Another ebay question

I am still learning on ebay, so please help me out guys.

If there is an item that you want to buy, it has zero bids, and a couple more days left for auction...should you bid now, or only at the end? I mean, does bidding make a listing more secure? For example, could the seller remove the listing early with zero bids, but not if someone has already bid on it? And if you place a bid, does that make the listing more visible in the search engine and/or more attractive to other bidders?

Yes, they can stop the sale with no bids (even if there are bids sometimes) and its probably best if you are going to be around when it ends to wait.. but if you just want to put your max now and take a chance go for it... its always a crap shoot either way.

JustinLuck said:

I am still learning on ebay, so please help me out guys.

If there is an item that you want to buy, it has zero bids, and a couple more days left for auction...should you bid now, or only at the end? I mean, does bidding make a listing more secure? For example, could the seller remove the listing early with zero bids, but not if someone has already bid on it?

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Yes you should secure an initial bid so the buyer can't pull item w/o penalty because they feel it may not sell as high as they want. But how much to bid?

I have two schools of thought on this.

Depending on how popular the item is determines when I bid.

If it's not very popular, best to get a bid in early with the maximum amount you want to pay for it. I think this discourages other bidders from bidding if they automatically jsut get outbid and willw ait for another.

If it's popular, I always wait till the last minute. No point in increasing the bidding, only benefits the seller. But if you are going to do this, give yourself at least a minute to find where the max bid stops (you should already have done your research to see what similar items ended at) and if you can get in a bid under previous completed auctions go for it.

Just don't get into a bidding war at either point (beginning or end) of bidding process.

im a last minute kinda guy, some people only bid the moinimum the listing will allow, so to get in there at the last minute often works, I always bid a bit more, so if max bid was $20.00, I will bid $20.01, often wins me an item for 1c more than the other person,
But i say wait until the last minute, if you bid sooner it gives people a chance to decide they want it more and spend more on it,

big al said:

im a last minute kinda guy, some people only bid the moinimum the listing will allow, so to get in there at the last minute often works, I always bid a bit more, so if max bid was $20.00, I will bid $20.01, often wins me an item for 1c more than the other person,
But i say wait until the last minute, if you bid sooner it gives people a chance to decide they want it more and spend more on it,

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I agree with big al, just be carefull not to become known as what is called a Sniper,,...Classified as not biding right throughout the bidding war and then at the very last second placing a bid and winning the item, . This is OK to do but can be seen as being a bit on the sly..........just a thought...

fett1 said:

I agree with big al, just be carefull not to become known as what is called a Sniper,,...Classified as not biding right throughout the bidding war and then at the very last second placing a bid and winning the item, . This is OK to do but can be seen as being a bit on the sly..........just a thought...

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Yeah, if you want to lose potential deals you will listen to this guy.

One shot, one kill for me every time.

nash said:

Yeah, if you want to lose potential deals you will listen to this guy.

One shot, one kill for me every time.

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Yeah,,,,Iff you are legitament then go ahead but iff not leave it for the ones that really want it ,And you dont have too listen to me ,, this is an open forum after all is it not;;;;;;

And if you could read properly you would see that I did state that this is OK To Do

:emperor

Here is my rant:

Why in the H-E-double-hockey-sticks does anyone bid after the initial bid (until the very end)?? You are just driving up the price for everybody.

When I bid on something to keep the seller from pulling out of the auction, some goofball feels the need to outbid me by 10 bucks with 5 days left.

Stupid eBayers!

FQRizzo said:

Here is my rant:

Why in the H-E-double-hockey-sticks does anyone bid after the initial bid (until the very end)?? You are just driving up the price for everybody.

When I bid on something to keep the seller from pulling out of the auction, some goofball feels the need to outbid me by 10 bucks with 5 days left.

Stupid eBayers!

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I couldn't agree more, well unless it is on something that I am selling.

And as for sniping, well they have software that will do it for you - it is the way the game is played.

GordonGekko said:

Bid in the last 5 seconds for the max you'd be ok paying out the door plus the shipping.

Always wait until the last 5 seconds. By bidding before then, you are only driving up the final price.

GG

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This is a Real Pain in the A$$ if you have been watching an item for 6 days and towards the end you are the high bidder and in the final seconds some clown comes in and shoots a real high max bid and wipes you out, but it is pretty much the only way to do it if you really want an item... I had to loose a couple of auctions like this to finally understand the ebay snipers...

fett1 said:

Yeah,,,,Iff you are legitament then go ahead but iff not leave it for the ones that really want it ,And you dont have too listen to me ,, this is an open forum after all is it not;;;;;;

And if you could read properly you would see that I did state that this is OK To Do

:emperor

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Sniping is the only way to do it. Why give someone a chance to outbid me?

Hell I don't even both bidding on things. Buy It Now and Paypal or I pass over it.

EVILFACE said:

Sniping is the only way to do it. Why give someone a chance to outbid me?

Hell I don't even both bidding on things. Buy It Now and Paypal or I pass over it.

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Your right, waiting for the auction to end is a real pain in the A$$, just wait for a BIN or Post what you are looking for here on the WTB list....

If you bid, snipe. No 2 ways about it. I have it down to a tee

Last minute. Make your highest bid. Walk away knowing you got it at a good price, or it went over what you'd be willing to pay and the winner was a bigger sucker than you. Easy.

FQRizzo said:

Here is my rant:

Why in the H-E-double-hockey-sticks does anyone bid after the initial bid (until the very end)?? You are just driving up the price for everybody.

When I bid on something to keep the seller from pulling out of the auction, some goofball feels the need to outbid me by 10 bucks with 5 days left.

Stupid eBayers!

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People could bid prior to the last few seconds because they know they won't be available to bid when the auction ends. They could be at work or have plans. I would find it difficult to change my plans to stay at home and bid on an eBay auction.