Ebay tactics please!

[Hayls]

I want to buy a car I've seen on Ebay. There are 6 hours to go and there have been 4 bids (2 bidders) and atm it is £500 less than the book price (reserve not met though). I know my max amount but I want to make sure I win it so how and when do I bid? Small bid that increases gradually or a very last minute high one?
any helpp much appreciated especially as I won't be home for the last 3 hours (will be in for final 15 mins though)
TIA

I know that some people prefer waiting until the last minute in the hope that there won't be time to push the bidding up too high but I tend to just put in my max bid and then leave it. It saves the risk of getting carried away in the last few secinds and bidding too much!

last minute on large expensive items...

I'd go in with my maximum bid very close to the end time. Make sure that you're properly logged in first though!! Or use a sniper?

you're very brave buying a car you haven't seen!

As close to the end as possible is the only way-otherwise someone else is likely to outbid you at the last minute.

How does a sniper work?
I am a very brave person (quaking in my boots actually)
All documentation is there including the HP check to show there is no outstanding finance and provided the seller answers all my questions Ok we will go for it. We bought our current car on Ebay and it went seamlessly. If it turns out to be a turnip I will happily sacrifice my feedback and walk away though

We sold our relatively new car and I think there must be other trustowrthy and honest sellers out there. Is it really much worse than buying from the paper? The seller says test drives can be arranged no probs but we're a bit far away

I'm not sure how snipers work exactly - they go in at the last second with your bid, that's all I know. I think there's bid napper and auction stealer.

With cars on Ebay, IIRC you have the right to walk away if you inspect the car once you've won and it doesn't match the description.

go to www.auctionsniper.com/?how=NickInTheNorth

you get three free trial snipes, decide how much you want to pay, and set it for about 8 or 9 seconds before the aucion ends.

I use it all the time, and it is very good. The link above will give me 3 more free snipes if you use it. If you prefer not to give me the 3 snipes then just go to

www.auctionsniper.com and signup there.

I've now bought 3 cars off ebay all unseen and have been very pleased with all 3.

Here is a tip that might work.

Go in during the last minute, enter the next bid possible.

Then immediately enter a maximum bid, the most you will got up to.

You will have to be quick entering these two bids and make sure you leave it until the last minute.

If there is something I really want, I have recently found that if you are quick you can enter two bids in the last 40 seconds. Takes about 20 secs to enter and confirm a bid.

Be careful if you are bidding for an expensive item though, I wouldn't bid on expensive items some ebayers are very honest. Good luck

im the same as satine,put my max that id want to pay and leave it.otherwise if you sit watching it and keep bidding,you do end up bidding more than you wanted to!

whenever I have sold things on ebay,in over 75%
of cases the majority of bidding happens in the last 10 minutes - lots of bids are placed with seconds to spare. So now,when I buy, I put my maximum bid onto the bid now box, get the last window up, wait till the very last minute then click to confirm. TBH that's the way I have got most of the stuff I want.

Thanks all. I will wait until the last minute and if I don't get home in time will have to trust dh to work his way round it!

7 mins to go and I'm ready to bid. Please wish me lots of luck and cross fingers

Did you get it Hayls??

Aw! how much were you outbid by?

I was outbid by £200.
Seller made a real profit there as it was valued at £100 less than that!
Never mind, I'm on the lookout again!

oh blimey - well better you were outbid than 'done'!

better luck next time