Ebay tactics

10 replies

Thaigal · 11/11/2006 16:23

what's the best way to get stuff cheap on ebay as I never manage to do so! I always place a bid as soon as I see something I like, even if it has a few days to go...my friend says this is what I'm doing wrong.

At the moment I'm watching a jacket that I really like, it's currently very cheap for what it is and it ends at 11am tomorow so what do I do to get it at a cheap price? I darnt bid on it incase it pushes the price right up!

How do people do it?

OP posts:

misdee · 11/11/2006 16:26

you could use a sniper site to place a bid for you in the final seconds, you set your highest bid in before the auction ends, then the site will send it for you.

or you can sit at your pc and place the bid yourself in the final moments

LadyTophamHatt · 11/11/2006 16:26

I have stuff in my watch list for days but only bid on it during the last minute.

Once the counter goes below 50 seconds I place my bid.
Make sure you're signed in if you do this though because you'll run out of time otherwise.

Spidermama · 11/11/2006 16:26

I try to bid in the closing seconds but it's not always possible as I'm not always around. Also don't bid, say, £10.00 but rather £10.70 as you may beat the people who've bid a tenner.

NappiesGalore · 11/11/2006 16:28

er... you have to watch it,
be on the pc at the end of the auction,
put in the highest bid you are prepared to make (it wont bid that much unless someone else has bid higher than is shown - read the notes on ebay about automatic bidding - )
then hope for the best.

themoon66 · 11/11/2006 16:28

Click refresh and judge how long it takes... say 9 seconds. Then bid 10 secs before the end. That has worked for me. Although you get bidders who have software on the computers, apparently, that will bid in the last second.

LadyTophamHatt · 11/11/2006 16:29

Oh yes...always make it an odd amount.

I won some maternity trousers yesterday for £2 but my max bid was £3.71 or something.

zippy34 · 11/11/2006 16:29

Decide how much you would be willing to pay for it. About 1 or 2 mins (depending on how reliable and fast your internet connection is) before the auction ends place your bid.

Other people might also be doing this so there's no guarantee but if they pay more than you were willing to anyway you haven't really lost out.

You're kind of relying on other people that have been placing bids not being around at the last minute. There are sites you can go to to get your bid placed automatically at the last minute (I think it's called sniping? - google it) but I could never be bothered with them and you have to pay for the service. I've been pretty successful just placing my bid at the last minute.

FrannyandZooey · 11/11/2006 16:47

Always place a bid for the highest you are willing to pay - don't 'nibble'. Preferably place your bid as near to the end as possible. As advised here you can sit and watch the auction, or get a sniper service to do it for you - I use vrane, it's free as long as you only want to set one snipe at a time. Or just place your bid as near to the end as is convenient - a few hours or days before is fine, you may just get your bid pushed up by other bidders, that's all.

However ultimately the only way to be sure of getting really cheap stuff on eBay is to bid on stuff that no-one else wants - otherwise you will usually end up paying the fair market price - which can often be a good bargain.

NappiesGalore · 11/11/2006 16:47

first ive heard of these sniper sites... hmmm. will bear that in mind if theres anything i really really want

shhhh · 11/11/2006 16:52

I wait until the auction has around 5 mins left....I watch it like a hawk and either place a bid then if its reasonable or wait and wait until a min is left and then go and bid bid bid..!!

Uusally if you want an item and its an ideal price and someone has already bid, if you wait until a min or so is left then it leave you time to bid but not as much for the other person to bid again if they are outbid iykwim...

Flip