ebay virgin

[janx]

I am a complete novice and bid for my first item yesterday. I didn't get it although I was the highest bidder until the dying seconds. My boyfriend says that people have soft ware to do the bidding for them and that it is really difficult to keep up with that - any suggestions?

Its called sniper. It basically bids for someone in the last few seconds.
I dont think you can bid faster than them tbh.

I could be wrong though.

We don't have any software but I do admit to 'sniping' where you might hang on til the last few minutes and then put your bid in.
We watch the items and refresh the page a lot.
I know other mumsnetters snipe too. one (I can't remember her name) said she never put a bid in til the last 10 minutes

It is usually with less than 20 seconds to go so you can't react in time - lost a few that way

but the winning bid is the highest bidder, so put in your highest bid and if you lose its because someone else was prepared to pay more than you.

does n't always work CC if that last bid goes in right in final seconds.

hmm, but i thought ebay automatically upped it to the last highest bid? If i am prepared to pay 11.55 for something and your snipers highest bid is 8.99 then i win? even if your bid was on the last millisecond? surely, your 8.55 would be outbid by the fact id said id pay more hours ago....its highest bid not last isnt it?

ha ha 8.99 not 8.55

pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/outbid-ov.html

Thanks for all your imput - I thought I was being really canny and I bid in the last 3 mins but was still outbid. How many do you win/loose? Do you feel its worth it?

If you bid your highest amount from the start then you can't lose. If it ends up going over the amount you wish to pay then you can just move on to another item. If you try to keep up with other bids then you can get caught up in the frenzy and end up paying more than you really wanted to - therefor you lose in a way iyswim.
Either using the highest bid bit on ebay or by using a sniper tool, it's all the same really (tho sniper may give you more of an edge) - if you are prepared to pay more than the others then you will win.

Janx, if you are the highest bidder, you will win regardless of when you put in your bid.

Canny buyers put in their bid in the last minutes because they don't end up bumping the price up ahead of time. If an item has only one or a few low bids on it, it lulls other bidders into a false sense of security and they don't bid their highest price in the last moments. Leaving the sniper to grab the prize at a lower price. It is standard eBay practice. I have lost loads of auctions in the last few seconds.

The paradox is sometimes a very popular item has almost no bids on it until the last minutes because the watchers are lying in wait. It depends on how popular an item is likely to be.

If you always bid your highest price, it is fairplay to whoever else wins it, whenever they bid, because they would have outbid you.

Hope you don't feel too bad. I had to learn this the hard way as well. Now, it just adds to the buzz.