eBay Trading Company
Jul. 21st, 2003 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
j4Please bear in mind before reading this that there are no stupid questions, only STUPID PEOPLE. So, sorry in advance for being dense.
Can anybody provide me with a very quick beginner's guide to eBay bidding tactics? I simply have no idea how the bidding tends to work -- whether lots of bids tend to happen at the last minute, whether it's better to bid on the cheaper thing with more time to run or the thing that's already at a higher price but has less time to go, or ... or what. Or whether the bidding patterns vary enormously depending on the thing for sale, or stuff like that.
Er, basically, in summary, "hello, am clueless, but want to buy thing off eBay without spending masses more money than I need to". :-)
Can anybody provide me with a very quick beginner's guide to eBay bidding tactics? I simply have no idea how the bidding tends to work -- whether lots of bids tend to happen at the last minute, whether it's better to bid on the cheaper thing with more time to run or the thing that's already at a higher price but has less time to go, or ... or what. Or whether the bidding patterns vary enormously depending on the thing for sale, or stuff like that.
Er, basically, in summary, "hello, am clueless, but want to buy thing off eBay without spending masses more money than I need to". :-)
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-21 02:49 pm (UTC)Auctions IM somewhat limited E tend to go one of a few ways:
1. The bidding war - whoever's prepared to pay the highest price wins. These are usually items which start getting bid up not that long into the auction.
2. The last-minuter - price stays low or no bids at all till the last minute, then someone either automatically snipes or bids by hand a few minutes before the end. Be aware that "too good to be true" auctions - really nice items with no bids - are very likely to be sniped from under your nose in anything up to the last three seconds of an auction. Never believe you've won an item till you see the "You won" message. If you want to be as sure as possible, HammerSnipe is your free friend (and insert the price you really think it's worth to you, not a conservative estimate).
3. The low-demand auction - only two or three bids, and if someone bungs in a price a quid or so higher the others just go 'Naah, can't be arsed' and give up.
Generally the later you leave bidding the better - your opponents have less time to respond.
Also remember that EBay proxy bids *for* you - it will only push the price up as far as it needs to to beat someone else's maximum bid.
Good luck..