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eBay

If you buy or sell items on eBay, you will find tips and advice on this forum.

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Original poster

When do I bid? Newbie question

20 replies

ButteryJam · 31/08/2013 17:09

I have seen an item on eBay that I quite like, and it is currently at 1p, and there's one day left on it. It's a local pick up so I don't think there'll be many people bidding. When should I bid on it and should I enter the maximum I am willing to pay?

OP posts:

Original poster

ButteryJam · 31/08/2013 17:20

Forgot to add that one other person has bidded on it.

OP posts:

MamaTo3Boys · 31/08/2013 17:27

Bid whenever you like. I tend to watch the item though and start bidding in the last 10 mins or so.

And yes, you can enter the maximum you wish to pay. It'll only go up by say 20p at a time and you'll pay no more than 20p above the highest bidder and the end of the auction

MoaningMingeWhingesAgain · 31/08/2013 17:31

Ebay bids for you if you put in your max bid.

So item is at 1p. Your max bid is £5.

If the other bidder/s stop bidding at 2.50, you win and it costs you £2.70.

If they bid up to 4.80 you win, you pay £5.

If they bid over £5, you don't win.

I CBA with the last minute scrabbling, I just whack in my maximum and leave it alone.

lljkk · 31/08/2013 17:36

I tend to put a small test bid in fairly early because Ebay will remind me just before finish to bid again. it can also sort of test the interest of other bidder.

LilyBossom · 31/08/2013 18:07

I always bid in the last 5 seconds - bid once and bid late as poss I reckon.

GemmaTeller · 31/08/2013 18:12

Lilyblossom thats what I do DH, on the other hand is a 'put maximum bid on early and walk away' person, where's the fun in that?

MoaningMingeWhingesAgain · 31/08/2013 18:24

I don't do it for fun , I am deadly serious

No, I only buy a few knitting bits really, wool and shit. I don't want to get in a bidding war over 5 balls of wool, I don't care I don't need to buy any more anyway If I happen to be browsing and stumble on something with 1 minute left I sometimes have a little go, but it's too easy to bid too much just to win, IYKWIM.

Flibbertyjibbet · 31/08/2013 18:41

I bid as early as I first see the item, then leave it.

Sometimes my early bid put other bidders off, sometimes I can see the other bids pushing up while my max sits there, and sometimes I get outbid at the last minute. I also cba with all the last minute bidding stuff.

LilyBossom · 31/08/2013 20:35

if you put in a bid early then you make the item look more desirable.

WandaDoff · 01/09/2013 00:37

I snipe.

I'd say it works about 80% of the time

PurpleFrog · 04/09/2013 12:12

If an item has no bids I will often put in the lowest possible bid, and snipe later. I have lost a few items recently where I have set up a snipe but the item has been withdrawn from sale before the end - obviously sold to someone who has made the seller an offer. I feel this is less likely to happen if the seller knows someone else is interested in it.

nickstmoritz · 04/09/2013 13:00

I am always getting outbid at the very last seconds. What is a snipe and how to people do this? Hope that doesn't sound too dim, I have been using ebay for years so I should know by now. Sometimes I would probably have gone higher but there is no time left.

I usually watch an item and then put a max bid and leave it because I might not be around at the end but sometimes I have been bidding against someone which is when I usually lose!

I have sold quite a few things on the last day or few minutes even so people obviously quite often wait.

nickstmoritz · 04/09/2013 13:02

how DO people do this? even

PurpleFrog · 04/09/2013 13:56

I use Goofbid. Create an account (free) and put in the item number, max bid and how many seconds before the end you want to bid. Easy!

WandaDoff · 04/09/2013 14:29

Yep, Goofbid here too.

tethersend · 04/09/2013 14:41

I do what purple frog does- have lost count of the number of auctions which have been ended early due to a sneaky offer. Is this how ebay is working now? When I first used it (about ten years ago), I used to email sellers asking politely if they'd consider adding a BIN option; the response was usually a firm 'no, I don't end auctions early, it's against the rules' with one seller even blocking me for daring to ask! Then I discovered how to snipe and won pretty much everything I wanted. Until recently.

So, have the rules changed or is ending an auction early/adding a BIN ok now?

PurpleFrog · 04/09/2013 16:23

I don't think the rules have changed - they are still there, but it is annoying when buyers and sellers don't play by them!

And don't get me started on non-paying bidders - after selling for over 9 years, I have now had around 5 people who have not paid - all in the past 12 months!

tethersend · 04/09/2013 16:50

God yes... People are just bidding randomly on stuff, safe in the knowledge that they can always change their mind and ask the seller to cancel. When did that become ok?

sarahtigh · 04/09/2013 16:54

it is perfectly legal to end auction early just not good form, you can not end auction in last 12 hours unless it breaks

large collection only items are particularly likely to be ended early

no-one in their right mind would send a viewer who offers you good cash price now away and say come back in 5 days when auction has finished

i snipe with goofbid too

tethersend · 04/09/2013 17:14

"no-one in their right mind would send a viewer who offers you good cash price now away and say come back in 5 days when auction has finished"

True- but they used to! Honestly, I used to offer a fair price and get sent packing, only to get the item for half of what I'd offered once the auction finished. If I hadn't been blocked

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