Ebay Bidders

cuetechasaurus

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Is it smart to bid on a cue at the last minute before the auction ends? People have done this to me before, right at the last minute or so, and they win the cue by a dollar or something like that. Should I do this next time I bid, or is it considered bad to do, and you might get bad reputation points for it?
 
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cuetechasaurus said:
Is it smart to bid on a cue at the last minute before the auction ends? People have done this to me before, right at the last minute or so, and they win the cue by a dollar or something like that. Should I do this next time I bid, or is it considered bad to do, and you might get bad reputation points for it?
People do it all the time. I've done it, and have never gotten bad rep points for it. There are programs out there that will do the bidding for you so that you don't have to sit there and type it in, waiting on the server to make sure it goes through.

That being said, if you really want something, just bid the max you're willing to pay for it. If you're looking for a steal, then do the last minute swiping or whatever the e-auction lingo is. Don't forget to log in before you make your steal bid or else you'll lose time. BTDT.

Fred
 
cuetechasaurus said:
I bid on a cue about a half an hour before the auction ended. I left for work, and when I came back, I checked the time, and someone did a bid like in the last 5 minutes before the auction ended. Do a lot of people do this kind of thing? Should I do it also? I was kind of upset, I didn't think anyone else would bid on the cue.


Welcome to the last second bid my good man!:D

it happens on just about every item I try to get! If you just put a bid in for a few bucks more, then most times you will get out bid. What you want to do is put in the MAX bid you are willing to pay for that item, Ebay will up your bid in small increments up to your max. If you win the item it doesn't mean you will pay the MAX bid.....just the highest amount that was needed to win it. Hope that makes sense? like this

an item is at say $ 100
you bid $300
your bid will come up as say $105
someone else bids $110
Ebay bids $115 for you on your $300 max
at the end...say it sells for $210.....THATS ALL YOU PAY (just $210), not $300.

I think I understand that!:D

Gerry
 
cuetechasaurus said:
Is it smart to bid on a cue at the last minute before the auction ends? People have done this to me before, right at the last minute or so, and they win the cue by a dollar or something like that. Should I do this next time I bid, or is it considered bad to do, and you might get bad reputation points for it?

It's called 'bid sniping' and is perfectly legitimate. If you don't have it as part of your arsenal, you're doing yourself a disservice.

On the other hand, don't you want bad reputation points? :eek: :D
 
It's the only Ebay "auction" I do, or I "Buy it Now".

If there is an item I want, I keep a very close eye one it and open 4 or 5 windows for the same auction ( all logged in. ) and all with a little higher dollar amount and in the last seconds, I start bidding and refreshing the windows so I can get another shot if I'm out bid.


Works pretty good for me :)
 
When I'm interested in something I open two windows...one that I have set a Max. bid on and the 'commit to buy' button ready to click...the other one I have on the item description and refresh every 30 or so to monitor last second bids...when it gets down to 10 secs. I click the 'commit to buy' button'...if somebody hasn't gone over my max. usually works good for me....
________
 
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The only person who can give you negative feedback is the seller, and they don't care when your bid comes in.

Since I buy quite a bit, I subscribe to software called "Bidnapper". I did it because MTPOCKETS4U, the zaniest e-bayer alive, told me he used bid software. It automatically puts in your best bid with a few seconds to go. I only do this for stuff I really want and put in my highest bid. Of course, you will only end up paying just a little over the next highest bid, so sometimes you pick up the item for a lot less than your max bid. It evens out over the long run.

To manually snipe, make sure you are signed in. Refresh the screen every few seconds, then send in your bid with 10 to 20 seconds to go. If the item is in demand, chances are you will get beat out by a bid program, but you never know.

Chris
 
Yep,,,

TATE said:
The only person who can give you negative feedback is the seller, and they don't care when your bid comes in.

Since I buy quite a bit, I subscribe to software called "Bidnapper". I did it because MTPOCKETS4U, the zaniest e-bayer alive, told me he used bid software. It automatically puts in your best bid with a few seconds to go. I only do this for stuff I really want and put in my highest bid. Of course, you will only end up paying just a little over the next highest bid, so sometimes you pick up the item for a lot less than your max bid. It evens out over the long run.

To manually snipe, make sure you are signed in. Refresh the screen every few seconds, then send in your bid with 10 to 20 seconds to go. If the item is in demand, chances are you will get beat out by a bid program, but you never know.

Chris

Yeah, I know Chris has "stole" some from me on ebay. (LOL).

As mentioned before, he did it the right way and you got to tip your hats to these guys.

Frankly, I buy on ebay to get bargins. If I dont think it is a bargin I wait until I see the next "item I cant live without".

There are lots of fish in the ocean, and you cant cry if one gets away.

JMO

Ken
 
Auctionsniper

I usually use "Buy it Now", but if I have to bid on something, auctionsniper is the only way I go. I think it is 5 free (won) snipes to start off with.

It is a legitimate site, and they do protect your information. Try it, you will not regret it!

Here is a link if you want to help me out with a few free snipes. (They cost like .50 a (won) snipe after 5 or so.

Sign up referred by Russ

I use the site as a way to "Bid it and forget it" so I don't end up sweating the auction. Sweating auctions is what causes bidding wars. For the buyer, the perfect setup would be if EVERYONE had a sniping service. For the seller, if NOONE had a sniping service.

You guys know I can be a butthead with my opinions sometimes, but I would not steer you wrong.. This is a good site.

Russ
 
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"Lucky me - I won an eBay auction! That means I get to pay more than anyone else thinks a thing is worth for something that the seller didn't think was worth keeping." :rolleyes:

Last-second bidding is called "sniping," and you'll never get bad feedback from a seller for sniping. Why would he badmouth someone who gave him more money than he thought he was going to get?

Foolish bidders don't bid the max that the item is worth to them the first time. They bid the minimum that they think they can get the item for, then sit glued to the screen during the last half hour, bumping up their bids by a buck or so in increasingly frantic efforts to barely win.

They do not understand how eBay's proxy bidding system works. You'll never pay more than you must in order to win, no matter how large your hidden maximum bid is.

Sniping often gets you a lower winning price because it places your bid within seconds of the auction's end, leaving the fools no time to react with a counterbid. They get pissed off for the same reason pool players get sore when an opponent breaks and runs or makes the money ball on the break.

I use the Auction Sentry sniping program. A 30-day fully functional trial is free. Registration is just $14.95. There are no ongoing per-auction charges. It uses the simplest, most foolproof connection - your PC to eBay, not you-to-them-and-them-to-Ebay. This minimizes the chance of missed bids due to delays in transmissions or broken-down servers.

When I see a thing I want, I add it to AS, set my max bid, and leave AS running while I go shoot pool. The program places my bid 10 seconds before the auction ends. (I'm on Comcast cable Internet. Dial-up users should not cut it that closely.) When I came home, I'm either pleasantly surprised to see how much less than my max I have to pay, or amused that some other guy paid too much. Either way, I'm happy.
 
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cuetechasaurus said:
Is it smart to bid on a cue at the last minute before the auction ends? People have done this to me before, right at the last minute or so, and they win the cue by a dollar or something like that. Should I do this next time I bid, or is it considered bad to do, and you might get bad reputation points for it?

It is the best way to win and expected on EBay. Besides what do you care, you want all the bad rep points you can get. :rolleyes: :D

Personally, I decide what I'm willing to spend and put it in as a max bid at the start and let the software take over. No way I'm going to get caught in that bidding frenzy at the end.
 
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