Any tips to help win on ebay?

[Bella the Ball 360]

I have just started ebaying...yeah I know I am a slow study. There was a bracelet I wanted and up till the end I was the winner then someone came in and took it away. I made the reserve double what they were asking. I looked at the winner's profile and this person had won over 50 items in the past two days I am pretty sure s/he owns a jewelry store. if you are good at Ebaying can you share your tricks?

ty

 

[MickeySP]

esnipe.com - it is an site that you can set up auto bids on.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

esnipe.com - it is an site that you can set up auto bids on.

Thanks

 

[Imzadi]

I have just started ebaying...yeah I know I am a slow study. There was a bracelet I wanted and up till the end I was the winner then someone came in and took it away. I made the reserve double what they were asking. I looked at the winner's profile and this person had won over 50 items in the past two days I am pretty sure s/he owns a jewelry store. if you are good at Ebaying can you share your tricks?

ty

If you were the winner up until the end, that means you put in early bids.

Never, NEVER, NEVER put in an early bid. I don't care how much you want the item. For one thing, that means in order for someone else to win, they have to bid over you. If you still want the item, you have to bid over them. Already, the price has gotten raised, TWICE and the auction isn't even over. Get how that works?

Newbies always bid early and end up raising the auction for those of us who win.

Just put the auction on your Watch List or bookmark it so you can find it again. Putting it on the eBay Watch List will have eBay send you an email the day before the auction ends. So you will be able to bid on it before the auction ends.

That someone who came in and took it away from you is called a SNIPE BIDDER or SNIPER. I win 98% of my auctions by being a snipe bidder. (I don't do the autobid places in case there is a malfunction.) My best time is 6 seconds before the end of the auction. And I usually get a good price on the item as I didn't make any bids ahead of time, alerting other people that the item is in demand, so they will then try to outbid me.

The other 2% of the auctions I lose are usually because I wouldn't pay the price someone else paid for the item anyway.


When you see an item you want, do a "Completed Auctions" search for same item. Button is on the left column. You will see previous auctions and what other people paid for the same item. This will give you a ballpark range of what the item (in the same condition) is worth to other bidders. Then you will know if it's worth your time to even bid.

 

[101DalmFan]

If you were the winner up until the end, that means you put in early bids.

Never, NEVER, NEVER put in an early bid. I don't care how much you want the item. For one thing, that means in order for someone else to win, they have to bid over you. If you still want the item, you have to bid over them. Already, the price has gotten raised, TWICE and the auction isn't even over. Get how that works?

Newbies always bid early and end up raising the auction for those of us who win.

Just put the auction on your Watch List or bookmark it so you can find it again. Putting it on the eBay Watch List will have eBay send you an email the day before the auction ends. So you will be able to bid on it before the auction ends.

That someone who came in and took it away from you is called a SNIPE BIDDER or SNIPER. I win 98% of my auctions by being a snipe bidder. (I don't do the autobid places in case there is a malfunction.) My best time is 6 seconds before the end of the auction. And I usually get a good price on the item as I didn't make any bids ahead of time, alerting other people that the item is in demand, so they will then try to outbid me.

The other 2% of the auctions I lose are usually because I wouldn't pay the price someone else paid for the item anyway.


When you see an item you want, do a "Completed Auctions" search for same item. Button is on the left column. You will see previous auctions and what other people paid for the same item. This will give you a ballpark range of what the item (in the same condition) is worth to other bidders. Then you will know if it's worth your time to even bid.

This is exactly what I do. I never bid until the last few seconds of an auction.

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

You don't have to sit and wait for the last few seconds of the auction to win an item. I win almost everything I bid on and this is what i do...

I ask myself what is the HIGHEST AMOUNT I am willing to pay for that item. If the most I am willing to pay is $30 then that is what I bid, $30. If nobody else comes along and bids then I get it for the opening bid which may be $3.00. If someone swoops in at the last minute and their highest bid is MORE THAN $30 then they can have the item. They went above my highest price I was willing to pay.

You don't have to use outside services or sit like a sniper on your computer thinking you are tricking anybody.

If you get outbid it is because the person who won was willing to pay more than you for that item.

The problem comes in when ppl go bid on an item and instead of bidding their top amount they are willing to pay they bid really low and possibly don't understand that just because you bid $30 on an item doesn't mean you will have to pay $30 for that item. You may get it for $5 or $10 and you will be the top bidder and the auction may never go as high as your top bid.

I have never been disappointed if I wasn't the highest bidder on an item because that just meant that someone else was willing to pay more for it than me. If you KNOW you are willing to go as high as $50 on the Cricut machine, then bid $50 right from the beginning. Then you have nothing to lose. You didn't go over your budget amount for the item and you might possibly win it.

Things aren't always a bargain on Ebay. Some ppl are so dead set on winning at all costs that they sometimes pay a lot more than the item is actually worth just to say they WON the auction.

 

[SandrA9810]

If an item has early bidding, we know that there's going to be a bidding war at the end. If you look at completed auctions, you'll also see how many bids the item had. More in demand items will have higher bid counts.

Frontline is one of those items, that there's a million listings. Yet every one still tries to outbid at the last minute, bringing the cost back up to retail price. So sometimes it's worth it just to use a buy it now listing.

 

[Imzadi]

You don't have to sit and wait for the last few seconds of the auction to win an item. I win almost everything I bid on and this is what i do...

I ask myself what is the HIGHEST AMOUNT I am willing to pay for that item. If the most I am willing to pay is $30 then that is what I bid, $30. If nobody else comes along and bids then I get it for the opening bid which may be $3.00. If someone swoops in at the last minute and their highest bid is MORE THAN $30 then they can have the item. They went above my highest price I was willing to pay. . .


Things aren't always a bargain on Ebay. Some ppl are so dead set on winning at all costs that they sometimes pay a lot more than the item is actually worth just to say they WON the auction.

Just because you are willing to pay $30 for an item doesn't mean you HAVE to pay that. You could only have to pay $18 if there aren't a lot of bidders in what is called a BIDDING FRENZY. That unnecessarily jacks up the price for the winner.

Sometimes I have watched 3 different auctions for the SAME item, same condition, sometimes even same Seller.

For some stupid reason, people see 9 bids on the second auction scheduled, they all start piling on and bid on that one auction. 17 bids later, the winner pays $29.

Meanwhile, the first auction scheduled only 20 minutes earlier than the second auction, may only have 4 bid at the start & end with 9 bids. The item goes for $20.

The third auction that only had 2 starting bids and ended with 4 bidders, the item goes for $15.

You'd think that if the second auction has 17 bidders, then they would have tried for the first auction first, then moved to the second auction 20 minutes later, and 15 would go to the third auction. EBay doesn't work like that. There is a concept called Bidders psychology. When people see many bids or bidders on one auction, they pile on and raise the price only because someone else wants it.

I've even seen crazy people bid on a $50 gift card to some stores and 26 bid later, the winning bid is $62!!! Most $50 gift cards sell for $35-$37 when there isn't a bidding frenzy.

Then there is something called SHILL BIDDERS who purposely bid to jack up the price. They are usually in cahoots with the the Seller, and purposely place early phony bids, to jack up the demand for the item and therefore jack up the price so the Seller gets more money.

Some of these shill bidders purposely bid really on an item, win the current highest bid, then retract their bid. What they are doing is revealing the next highest (real) bid. It shows up on the bid history. The real current bid, your bid, before the phony bid was placed was at $21. If your highest bid is $30, and they place a phony bid of $50, then retract their bid, your $30 bid gets revealed and put in the bid history, after a higher bid was placed. They retract their bid. Your bid of $21 gets reinstated. BUT, mere seconds before the end of the auction which looks like you will win at $21, "someone" comes along, usually the Seller's second friend, who has no intention of winning, bids $29.50, and you end up winning the auction for $30 instead of $21.


You may be willing to pay the full $30. And yes, if I bid that amount, I am too. But, if I don't have to, I'm not going to do things that may unnecessarily raise the final price that I have to pay when I win. I rarely have paid the full amount of what I bid.

 

[Imzadi]

My biggest lesson was when I was bidding on an item that was at $22 and my hand slipped & hit the mouse button early at 1 min 45 seconds to go, placing my high bid. ONE woman was bidding against me. She was the high bidder at $22. When she saw she was outbid at $23.50. She place a friggin SIX more bids to try to out bid my $32 high bid. The time ran out, or she would have kept bidding.

Had I been able to hit the mouse button at 6 seconds which I originally planned on, she wouldn't have time to place another bid and I would have won the auction at $23.50 instead of $32.

I have NEVER made that mistake again.

 

[a1tinkfans]

I do not bid early often. I put in what I am willing to pay if I am not going to be around to watch the bid, otherwise I wait till about 6-8 sec before and bid my top amount, I rarely lose out..

 

[kelleigh1]

Exactly what Imzadi said. Never be an early bidder. Wait till the end and then bid within seconds of the item ending.

 

[Tuffcookie]

Besides waiting for the last couple of seconds before an auction ends, try adding a few cents to your final bid. Say, for example, you are willing to pay $20 for an item. Place your bid for $20.05.

TC

 

[IDoDis]

You don't have to sit and wait for the last few seconds of the auction to win an item. I win almost everything I bid on and this is what i do...

I ask myself what is the HIGHEST AMOUNT I am willing to pay for that item. If the most I am willing to pay is $30 then that is what I bid, $30. If nobody else comes along and bids then I get it for the opening bid which may be $3.00. If someone swoops in at the last minute and their highest bid is MORE THAN $30 then they can have the item. They went above my highest price I was willing to pay.

You don't have to use outside services or sit like a sniper on your computer thinking you are tricking anybody.

If you get outbid it is because the person who won was willing to pay more than you for that item.

The problem comes in when ppl go bid on an item and instead of bidding their top amount they are willing to pay they bid really low and possibly don't understand that just because you bid $30 on an item doesn't mean you will have to pay $30 for that item. You may get it for $5 or $10 and you will be the top bidder and the auction may never go as high as your top bid.

I have never been disappointed if I wasn't the highest bidder on an item because that just meant that someone else was willing to pay more for it than me. If you KNOW you are willing to go as high as $50 on the Cricut machine, then bid $50 right from the beginning. Then you have nothing to lose. You didn't go over your budget amount for the item and you might possibly win it.

Things aren't always a bargain on Ebay. Some ppl are so dead set on winning at all costs that they sometimes pay a lot more than the item is actually worth just to say they WON the auction.

This is a weak strategy to get the lowest price. People will try to outbid your high bid jacking up the price. Yes, you may get the item, but you end up paying more for it vs just waiting until the auction is a few seconds from ending.

I've used esnipe for years (started using ebay in 1999) when esnipe was free. When they started charging, I got grandfathered in to their program where I don't have to pay any esnipe bidding fees if the auction ending price is under $25.00. If I'm looking at an item over $25, I either pay the fee (usually it's around 50 cents), or I just wait and bid the last few seconds.

With esnipe, you have to put in a high enough bid to guarantee a win. It doesn't mean you will pay that much, but your final seconds bid might not be high enough to win if the current high bidder set a high amount themselves.

 

[tvguy]

I ask myself what is the HIGHEST AMOUNT I am willing to pay for that item. If the most I am willing to pay is $30 then that is what I bid, $30. If nobody else comes along and bids then I get it for the opening bid which may be $3.00..

Okay, I'm missing something. If you bid $30....and you are the high bidder, how are you paying anything less than the $30 you bid? That's what you offering. Not sure how you can get the item for the opening bid when that isn't what you bid.

 

[YodaGirl]

Okay, I'm missing something. If you bid $30....and you are the high bidder, how are you paying anything less than the $30 you bid? That's what you offering. Not sure how you can get the item for the opening bid when that isn't what you bid.

I think what happens is something to the effect of:

You tell ebay how much you're willing to bid. It places a bid for the minimum ($3 for example). As people outbid you, ebay automatically places additional bids for you, up to the highest bid specified.

 

[JessicaR]

If I want an item I decide then and there what I am willing to pay for that item. I place my highest bid and if I don't win it wasnt meant to be. If I REALLY want it I research the last auction for the item to see what it went for and will watch the auction play out. Usually though I just place my bid and thats it.

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

Okay, I'm missing something. If you bid $30....and you are the high bidder, how are you paying anything less than the $30 you bid? That's what you offering. Not sure how you can get the item for the opening bid when that isn't what you bid.

If the opening bid on a sweater is $3.00 and I bid my highest amount I am willing to pay, $30.00. Someone comes along and bids $5.00 it will tell that bidder that they have been outbid. And Ebay raises your minimum bid for you up to and including the $30 highest bid you placed. If nobody bids more than $5.00 for the item than I get the item for $5.00. Bidding $30 doesn't automatically make you pay that. Quite the opposite usually. I almost ALWAYS get it for way less than my maximum bid. The few times I have lost an item the bidding actually went on way past my minimum bid and I never would have bid that high anyway. Ppl pay more than stuff is even worth on there sometimes.

 

[YodaGirl]

If the opening bid on a sweater is $3.00 and I bid my highest amount I am willing to pay, $30.00. Someone comes along and bids $5.00 it will tell that bidder that they have been outbid. And Ebay raises your minimum bid for you up to and including the $30 highest bid you placed. If nobody bids more than $5.00 for the item than I get the item for $5.00. Bidding $30 doesn't automatically make you pay that. Quite the opposite usually. I almost ALWAYS get it for way less than my maximum bid. The few times I have lost an item the bidding actually went on way past my minimum bid and I never would have bid that high anyway. Ppl pay more than stuff is even worth on there sometimes.

But you're not actually placing the $30 bid.

I think the confusion comes in the form of a bid of $30 and a max bid of $30.

If I'm correct (DH tends to do most of the ebay-ing at our house), you place a max bid, which allows ebay to automatically bid the minimum bid in addition to any subsequent bids up to your max bid price.

Instead of it actually being a bid, you're just telling ebay to bid on this item for you until it hits a price that you are uncomfortable spending, at which point you want ebay to quit bidding.

You're telling ebay to bid for you until the price hits a max of $30.

 

[HelenePA]

I always bid early, and hardly ever lose or have the $ run up to my max.... of course I'm usually only bidding on school uniform stuff. This post got me in the mood to go look and see if I can find anything for my dd11 lol

 

[IDoDis]

Okay, I'm missing something. If you bid $30....and you are the high bidder, how are you paying anything less than the $30 you bid? That's what you offering. Not sure how you can get the item for the opening bid when that isn't what you bid.

Item A starting price is $3.00. Bidding increments go up $1.00 each time someone bids up to a certain amount.

Bidder 1 sees item at $3.00. Auction ends in 3 days and there are no bidders. Bidder 1 decides he's willing to pay $15 for the item, so when he goes in to bid, he puts his maximum bid at $15.00. The auction price however, still shows $3.00 with one bidder because no one else has bid on the item.

Bidder 2 sees the item the next day. Item is still at $3.00 with one bid placed. Bidder 2 decides he would be willing to pay $5 for the item,so he bids $5.00. Since bidder 1 has a max. bid set at $15.00, bidder 2 does not have a high enough bid to be placed as the high bidder. However, because Bidder 2 placed a max. bid of $5.00, the auction will go up a dollar past Bidder 2's highest bid. So Bidder 2 essentially jacked up the price now to $6.00, but Bidder one is still the high bidder because his maximum bid is set at $15.00.

Bidder 3 sees the item on day 3 for $6.00 and decides to wait and snipe the auction in the last seconds. He decides his maximum bid will be $12.00. In the last seconds of the auction, Bidder 3's snipe bid is unsuccessful because his maximum bid was not higher than Bidder 1's maximum bid of $15.00. Since bidder 3 bids up to $12, the auction ends at $13 with Bidder 1 the winner. So bidder 1 did not pay the $15 maximum bid because no one bid that high to outbid him.

Now had bidder 3 set his max bid at $20.00, he would have won the auction for a dollar over Bidder 1's maximum bid -- which would have been a $16 win. Even though his max bid was $20 the bidding stops once Bidder 3 passes Bidder 1's maximum bid.

I hope that makes sense.