get beaten, by other snipers or a lucky manual bidder, but I think it gives you a really good chance of winning.
Before anyone says this is against Ebay rules - it isn't. www.ebay.com/help/buying/bidding/bid-sniping?id=4224