Ebay buying advice

Michael Sith

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I don't buy a lot on eBay if I can help, for all of the obvious reasons, fakes, scams etc etc, but have had some success.

Need a little advice from seasoned ebayer :D

So there is an item I want, has a few days to go

Is it best to wait till near the end of the auction then bid or put in my max bid now and just leave it and see if I get it for the price I'm prepared to pay.

May seem a simple question, but my thoughts are along the lines if I max bid it now, does that mean that other intersted parties can see the max bid, or the seller can see the max bid, or does that not happen until all bids reach my max bid level

Any advice would be welcomed :D
 

TK-7785

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They Won't be able to see your maximum bid, but it does let others know who may be watching the lot they have competition.

If it's an item I'm not too fussed about, something very common for example, I tend to just whack a low end bid and leave it. See what happens and hopefully get a nice surprise. If it's an item I've been looking for for a while, something rare, I tend to play the long game and leave my bidding to the end.

One thing to be aware of on some items is shill bidding (the seller artificially bumping up your bids by getting a friend to bid on the item in an attempt to increase their profit). This is often the main reason I wait towards the end of the auction. I have bid on several items over the years that I get outbid on only for the item to be almost immediately relisted. When the bidding is between yourself and one other I always find that a bit suspicious. Last minute bidding help to avoid this.

Chris
 

Mini99

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Totally agree with Chris,
If it's something that I want, I'll wait til the end and have my fingers hovering over the keyboard and watching the countdown clock like a hawk!
And then stab my Max bid in with a few seconds left, unless of course which is often the way the price has already gone anove my max! :lol:
Good luck.
 

Ruby2511

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I always wait until the end of the auction then whack in a bid a few seconds before it ends.

Think of your max bid then stick on a few pence, like £47.27 for example, a lot of auctions I have won have been because of the few pence I have tagged on the end.....works for me :lol:
 

Frunkstar

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ebay has totally changed over the years, putting a max bid in used to be the norm, these days & for the past several years if it's anything half decent everything would seem to happen in the final 5 seconds of the auction which can be a chose as you really need to be there at the auction end playing fastest finger first, you can also set up an auction sentry type things where an online program will hit your highest bid in the final seconds of the auction for you,I think a lot of folks use them now hence getting snipped even when bidding with just a few seconds remaining, but I have never used one myself Mike.

Good luck with whatever it is, hope you get it.
 

subzero

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It still bugs me to this day seeing people engaging in a bidding war with days left on the item, all they're doing is making the item more expensive for themselves if they win. Putting in a max bid only does the following...

Makes people want to keep bidding until they outbid you just to be the current 'winner', and they'd bid possibly a lot more than they had planned to.

Lets other watchers know that people are fighting for the item, so they prepare themselves by getting ready to place an even higher bid at the end than they originally would have done, to try and guarantee they beat the other bidders who've been fighting it out.

Attracts more bidders than it originally would have because more bids attracts more attention as it makes the item look more desirable, attracting people who wouldn't have decided to want the item in the first place if there weren't so many bids on it. It's human nature for people to compete and want something if they see that others really want it, and end up bidding on something they were never even gonna buy, annoying but true. :lol:
 

lambis500

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Totally agree subzero...
Every point you make potentially drives up the price !

I just cross my fingers and hope nobody wants the item I want,Never works though :D
 

Clarkspie&chips

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I always use an auction sniping tool. This puts your max bid in automatically with a couple of seconds left so you don't need to worry about forgetting to bid.
I've never had a problem with the one I use but have heard of them not working 100% of the time.
Adding a few pence or quid is also great advice but this isn't an arbitrary number. eBay allows bids in increments depending on the value so if you put in say 47p extra but the increment is 50p it won't recognise it.
Hope that helps
 

Michael Sith

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No not yet, it's nothing amazing ( would be nice for me though) I'm not on any other groups etc only here, what's the story on the R2.
 

TheJabbaWookie

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Michael Sith said:
No not yet, it's nothing amazing ( would be nice for me though) I'm not on any other groups etc only here, what's the story on the R2.
Someone posted that they had been watching and bidding on an Kenner R2 20A Back and thought there might be some shill bidding on it as last second it jumped from $234 to $1579.99. Quite a few people commented before a few more knowledgeable folks jumped in.

So even though the card was a little bit beat up it's a very rare card (only approx 4 known), even more than the Kenner Stormtrooper 21A Back.

Thought you might of been one of those knowing what they were looking at :wink:
 

Michael Sith

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No wasn't me looking at it, certainly not in my price bracket either.

Didn't win the item, waited till about 30 seconds to go and still got out bid :x

Back to the drawing board :roll:
 
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