Ebay. Bid Your Hand Early, or Snipe?

[launderess]

Just wondering in general,how group members play their hands on eBay bidding. Personally now that I'm so busy, I just put my max bid up front, if I win I win. However, seem to think sniping works best as it allows more of a stealth approch, you know, sort of lulling another bidder into thinking no one else is interested in the item (stop laughing, it could happen), then pouncing.

Seems more and more everyone just snipes, with very little up front bidding. Thoughts?

Launderess

 

[westytoploader]

I pretty much snipe within the last 10 minutes or so with every item I've bid on.

 

[peterh770]

Depends on the "to die for" factor of the item...

 

[kenwashesmonday]

If you bid early you just raise the price. The best time to bid is less than 20 seconds before the auction ends. Seems sneaky, but it's just the way it is.

Ken D.

 

[jaxsunst]

It depends on the item and how bad I want it. If I'm busy and can't watch it, I put an outrageous max bid in, but on average I only bid with in the last 12 hours.

 

[launderess]

Thanks all for the interesting posts.

Don't quite understand however how bidding early "drives up the price". If I put in the max amount I'm willing to pay on day 1 of a six day auction, how does it drive up the price?

Using a recent auction for the Frigidare Imperial set, the first bidder ultimately prevailed by coming back with a higher last minute bid. However the only other bidder obviously bid what he was willing to pay.

Have seen auctions where snipers and last few day bidders try to test the highest bid by putting in several bids to see if they can top the current high bidder. Sometimes they suceed, sometimes they do not. Now I have seen a curious sort of behaviour where it looks like someone is bidding just to drive up the price, out of spite. To my mind's eye a person like that wants his knee caps done in with a baseball bat as it is cleary done out of mischief.

Launderess

 

[GESwivel]

Sometimes it may be better to wait, because there may be a seller who uses someone else(or himself) to bump up the bid price. Say you bid on an auction, then the seller could use another ID or have someone else come on and bid higher. You, in turn, come back and bid higher than he did. Now the bid price is climbing like the seller wants.

 

[laundramatt]

Have you ever sold anything on Ebay? I'm pretty sure that sellers can see what the maximum bid is that bidders have made, before the auction even closes. What's to stop them from having a friend bid right up close to the maximum bid, to get the most money for their item?