Bidding on eBay - Daaeng!

YouTube · Post by **Andreas Wideroe** » Tue Jan 28, 2003 9:28 pm

I was bidding on a Nizo 2056 sound camera this evening and I was the leading bidder. I was watching the item until the auction was over and I was leading all the way...

I refreshed the page many times and when there were only 3 seconds left and my name was next to the highbidder text, I cheered...

I shouldn't have!

I did a new reload and then there was someone else winning?? Heck! And there was NO chance I would have the time to enter a new amount... I mean hey, I thought they extended the auction time if there were bids coming in the last minute.

From now on I'll only be placing bids the last 30 seconds...

Bah! :twisted:

ANDY8 · Post by **ANDY8** » Tue Jan 28, 2003 9:35 pm

may have been for the best that you missed out???
What price did it go for??

Post by **Lucas Lightfeat** » Tue Jan 28, 2003 9:37 pm

Hi Andreas,

Like the new photo, by the way.

I've had this happen too, and yes, it is a real pain. I have heard that there is a service you can subscribe to, which electronically puts in a bid at the last possible second of the auction, guarenteeing that you'll win. I don't know if it's true, or how you find out about it though....perhaps someone can help us?

Lucas

YouTube · Post by **Andreas Wideroe** » Tue Jan 28, 2003 9:39 pm

ANDY8 wrote:may have been for the best that you missed out???
What price did it go for??

About Ã¢â€šÂ¬23 - That's like nothing...

/Andreas

Post by **Mr_Floppy** » Tue Jan 28, 2003 9:46 pm

There's a program called Ebay LastMinute. I have a version in german (i don't speak german, so It's a bit thought) but it's pretty useful.

You can get it at http://www.ebaylastminute.com or some less legal sources, such as emule and edonkey.

Cheers,

Mr Floppy

Post by **crimsonson** » Tue Jan 28, 2003 9:50 pm

it won't matter. People use snipping tools and services. They tell how much and the tool will bid at the last.

http://auctionsniper.com/

My tip :

Bid with what you are willing to pay. If you lose. Move on.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jan 28, 2003 10:14 pm

Crimsonson Wrote:
My tip :

Bid with what you are willing to pay. If you lose. Move on.

Just to add to that: make sure that what you're willing to pay is a reasonable amount, especially with 8mm equipment. A lot of this stuff is twenty-thirty years old and though the seller may have tested the camera thoroughly and found it working perfectly, it may break down on you right out of the box.

There's nothing worse than having paid $60-$70 in a bidding war over a sound projector only to have it blow its motor the second time you turn it on.

Tom

Post by **mathis** » Wed Jan 29, 2003 1:45 am

i mostly only bid in the last minute. every bid before just increases the prize.
but when i sell things i always *love* the early bidders! :lol:
i just sold a synthesizer for much more money i expected (like most of my auctions). but itÃ‚Â´s good stuff in good condition so i donÃ‚Â´t feel i fooled somebody.

i will never buy again anything more expensive than some hundred euros without seeing it before. the last euphoric buy for 600 euros turned out that it needs another 400 euro service.

but to be really honest i love the game behind ebay. and i made really good deals. for example my nizo and my bauer projector are really nice and very well working things at reasonable prices.

happy bidding!
- m

Post by **mathis** » Wed Jan 29, 2003 1:48 am

oh, and thatÃ‚Â´s a really nice fairytale that ebay is extending auction time when there are bids in the last minute. the auction really ends on the second which is shown in the offer. no extension ever.

and bidding programs arenÃ‚Â´t more practical. i do it by hand. maybe they can garanty you will have the last bid, but at which price?

Post by **DriveIn** » Wed Jan 29, 2003 2:37 am

How to win an auction. Simply don't bid at all at first if you really want it, at least not until the last few minutes or seconds. The more you bid before the end of auction, the higher your eventual buy price will be. You are competing for a purchase, so sandbag it for awhile. Wait until the last few minutes/seconds at the end of the auction. Either snipe the sale by manually placing a bid near the end of the auction (50 seconds or less if you have a good connection), or if you are unable to watch an auction to snipe it or have slow undependable access, use a bid sniping tool like auctionstealer, auctionsniper, or any of the others you will find available on the internet either for use through a fee based server and by using your own computer as the sniping server. If you are going to manually snipe an auction, open two browsing windows and set one to be ready to place the bid with a click on the mouse. Use the other window to monitor the auction and keep your web connection alive. If the auction has lots of pictures or is slow to refresh, go to the "bid history" page and refresh that page instead. It will be much faster to refresh if your browser isn't checking to see if the pictures and everything else changed in the few seconds since your last refresh. I use auctionstealer, but there are quite a few other good choices as well. I signed up for the priority service lately so I could add more auctions than the free allotment they allow. Free accounts have restricted access during prime hours in the evening. I use the 15 second bid for items I really want, 10 second or less if I am not so hot on the item. At 15 seconds I can still place a higher bid manually if I am around to do so, and if I am not around I am more certain the bid sniper has time to retry if it fails to place a bid the first try. If you see an item you want, and it has no bids yet place the opening bid, but not a penny more. Then use the bid sniping software later to monitor the auction in case you are outbid. Auction Stealer is free for five auctions per week or 20 per month. Best thing about these auction sniping tools is that not everyone is using them (yet). If you set the sniping software and only place your maximum bid, the same as the way eBay wishes you would (so they can make more money on final value fees), you will not have someone running up your bid to see where your high bid either ends, or where they stop before outbidding you (with increased buy costs to you). My fee based bid sniping has more than paid for itself. The free service is worth trying out if you are not sure. Doesn't cost anything until you win an auction. I do get outbid using sniping software, but if that happens it is over the price I am willing to spend, so no loss to me. As a seller I have no problem with people using these tools. Especially if two or more users are sniping. Makes for instant profits beyond the stagnant last few minutes that I have in some auctions. I have had the bid service fail to perform, and I have had my own computer connection fail me at a critical moment. Nothing is perfect, but I have better results with the bid sniping service than my own dial up connection.

YouTube · Post by **wahiba** » Wed Jan 29, 2003 12:40 pm

I had never heard of these last minute devices before. If they become too prevalent then eBay will have to retaliate - say by picking at random any bid placed in the last minute or so.

I reckon the bid your maximum, and let some other fool pay too much.

YouTube · Post by **Andreas Wideroe** » Wed Jan 29, 2003 12:53 pm

Yeah, apparently the one-minute-extend thing is only a feature in the QXL.no auctions.

From now on, watch me snipe!

Post by **DriveIn** » Wed Jan 29, 2003 6:16 pm

eBay is well aware of the sniping software and manual sniping methods
and has little or no reason to retaliate. Any increase in bidding is an
increase in revenue for eBay.

Post by **jessh** » Wed Jan 29, 2003 9:48 pm

The only bidders snipping helps you outbid are those that try and incrementally bid themselves. If you simply bid the maximum amount you are willing to spend, then ebay will increase your bid for you as necesary. When you bid an amount more than the bid increment higher than the current bid it simply bids for you the current bid + the bid increment, then if anyone outbids you ebay will automatically increase your bid for you up to the maximum amount you have entered.

IMHO the main effect of everyone waiting until the last minute to bid is that people end up bidding more than they really want to because they don't have enough time to really think it through.

Figure out the maximum you want to bid, bid it and then as long as someone isnt willing to pay more you will win, snipping service or not.

~Jess

Post by **crimsonson** » Wed Jan 29, 2003 9:59 pm

Yep - Agree with Jessh 100%
This what I previously suggested. Bid once - your maximum amount you are willing to pay for that item. Its the least complex and safest way to do it.