When shopping for a Trasformer on eBay, what seems to be your bidding patterns? -Do you put in an early bid to "secure" an item from being sold on the side? -Do you always try to have the highest bid? (Regarless of how much time is left to the auction.) -Do you get involved in "bidding wars" at times? -Do you snipe? I'm asking because I see auctions with various patterns and was wondering the reasoning behind it... Feel free to comment on other patterns you've seen as well...
On the rare occasions there is something I want to buy on Ebay, I use a sniping tool. Some people think it's "cheating" or "dishonorable", but the fact is Ebay's system encourages it and it is logicly the best strategy for getting the lowest price.
Can't fault you there. It's a bummer, though, when you are outbid in such a fashion. Heartbreaking in some instances. Last second bids always raise my blood pressure. EDIT: I should add I usually bid in the last 20 seconds or so. No point in bidding early. I've had that backfire too many times.
i like to wait till the very last moments of the auction, usually within the last 10 seconds. Ive seen some prices get ridiculously high because 1 or 2 other bidders would usually try to keep their price the highest early on.
It's Ebay's own fault... I would 100% support an option that extends the auction 10 minutes after a last second bid.
Something akin to Yahoo!Japan's system? I'm pretty sure they have a system that extends the auction when someone tries to bid in the last few seconds.
I do the same thing. But if I see an item I want in the very early stages, I tend to drop a lowish bid on it to kind of secure it. Some sellers refuse to make side deals if the item has been bid on. And then I wait till the end while cursing the occasional bid war
LOL, that strategy doesn't help me much. Especially if I'm looking for a somewhat unusual or HTF item. Rarely helps to get that early bid in and secure. Even when I do get that early bid in, I'm still sweating bullets as the auction comes to a close. As for the seller side deals, I can relate with those sellers. I don't end items very often if they have received bids. Has to be a helluva price for me to do such a thing.
Yep, not all of the sellers use it. The auto extend is a pain in the ass, I have had the auction extended over an hour several different times.
I feel your pain. I've had a bidding war ensue that way on Y!Japan. So there are obvious advantages and disadvantages to that system.
Many sleepless nights when I was trying to finish my JPN G1, Id have to be up around 3am or 4am then I would get the stupid auto extend and be pissed off that I was getting out bid so I would keep bidding next thing I know it's time to go to work.
i bid to win...if there is an opening bid with a BIN ...i place a low bid to remove the BIN price...then await to the end...and then bid like hell.
As a seller, I've seen that tactic backfire. I once had a set of 3 RiD trains go for $15 more than my BIN price. Happened all because an early bidder decided to forego the BIN price. You have to be careful with BINs.
fantastic idea. I would support that too. there is no point to bidding early on auctions that aren't bin or poorly described lol. The only reason a seller should put an item up for a long period of time is to allow more people to find it before the last minute snipe fest begins or to get a reasonable best offer.
