Clothing Designer
GRMACK
Posts: 5436
Bakersfield, California, US
Seems every time I bid on something in eBay, I am the winning bid right up until the moment the bidding closes and I get beat. It's always by one dollar, and starting to get annoying.
How is this being done? Some trick in hiding their bidding by someone.
Tia.
Photographer
CherryPie
Posts: 15
Columbus, Ohio, US
GRMACK wrote:
Seems every time I bid on something in eBay, I am the winning bid right up until the moment the bidding closes and I get beat. It's always by one dollar, and starting to get annoying.
How is this being done? Some trick in hiding their bidding by someone.
Tia. Some have snipe software, some folks manually snipe.
Snipe software will be with 1-2 seconds left automatically.
Don't put in a low bid and expect to win. Put in the most your willing to pay, it only goes up if someone else bids.
Photographer
Blue Cube Imaging
Posts: 11883
Ashland, Oregon, US
Yep... http://auctionsniper.com/ And as Cherrystone said, put the max you're willing to pay and walk away. I always end my bids with an odd amount of cents, if my max bid is going to be in the 20.00 range I'll bid 21.67 so that if they're at 20.50 I'll beat 'em.
Photographer
Mr Banner
Posts: 85322
Hayward, California, US
Blue Cube Imaging wrote:
Yep...
http://auctionsniper.com/
And as Cherrystone said, put the max you're willing to pay and walk away.
I always end my bids with an odd amount of cents, if my max bid is going to be in the 20.00 range I'll bid 21.67 so that if they're at 20.50 I'll beat 'em. i do the same thing, so you wouldn't beat ME like that. You need to jump it up to 22.18!
Photographer
Vintagevista
Posts: 11804
Sun City, California, US
In the old days we used to sit with a stopwatch and "5-4-3-2-"bid"
The secret is that today - there is no secret - put in your bid and if you win - you got it, for your bid - or less. If not - they wanted it more. (the dollar thing is only the Ebay auto bidder advancing it one bid increment over your highest bid - they might have bid 200 bucks more than you as a snipe - but, they will win by a dollar)
(It was fun in the old days to set a massive wall bid - and watch somebody pecking away in the last seconds going "Sorry boys - you are not going to get anywhere with advancing only 5 bucks a bid at a time.")
Photographer
Shadow Dancer
Posts: 9775
Bellingham, Washington, US
The way to win at ebay is to keep an eye out for the item of desire for a few months. Be patient, there will always be another one. When one comes up that ends on a Tuesday morning at 3am, keep it in your sights. Try a search with a price range that is low, I search for one item of interest to me that runs about $125 in stores with a $25 maximum price including shipping. I've gotten brand new still wrapped in plastic and in the box that way more than once.
If you want a deal, bid late, bid low and give up when you are beaten. Persistence is key.
Photographer
DougBPhoto
Posts: 39248
Portland, Oregon, US
Shadow Dancer wrote:
The way to win at ebay is to keep an eye out for the item of desire for a few months. Be patient, there will always be another one. When one comes up that ends on a Tuesday morning at 3am, keep it in your sights. Try a search with a price range that is low, I search for one item of interest to me that runs about $125 in stores with a $25 maximum price including shipping. I've gotten brand new still wrapped in plastic and in the box that way more than once.
If you want a deal, bid late, bid low and give up when you are beaten. Persistence is key. I've found the best way to improve your odds is to bid and then decide you don't really care and don't really want to win it anymore.
It seems to really improve your chances of winning. 
I woke up on Wednesday morning expecting to see an outbid notice and a sales price of significantly more than I wanted to spend, so imagine my surprise to see I won at the opening bid, for 1/2 of what they normally sell for. Some times you just get lucky... at least, hopefully once I confirm it is in the advertised condition and working properly, I will hopefully have gotten very lucky.
Photographer
64318
Posts: 1638
San Anselmo, California, US
Google..... sniping on Ebay.... you will find the answer to your losing bids
Photographer
Brian Diaz
Posts: 65617
Danbury, Connecticut, US
You may also get a slight edge if you bid in auctions that end in off-hours.
In eBay's early days, I made some good pocket money by buying stuff in the middle of a weeknight and selling it on Sunday evenings.
Photographer
Brian Diaz
Posts: 65617
Danbury, Connecticut, US
DougBPhoto wrote:
I woke up on Wednesday morning expecting to see an outbid notice and a sales price of significantly more than I wanted to spend, so imagine my surprise to see I won at the opening bid, for 1/2 of what they normally sell for. Some times you just get lucky... at least, hopefully once I confirm it is in the advertised condition and working properly, I will hopefully have gotten very lucky. Nice. The fact that it ended while you were sleeping on a Wednesday morning may have helped keep the price down. 
Photographer
DougBPhoto
Posts: 39248
Portland, Oregon, US
Brian Diaz wrote:
Nice. The fact that it ended while you were sleeping on a Wednesday morning may have helped keep the price down. I've had such bad luck lately with receiving things and having them not be as described, (and not getting much help out of eBay's "protection" either, for example, a seller can advertise an item as being "complete", in their words "as long as they include all the parts they are including", what *should* be there for the item(s) to be complete, that does not matter.)
I could really use a change in luck.
Back to the OP though... ultimately, the key is that even the sniping/automated bid will not outbid you if your maximum bid is the highest, it is trying to play the game of not bidding more than you have to, and even that bidding software still (I presume) relies on bidding up to your maximum bid, it just does it as late as possible.
IF your maximum is higher, you still win by your max being higher than their max.
Model
D A N I
Posts: 4627
Little Rock, Arkansas, US
GRMACK wrote:
Seems every time I bid on something in eBay, I am the winning bid right up until the moment the bidding closes and I get beat. It's always by one dollar, and starting to get annoying.
How is this being done? Some trick in hiding their bidding by someone.
Tia. I do the same thing to win bids off people. You wait until the last few seconds of the bidding then place bids until you win. It's not hard, no tricks, no bot software, you just make a note of when the bid is ending and make your move at the right time
eBay makes it easy since they have the Increase Bid button set for just the right amount to attempt to outdo the current bid.
Photographer
roger alan
Posts: 1192
Anderson, Indiana, US
Photographer
Cherrystone
Posts: 37171
Columbus, Ohio, US
GRMACK wrote:
Seems every time I bid on something in eBay, I am the winning bid right up until the moment the bidding closes and I get beat. It's always by one dollar, and starting to get annoying.
How is this being done? Some trick in hiding their bidding by someone.
Tia. I'm going to imagine you might be bidding on lower prices items? Like that Gunne Sax dress for $50-?
While I sell a few lower price things, most stuff I sell or have bought in the past have been items of the higher priced variety.
There is psychological aspects of an auction. In the old days when the snipe software wasn't overly prevalent, and they didn't have buyer/sellers history locked down so much, one could improve your odds by studying the bidding & buying habits of others. I'd still try to do that today, just not as easy.
Lets say I saw a pair of colored Sandwich lamps that I knew should go for at least a couple grand, but auction fever from other folks could drive that up a lot higher, & the opening bid was set at $100-
A few ways I'd look at that. I'd sit & watch for 2-3 days without bidding to see how things are going, see if I could get a feel and who of the other "glass boys" found & bid on it.
Depending on various factors, and what I saw I'd either come in with a bid $50-higher than the current one, or I'd come in with a real strong bid of $4-500 higher. The strong bid can work well for you as it can put some people off, but you also risk some yahoo gets obsessed with seeing how high the bid really is and drive it up faster too early.
While these things can work in your favor & improve your odds,there is no foolproof thing. I never liked using the snipe software I had, & have sat on eBay with both my laptop & desktop open and ready to bid in the final seconds more times than I could count.
I don't recall what item it was, but I snagged something with a bid in the last couple seconds one time. I got a NASTY note from another bidder telling me how wrong bidding like that was, and I took ALL the fun out of the eBay buying experience.
I replied, are you for real? Go fuck a duck.
Btw, my infamous red couch was bought off eBay 15 yrs. ago from some clueless lady in Colorado.
Photographer
Jerry Nemeth
Posts: 33355
Dearborn, Michigan, US
Cherrystone wrote:
I'm going to imagine you might be bidding on lower prices items? Like that Gunne Sax dress for $50-?
While I sell a few lower price things, most stuff I sell or have bought in the past have been items of the higher priced variety.
There is psychological aspects of an auction. In the old days when the snipe software wasn't overly prevalent, and they didn't have buyer/sellers history locked down so much, one could improve your odds by studying the bidding & buying habits of others. I'd still try to do that today, just not as easy.
Lets say I saw a pair of colored Sandwich lamps that I knew should go for at least a couple grand, but auction fever from other folks could drive that up a lot higher, & the opening bid was set at $100-
A few ways I'd look at that. I'd sit & watch for 2-3 days without bidding to see how things are going, see if I could get a feel and who of the other "glass boys" found & bid on it.
Depending on various factors, and what I saw I'd either come in with a bid $50-higher than the current one, or I'd come in with a real strong bid of $4-500 higher. The strong bid can work well for you as it can put some people off, but you also risk some yahoo gets obsessed with seeing how high the bid really is and drive it up faster too early.
While these things can work in your favor & improve your odds,there is no foolproof thing. I never liked using the snipe software I had, & have sat on eBay with both my laptop & desktop open and ready to bid in the final seconds more times than I could count.
I don't recall what item it was, but I snagged something with a bid in the last couple seconds one time. I got a NASTY note from another bidder telling me how wrong bidding like that was, and I took ALL the fun out of the eBay buying experience.
I replied, are you for real? Go fuck a duck.
Btw, my infamous red couch was bought off eBay 15 yrs. ago from some clueless lady in Colorado. I like your red couch!
Photographer
HV images
Posts: 634
Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Yeah pretty much what the others said.
I don't bother bidding at all, until the last seconds, unless I am not going to be around by the time the auction ends.
If I want something, I decide how much I want to pay for it.
Then I wait till the last three seconds before the auction ends and I put a maximun bid for the full amount I am willing to pay.
A lot of times the price goes above what I want to pay, if that happens I just wait for the next item until the price is right.
Another trick is to check BIN items and arrange by cheapest price+postage, a lot of times I see people bidding higher than it would cost to buy the item BIN in the first place.
Tuesday nights, Friday evenings and Saturday and Sunday mornings are good times to check for items that have gone under the radar.
Photographer
Cherrystone
Posts: 37171
Columbus, Ohio, US
Jerry Nemeth wrote:
I like your red couch! So do I! 
I might sell that in the near future. If you have a few thousand to spare, let me know. 
Model
KelliOnLineGlamourNude
Posts: 2999
Barrie, Ontario, Canada
I wait til the last few secs then I place my odd numbered bid.
Artist/Painter
ethasleftthebuilding
Posts: 16685
Key West, Florida, US
I only bid once on any auction. That single bid is for the maximum price I am willing to pay and is placed within the last few seconds of the auction.
I have never understood someone bidding with days or even hours remaining on an auction. I especially can't understand those people who put in a maximum bid several days ahead, all it serves to do is one-up every other bid placed for that item and raise the final price of the item.
I learned this from my Dad at estate auctions, he would sit there and wait until all the other bidders had dropped out, so there was only on left, and only then would he bid. He said every bid you make raises the price you will pay for the item, so why bid while two or three other people are bidding? Let them get tired and then, if the price is still within the range of what you are willing to pay, bid.
Bid once, bid last, buy the item!
Photographer
LeonardG Photography
Posts: 405
San Francisco, California, US
GRMACK wrote:
How is this being done? Some trick in hiding their bidding by someone. Two things affect the win at the last seconds. Snipe software will place bids at a few seconds before the auction ends. eBay also will produce proxy bids.
As I understand it, when you place a bid, eBay only bids the next increment up from the previous high bid. If someone else bids higher, eBay will place a proxy bid for you up to your bid price. If you bid under someone's bid price at the last possible second, eBay will place the proxy bid for them before the auction ends, if possible.
So the current bid you see may not be the highest price someone bid, but only the increment above the bid before it. There is much more to a good bidding strategy, but that would be telling.
Photographer
Chuckarelei
Posts: 11271
Seattle, Washington, US
Blue Cube Imaging wrote:
And as Cherrystone said, put the max you're willing to pay and walk away. Also, don't bid more than what it is worth.
Photographer
FIFTYONE PHOTOGRAPHY
Posts: 6597
Uniontown, Pennsylvania, US
Always snipe.
If You enter a high bid someone could run up the bidding to Your maximum amount.
Watch the item and enter Your high bid at the last second (I usually hit the bid button manually at 3 seconds remaining)
It takes nerves of steel but I very rarely lose an item I want and if I do there's always another right around the corner.
Why spend more than You have to.
Photographer
Lovely Day Media
Posts: 5885
Vineland, New Jersey, US
GRMACK wrote:
Seems every time I bid on something in eBay, I am the winning bid right up until the moment the bidding closes and I get beat. It's always by one dollar, and starting to get annoying.
How is this being done? Some trick in hiding their bidding by someone.
Tia. The truth is you may be getting beat by $1 but one never knows what the winning bidder has bid. We only know that we got beat.
Some people will sit in front of their computer and babysit a listing. Others have what's called "snipe" software that will slam a bid in nanoseconds before the listing ends.
99% of the time, if I'm selling something there is no one that really wants it. If I'm bidding on something, there is always at least 1 other person who has far too much time and far too much money, too.
My solution is simple: when I see something I'm interested in, I place a bid, buy it now or make an offer on it. If I'm placing a bid, I either get it for that price (or less) or I don't. If it's a big deal, I'll bid more but rarely more than one time. If I make an offer and the offer isn't accepted (declined or countered), that's the end of it for me. I decline all counteroffers.
I don't know how long you've been using eBay, but eventually you'll get experienced enough to know what to pay, when to pay it and when to let some other person with all the money have it.
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