hou to outbid other buyers

[Akiko]

Please, someone, explain how to sign for outhomatic bidding on my behalf. Every time I bid, someone else is outbidding me straight away.

nothing to sign up for, tis how ebay works

they have entered their maximum bid

so say the start price is 99p
they decide £20 is the very most they are prepared to pay for the item.
they bid £20
the bid shows up as the start price of 99p, they are the current highest bidder
you come along and bid £1.50
ebay immediately automatically bids £2 on their behalf, they remain the highest bidder.
you bid £2.50
ebay automatically bids £3
etc etc

there are website you can sign up to that will do some clever last minute bidding for you but i do wonder how anyone can be arsed

wait until the last 10 seconds then put in the higest amount you want to pay. if you win great if you don't at least you don't bid silly money.

If it's something that's likely to come up again - eg from a shop, or something handmade (I bought leather from a leather shop on e-bay before but was outbid on the last piece) then contact the seller and ask if they're getting more/can get more. I did this with my piece of leather, and the seller sold me a piece exactly the same at the price I was outbid on. In fact, he excelled himself and I got a better piece.
Doesn't work on one-offs, antiques, vintage, or s/h clothes obv.

You need a 'sniper' like AuctionStealer...
Bids your max in the last 3 secs...
(but don't tell everyone!)

In fact DH & I have been selling a lot of household stuff recently on eBay and we're finding 90% of the bids are coming in the last 30 secs, which suggests more and more people are using snipers...

Makes the whole 'Auction' process a bit of a joke, really!

I must admit I am now surprised if I get early bids on an item which I have not got a buy-it-now price on. These always seem to come from inexperienced eBayers who have usually bid the starting price only. Like abitworried I have found that most bids come in the last couple of hours. As a seller it is frustrating not knowing if things are going to sell until the very last moment. I used to have fun watching the bids increase during an auction - now it has to be the number of watchers I get excited about!

I bid in last 5 seconds and don't use a sniper so not everyone is using snipers. I just bid my maximum last few seconds then if I don't get it so be it, wasn't prepared to pay more anyway!