# General Mandolin Topics > eBay, Craig's List, etc. >  Secrets to winning ebay auctions

## sgarrity

I've got a question.  After bidding on numerous items over the last few years I've rarely won an auction.  I always seem to get beat in the last 5 seconds by less than $100.  Is there some kind of sniping software that people are using?  What's the secret?  Thanks for any info!

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## sgarrity

I just answered my own question.  (Gotta love the Google!   LOL)  And the answer is yes.  What a crock!!  Now we have to pay for a service to win ebay auctions??  

Is this what y'all are doing?  Any recommendations?

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## mrmando

I use auctionstealer.com. Just the free version. Sometimes that's enough. 

The other secret to winning eBay auctions is to bid on stuff no one else wants.

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## Jim MacDaniel

I use auctionsniper.com, but they only charge when I actually win an auction using their sniper, and it's a nominal fee -- especially compared to what the seller pays eBay between posting fees, final value fees, and PayPal fees.

(BTW, I unintentionally sniped an auction for a mini-Tele out from under Martin once using auctionsniper -- but I think that was before he was using auctionstealer.  :Wink: )

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## MikeEdgerton

I just sit and bid in the last few seconds of the auction, that's all the services do.

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## allenhopkins

> The other secret to winning eBay auctions is to bid on stuff no one else wants.


My method exactly.  Want to see my Polk-A-Lay-Lee?

The other method is to bid the limit of what you'll spend, realistically, and then if someone else outbids you, so be it.  If you decide that used Eastman is worth $800, bid $800, watch the bidding approach that figure, and then if some sucker goes $850, that's more than you would have paid for it anyway.

It's so easy to get caught up in the excitement, and feel deflated when some sniper outbids you by $25 with one second to go, but that's how prices get inflated past reasonable levels.  I've bought on eBay a Chinese tri-cone resonator guitar, a Chinese resonator ukulele, a Guitaro (Oscar Schmidt's mutant guitar-shaped Autoharp from the '70's), a Mexican Weissenborn copy, a "project"-to-playable Howe-Orme mandolinetto, a Merrill aluminum bowl-back mandolin, and the aforementioned Polk-A-Lay-Lee (a four-foot-long "surfer uke" from the '60's).  Never gotten into a bidding war for a really desirable instrument, just "off" items and oddities.  Now and again I get tempted, but so far no "big ticket" bidding.

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## sgarrity

I've gotten some good deals on ebay int he past but it's been at least 3-4 years ago.  I usually bid the max I'm willing to pay.  But what aggravates me, and I guess this is just the neature of the beast, is if I bid $1500 and then get beat int he last 5 seconds by $25.  Would I pay $1525.....well sure.  But oh well.....it's not like I "need" any more mandolins!!   LOL

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## Eddie Sheehy

Beware the "I only lost out for less than $100" syndrome.  If you had gone the extra $100 and still lost by "less than $100" would you bemoan the fact and wish you had gone an extra $200 or $300 or $nnn ?  I'm with Allen, bid the max you are prepared to pay and if you win it then fine.  There's a lot of things I have won by less than $100 margin that in hindsight I wish I had lost...

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## MikeEdgerton

> There's a lot of things I have won by less than $100 margin that in hindsight I wish I had lost...


I am with you on that one.

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## JeffD

> I've gotten some good deals on ebay int he past but it's been at least 3-4 years ago.  I usually bid the max I'm willing to pay.  But what aggravates me, and I guess this is just the neature of the beast, is if I bid $1500 and then get beat int he last 5 seconds by $25.  Would I pay $1525.....well sure.  But oh well.....it's not like I "need" any more mandolins!!   LOL


Well I guess the thing to do is figure the most you would be willing to pay, then figure how much more someone could bid and you would feel like you lost out, and then add $26 to that. Thats your bid.

 :Crying: 

Creeping incrementalism in what you are willing to pay is a disease akin to MAS. When they are combined, its best to seek help.   :Grin:

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## Tom C

Just bid the max that you would for the item. Ebay increases by bidding by $10 for example until your max is hit. At least you will not sniped by somebody bidding with a less max than your max.

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## Jim Garber

> I'm with Allen, bid the max you are prepared to pay and if you win it then fine.


That is what I like about the sniping software: you bid your max and then walk away. You are not caught in the emotional heat of a bidding war. Then open your computer after the auction is done and see if you won or not. I have won all sorts of stupid things on eBay that way. 

The odd thing I have noticed was that some folks will wage a war to get an item that could be had easily from a non-ebay dealer for much less than they are paying. Esp odd (to me) are items that are readily available like new instruments (the aforementioned Eastman). The high bidder just has a competitive streak and goes ballistic.

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## journeybear

I've only ever won one big-ticket item - my 1917 plain A - and even at around $900 I can't say it was an incredible bargain, and have not understood how I got it. I do recall there was only one other person bidding on it, who may have gotten cold feet or fell asleep at the switch. In any event, there was not a huge bidding war - its condition is not perfect (but much better than "playable") and it's not an F model, so it may not have attracted a lot of interest. I had lost several auctions leading up to this, all of which went well over $1000, $1500 or more, and have seen plenty since go that high or higher, so in that context I feel pretty lucky. What I don't understand is the huge bid increase strategy - the bidding has been poking along and then suddenly jumps by an outsize amount. I wonder if that's supposed to scare "non-serious" bidders off, or if the seller or an accomplice is tring to drive the price up. When this happens days away from closing it just seems ill-conceived; I would think it more effective if done closer to the end.

I usually sit tight as long as I can, and try to get that last bid in as close to the final bell as possible. Sometimes it takes two windows to do this, plus having the computer's clock on top. Also, if I'm bidding on something replaceable, like a CD, I ALWAYS check the price at amazon or some such site and keep that price in mind. Why pay more for something that you could get any day of the week elsewhere?

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## Jim Nollman

and always pay close attention to shipping costs. Like the tool i saw last week with shipping of $65. The tool went for $32, probably to some sucker who never thought to pay attention, to understand why no one else was bidding.

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## toddjoles

I think the way to win ebay auctions is to NOT announce to the whole cafe by starting a thread that says "Hey guys look at this Mandolin I'm bidding on!  Is this a good deal?"

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## barney 59

I guess it depends on what your looking for. I'm hunting vintage instruments that need some level of work or repair. I search for miss listings and listings by people who are somewhat new at it where the photos and such are not that attractive. I look for listings that close at odd hours. With that said I miss out most of the time. I've used snipping software and it doesn't seem to help much. All you can do is study the item you want to bid on and determine what it's value is to you and be there at least near the end.(You don't want to show your hand early but if you decide how far you will go you don't need to be there at the last second either.) I used to think of it as winning and losing but now I think of it as "buying at auction" and thinking that way helps control my impulse to attempt to win it anyway when it has passed what I predetermined  I was willing to pay. Before I bid on something I've studied it for several days- searched for it from other vendors to determine what it's value is if I were to buy it from a reliable dealer. If I can purchase something from a dealer at a particular price I wouldn't pay more than about 2/3rds of that price on an online auction---3/4 tops. I've studied the feedback of the seller. I've probably asked questions of the seller, sometimes to find out something about the instrument, but also to get a take on the seller.  I have won some really great stuff on ebay and the thing is if your looking for something specific and you miss this time-wait and one will come around again and maybe one time one falls through the hole and you get a great deal. I've worked on specific things for years before I score one and others I'm still waiting for the right deal.  I'm always amazed at how sometimes you don't see a particular instrument for months and months and then one week there will be 4 of them at the same time.

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## Rob Gerety

> I think the way to win ebay auctions is to NOT announce to the whole cafe by starting a thread that says "Hey guys look at this Mandolin I'm bidding on!  Is this a good deal?"


You better believe it.  Lay low.  Snipe your absolute highest price in the last 5 seconds. Its the only way.  Never, ever, bid before the last 5 seconds.  That's just the way it is.

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## Tom Sanderson

> The other method is to bid the limit of what you'll spend, realistically, and then if someone else outbids you, so be it. If you decide that used Eastman is worth $800, bid $800, watch the bidding approach that figure, and then if some sucker goes $850, that's more than you would have paid for it anyway


This is what I do. If I want something, I think about how high I will go, then I wait until the last minute or so before the end of the auction. Bid it and Forget it. I'm an auto mechanic. I buy all my Snap On tools on Ebay. I refuse to pay more than 1/2 price, so I look up the price on the Snap On site and bid 1/2 or less. I "win" about 1/2 the time.

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## journeybear

> I think the way to win ebay auctions is to NOT announce to the whole cafe by starting a thread that says "Hey guys look at this Mandolin I'm bidding on!  Is this a good deal?"


Really? But gee whiz, I was just trying to get some expert advice on this. You mean someone else would be interested too? Huh! Hadn't thought of that ...  :Laughing: 

In other words ... Really? Really!!! Don't go increasing the size of the competition. Whenever I post about something on ebay, it is for humor or genuine curiosity. It's safe to assume I'm not bidding on it. Really!  :Wink:

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## jim simpson

Last night I put in my best bid for an old Gibson A mandolin case. I was getting together with some bandmates for pickin' and wouldn't be home at the end of the auction. I would normally wait till the final moments to put in my bid and I didn't use a snipe service. My limit was $150.00 and I believe it went 2 more bids to end at $157.00. I guess I could have put in a limit of $200.00 and increased my chances but I'll try my luck next time. I didn't realize how much wider the old Gibson A's are compared to modern A's.

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## bratsche

Sometimes you can get lucky, if you're very patient, by creating eBay searches for items you're looking for or even mildly interested in, and keep them in open browser tabs sorted by "newly listed".   Then you can refresh the searches as frequently as you like, looking in particular for extremely low-price "buy it now" deals.  That is how I got my Flatiron N1 mandola ($250) and my Vega bowlback ($275), as well as a MidMo M-11 that I used to have ($200).  I think I bought all three before anybody else had even seen them show up!  There were no negative issues with any of them, or even any repaired cracks, and the MidMo was in completely pristine condition (I wish I had kept it!)  I've also done that with quite a few non-musical items (just yesterday was the latest one, on an item I had "laid in wait for" for several weeks), as I use eBay a *lot* for shopping.   If you're not sure what a decent price for an item is, you can research the subject beforehand, of course.

bratsche

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## f5loar

About 10 years ago I bought off ebay a DVD on "Secrets to winning ebay auctions" for $9.95 plus shipping of $3.95.
From the secrets I learned in that DVD I have been able to win at least 80% of the items I bid on.  I don't use any automated services and most of the time I am there at the final seconds.  Will I share those secrets with the cafe?
You gotta be kindin' !
Most post here about ebay items because they have some doubt about something about it and there is not a better place in the world to get a second opinion about anything mandolin then right here at the cafe. True you may conjure up some more bidders on your item but you would have gotten a better idea of what it is worth or what might be wrong about it.  Take this ebay item below. You want a genuine Gibson F5 and you believed the seller on this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/GIBSON-F5-MANDOL...item4cecebe32f
Best to get that second opinion when in doubt.

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## rgray

I use esnipe and just bid the max I am willing to spend.  If I am outbid I get an e-mail an hour or so before closure letting me know in case I want to up my bid, which I never do.  If still  in the hunt, my bid hits at 3 seconds before closing.  If  I win, I pay whatever incremental bid beats the next lowest bid up to my max bid.  If I lose, I'm fine.  I don't contribute to a bidding war that could continue for days and cause emotional bidding by myself or others.

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## Hans

I'm with toddjoles, and don't start threads like "Secrets to Winning ebay auctions".

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## Ben Milne

Hans down best post in this thread, Hans.

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## PJ Doland

The best eBay bidding method is to wait until the very end of the auction (last 30 seconds) and enter *the absolute maximum* you are willing to pay for an item. If you don't end up winning, it's because you weren't willing to pay the amount of money for which the item ended up selling.

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## sgarrity

> I'm with toddjoles, and don't start threads like "Secrets to Winning ebay auctions".


If either one of you took time to read the thread, it's not about a specific auction.  But thanks for your "helpful" comments.  

I started this thread because on ebay there can be a fine line between getting a good deal and getting ripped off.  I always research what I'm bidding on and know what it sells for, especially mandolins and guitars.  I've got a little bit of experience in those markets.  I also bid what I'm willing to pay.  Maybe I'm behind the times, but I had no idea the use of sniping software was so prevalent.  And after losing multiple auctions I came to the fount of knowledge that is the 'cafe to discuss the issue with my fellow mandolin aficionados.  I'll now have a different strategy for auctions I bid on in the future.

Thanks to those that provided useful information!    :Mandosmiley:

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## Mark Seale

One other tip is to bid in odd increments.  Most people will set their Max bid at a round number, so even if both of you have put in a max bid of 150, it goes to the first bidder of 150.  The other thing is some folks will bid early to get a feel for what the current bids are maxed out at, once they hit the round number they stop.  I usually set a max and then add 1.76 to get past most round numbers, but not above what I'm actually willing to pay.

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## journeybear

What f5loar said is very true, and you have to weigh the positives (like being better informed about an item's value and authenticity) against the negatives (alerting potentially competitive bidders). You don't want to bid on anything from a disreputable seller or junk - which is what I assume that link led to (it's been taken down).

I like both of the folowing approaches. I don't do enough bidding to warrant using software, IMO (I could be wrong, as proponents will argue it improves every bidding action), but I might check it out. Sometimes I'm in a bid just to see how far it will go, and may make a last-minute decision to drop out if it's gotten too heady, and being locked into a price by a program may work against me. One thng I've wondered - when setting a maximum bid, if you win, do you pay that amount, or just whatever the second-most bid was plus whatever increment was in play at closing?  :Confused: 




> The best eBay bidding method is to wait until the very end of the auction (last 30 seconds) and enter *the absolute maximum* you are willing to pay for an item. If you don't end up winning, it's because you weren't willing to pay the amount of money for which the item ended up selling.





> I use esnipe and just bid the max I am willing to spend.  If I am outbid I get an e-mail an hour or so before closure letting me know in case I want to up my bid, which I never do.  If still  in the hunt, my bid hits at 3 seconds before closing.  If  I win, I pay whatever incremental bid beats the next lowest bid up to my max bid.  If I lose, I'm fine.  I don't contribute to a bidding war that could continue for days and cause emotional bidding by myself or others.

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## mrmando

> About 10 years ago I bought off ebay a DVD on "Secrets to winning ebay auctions" for $9.95 plus shipping of $3.95.
> From the secrets I learned in that DVD I have been able to win at least 80% of the items I bid on.


So YOU'RE the guy who outbid me on that DVD!

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## Darryl Wolfe

Ebay has become far more of a sellers market.  I used to win alot, but I have the same problems the OP has said.  This is mostly because I am not willing to pay as much as some of the bidders seem to be, hence the seller market aspect

If I simply have to win an auction, I actually bid more than it is worth at the last moment and hope someone else does not do the same.  I only do this on select items.

If I am looking for a bargain, I bid only what I am willing to pay.

I also search for stuff that is mistitled and do not tell the whole Cafe about it.  Not every original Gibson tailpiece, pickguard, case or bridge has the words Gibson or Mandolin in the title...woops...I just told the whole Cafe :Disbelief:

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## Dave Hulse

eBay calls 'em auctions.  They are not really auctions if there is a preset end time.

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## Darryl Wolfe

> eBay calls 'em auctions.  They are not really auctions if there is a preset end time.



Good point

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## Darryl Wolfe

For example, check this out...It could just as easily be a pre-war Martin

http://cgi.ebay.com/the-giutar-are-n...item1c0f2b9cde


 :Laughing:  :Crying:  :Grin:

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## mrmando

Yeah, but which war?

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## Scott Austin

> For example, check this out...It could just as easily be a pre-war Martin
> 
> http://cgi.ebay.com/the-giutar-are-n...item1c0f2b9cde


I am now wiping a cool  beverage off of my monitor,lol

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## catmandu2

> I am now wiping a cool  beverage off of my monitor,lol


That auction appears to be a common ploy when selling either bogus or broken items...pretend to not speak the language very well  :Whistling:

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## TNT

> That auction appears to be a common ploy when selling either bogus or broken items...pretend to not speak the language very well


So I shouldn't bid????    :Laughing:

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## Mandolin Mick

There's 2 things that I do and almost always win the item I'm bidding on:

1. Wait until the last 30 seconds.

2. If I can't be near the computer I bid way more than the item is worth. To do this you have to estimate what is considered a reasonable bid. But, you have to be prepared to pay if somebody else does the same thing!!!

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## Scott Austin

> That auction appears to be a common ploy when selling either bogus or broken items...pretend to not speak the language very well


Made my day!

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## Steve Etter

My wife pointed out something about those high shipping costs that I hadn't thought about - when a seller inflates the shipping cost and a lowers the price, this may be just way he can cut his own costs - not a way to try to trick you.

Ebay's charges to the seller are based on the sale price, less shipping.  If I can sell an item for $10 plus $50 shipping, I am have to pay Ebay then is a percentage of the $10, not the total.

If you are willing to pay a total of $60 either way, why does it matter if the $50 is for the cost of the item or the shipping?

Steve

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## Jim Broyles

> So I shouldn't bid????


Why not? After all, the giutar are new.

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## f5loar

That giutar almost has enough red flags to be a scam. You bid on it you will get nothing in return after you pay.
He is using stock photos instead of actual photos.  Poor language use and a feedback of 2 but when you check the feedback there is 0 which to me indicates a stolen ID fraud.

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## Jim Broyles

The guy has two FB's as a buyer. Don't forget, the giutar are new, maybe he are too. He have a paino and a zurna to sale too. Each are new.

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## delsbrother

> If I can't be near the computer I bid way more than the item is worth.


Technically, this would accomplish the OP's goal of winning more auctions, but I wouldn't recommend it.

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## bratsche

> My wife pointed out something about those high shipping costs that I hadn't thought about - when a seller inflates the shipping cost and a lowers the price, this may be just way he can cut his own costs - not a way to try to trick you.
> 
> Ebay's charges to the seller are based on the sale price, less shipping.  If I can sell an item for $10 plus $50 shipping, I am have to pay Ebay then is a percentage of the $10, not the total.
> 
> If you are willing to pay a total of $60 either way, why does it matter if the $50 is for the cost of the item or the shipping?
> 
> Steve


I believe in some cases, sellers may do the low price & high shipping thing as a protest, because they believe that eBay's seller charges have risen too exorbitantly.   However, the one that took the cake was a listing I saw for an item worth about $250 with an opening bid of just $1.00 and a "Buy It Now" of $5.00.  There were bold-lettered red warnings at the top saying "Please do not buy or bid on this item unless you have read ALL my terms, especially the shipping, and you agree with them."  The shipping was listed at $245!

bratsche

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## Steve Etter

bratshe - Yes, that is an excellent example of what I am saying.  That guy (assuming he sold the item) didn't have to pay Ebay anything close to what he would have if he had listed it as you would normally expect.

Steve

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## rgray

> ..., Sometimes I'm in a bid just to see how far it will go, and may make a last-minute decision to drop out if it's gotten too heady, and being locked into a price by a program may work against me. One thng I've wondered - when setting a maximum bid, if you win, do you pay that amount, or just whatever the second-most bid was plus whatever increment was in play at closing?


The idea of bidding "just to see how far it will go" can falsely drive up the cost and is actually one of the reasons to use a sniping service.  Now you can't help it if others do it on the item you are watching to snipe at the last second, but at least you are not contributing.  It is actually a little satisfying to find something I want, set my snipe amount, and then watch an item over the next few days as a few bidders compete. :Whistling:   Then, right toward the end of the auction, there is a flurry of activity from the competing bidders, only to end with my single shot coming from nowhere.  I always imagine the look -  :Disbelief:  or  :Crying:  or  :Mad: - on the faces of the competing bidders to see someone come in at the last second and take the prize.  Childish - maybe.  I just enjoy the little things in life. :Smile:   But don't worry - I'm satisfied with my Kentucky 505 and have no plans to indulge in MAS so mandolin auctions are safe.

To your question - you only pay one bidding increment above the second-most bid, no matter what your maximum bid was.

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## journeybear

> The idea of bidding "just to see how far it will go" can falsely drive up the cost and is actually one of the reasons to use a sniping service.


Maybe I worded that poorly. What I was talking about was a situation in which I'm kind of stting on the fence but also keeping my hand in. (_There's_ an image.) For something I'm really interested in, all bets are off -but not bids!  :Grin: 




> To your question - you only pay one bidding increment above the second-most bid, no matter what your maximum bid was.


Ah, that's what I was hoping. Makes the most sense. Thanks!




> Why not? After all, the giutar are new.


And cheep! BTW, this speaks to something I mentioned earlier - the unexplained massive increase in bidding. It had been sitting there for two days at .99, then someone rings in with $11. Yes, this is small potatoes, but that's a 1100% bump. But what do I care, this time? It's now $11.50, and even if the giutar is no good, the stirngs is worth have that!  :Smile:

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## Darryl Wolfe

I only used the guitar auction as an example of no brand name mentioned and "giutar" being spelled wrong.  There are a bunch of "madolins" on auction too

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## man dough nollij

> And cheep! BTW, this speaks to something I mentioned earlier - the unexplained massive increase in bidding. It had been sitting there for two days at .99, then someone rings in with $11. Yes, this is small potatoes, but that's a 1100% bump. But what do I care, this time? It's now $11.50, and even if the giutar is no good, the stirngs is worth have that!


Waht a bragain is it!

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## EdHanrahan

If I did't win, that means I didn't want it bad enough, and that's okay by me.

If I DO want it bad enough AND there's a reasonable Buy It Now price...  you bet!  Got a great Rickenbacker 12-string that way, and still a bargain.   

Favorite was my first time on eBay.  Won a Fender bass, but it was below the reserve price.  He re-listed with lower (or no?) reserve, I re-bid by $30 more than my prior max, and won it for $60 LESS THAN my prior winning bid!

YESSS!!

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## rgray

> Favorite was my first time on eBay.  Won a Fender bass, but it was below the reserve price.  He re-listed with lower (or no?) reserve, I re-bid by $30 more than my prior max, and won it for $60 LESS THAN my prior winning bid!YESSS!!


Sounds like you weren't the only inexperienced player in that game.  When the auction ended, I imagine the guy wandering around dazed and  :Confused:  wondering what happened.  Good on ya!

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## JeffD

I am not an experienced bidder at ebay. There is something here I just do not understand.

If the bids are all managed by their computer, and there is no funny business, then my maximum bid is my maximum bid, wheter I bid early or late. In a real live auction (without a definite time limit) I would of course bid incrementally, as everyone can see me. But as the computer handles the incrementalisms, what difference does it make waiting until the last 30 seonds? How does bidding right away make the price more likely to rise above my maximum bid?

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## f5loar

Good question but you do it in the last 30 seconds in order to pay less. Someone can run your bid up and then stop right before your max. is reached.  If you bid your max. early you have shown your cards to others that will pay the next run up.  I've seen guys do a last 5 minute way higher then it's worth bid to find out your max bid and then cancel his bid like he made a decimal error and then come back in the final 5 seconds with a $1 over your bid.  Had you not shown your max. bid early he could not have found out how far you would go and might have bid slightly less.  Do you ever watch those Barrett Jackson Car Auctions?  Ever notice how right before he is ready to slap the mallet down someone comes out of nowhere and tops that last guy he sparred it off with another guy.  He stayed quite to see how far others would go and then he would start it up again and most times get the car.  Where do all those rich guys come from that buy those vintage cars?  Paying $100,000s for 70's Muscle Cars?  No way they could recoup their investment years down the road.
Sometimes I think they guys are doing it as a sport.

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## rgray

> I am not an experienced bidder at ebay. There is something here I just do not understand.
> 
> If the bids are all managed by their computer, and there is no funny business, then my maximum bid is my maximum bid, wheter I bid early or late. In a real live auction (without a definite time limit) I would of course bid incrementally, as everyone can see me. But as the computer handles the incrementalisms, what difference does it make waiting until the last 30 seonds? How does bidding right away make the price more likely to rise above my maximum bid?


I understand your concern and I think f5loar explained the run-up risk well.  To add some eBay info - you can submit your max bid early, and eBay will only use the minimum to top the current highest bid by whatever increment is in use.  When someone tops your bid, eBay automatically tops that using your max bid but again, only using the minimum needed.  Example - item starts at $5.  You put in a max bid of $50 and eBay shows you as winning at $5.  Someone bids $10 and Ebay automatically ups your bid to $15.  Someone bids $20 and eBay automatically ups your bid to $25.  On up.  Now if 2 or more people enter max bids, eBay does this upward incremental bid progression invisibly and doesn't bother to show the incremental jumps in the bid history - just the highest bid.  With an online service, your max bid is unknown until seconds before the end.  If the current high bidder has an even higher max bid waiting on eBay, then those last few seconds will be an invisible automatic upward progression between their max bid and your max bid.  If others are sitting at their computer waiting to manually outbid within the last few seconds, they can't keep up with eBay's automatic upward progression of incremental bidding.  Sounds complicated but works well.  Sniping this way is intended to guard against the novice or emotional bidder.  It doesn't help or hinder if going up against someone using the same technique.  Whoever is willing to pay the highest via a max bid will win.  A sniping service will also hide your bidding history from a common adversary for past auctions who hasn't discovered an item you want.  They can search eBay to see what you are currently bidding on, determine they want it also, and then start bidding against you.

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## mrmando

If you assume that every bidder behaves completely rationally, then it shouldn't matter when you place your high bid. Trouble is, it's very common for bidders to approach eBay emotionally. A bidder who (a) has money to burn and (b) feels that he/she just _has_ to be in the lead will keep raising the price until he/she has topped all other bidders. There's usually no rational reason to want to be the high bidder on day 3 of a 7-day auction, but an emotional bidder might not understand that. Or, a slightly more crafty bidder wants to feel out your high bid, so he/she chips away, looking for that moment when the price goes up by something less than the standard increment. Say your high bid is $30 and the standard increment is $1. If I bid $29.01 on the item, I'll notice that the price went up only to $30, not $30.01, which means that I've discovered your high bid. You are still in the lead, but I know I can come back and top you on my next bid if you don't raise yours.

Withholding your high bid until the last second prevents these types of games from taking place. 



> A sniping service will also hide your bidding history from a common adversary for past auctions who hasn't discovered an item you want. They can search eBay to see what you are currently bidding on, determine they want it also, and then start bidding against you.


Actually, since eBay now conceals bidders' identities, this isn't really a concern any more.

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## jim_n_virginia

I could write a book on winning eBay auctions!  :Grin: 

I won't give away ALL my secrets but since your a friend Shaun I'll give you a couple of my secrets ...

This one is so basic I am amazed not many people think of it. Bid odd amounts, never bid an even amount. 

and another pick auctions that end between 2-5am Central time. There is a time difference I know but if you pick auction late at night or early in the morning there is more of a chance of less competition.

And when I snipe I snipe it in the final 15 seconds and contantly refresh.

Hey and in the old days when eBay used to show the other bidders I heard of guys who used to contact the other bidders to anonomously tell them that the instrument was a fake!  Now THAT was dirty pool! LOL! Thank God eBay started hiding the other bidders.

 :Mandosmiley:

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## Explorer

I've twice had the experience of placing a bid on an item which wasn't that expensive, and worth just placing a maximum bid early, rather than sniping. A bidder starting submitting bids, and then it looked like they stopped bidding just before exceeding my maximum price. I did a search on auctions from that seller, and found the same pattern on all the auctions. I asked eBay to look into it, and apparently the seller had a friend or friends who bid up auctions and then retracted the last, winning bid, in order to get the highest price from the real bidder(s). eBay cancelled the auctions that I had won, and banned both the seller and the other bidders/users they found to be involved....

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## mrmando

> Hey and in the old days when eBay used to show the other bidders I heard of guys who used to contact the other bidders to anonomously tell them that the instrument was a fake!  Now THAT was dirty pool!


Unless it really WAS a fake...

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## Darryl Wolfe

> I've twice had the experience of placing a bid on an item which wasn't that expensive, and worth just placing a maximum bid early, rather than sniping. A bidder starting submitting bids, and then it looked like they stopped bidding just before exceeding my maximum price. I did a search on auctions from that seller, and found the same pattern on all the auctions. I asked eBay to look into it, and apparently the seller had a friend or friends who bid up auctions and then retracted the last, winning bid, in order to get the highest price from the real bidder(s). eBay cancelled the auctions that I had won, and banned both the seller and the other bidders/users they found to be involved....


I've had that happen to me too and was dumbfounded on how it worked.  I probably missed the retraction or maybe it does not show up

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## Jim Bo

> So YOU'RE the guy who outbid me on that DVD!


Yeah...and with the CD he will outbid you on everything else.  :Laughing:  :Laughing:

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