Dumb Ebay highest max. bid question

[cinmell]

I know this is going to sound like a dumb question but I'm going to ask anyway .

If an item has a $5.00 starting price and the maximum price I'm willing to pay is $10.00, do I put $10 in the bidding box and then the system will automatically start at $5 and go up to $10? Or, should I enter $5.00 then enter my max bid of $10 somewhere else?

Thanks!

 

[N.Bailey]

If an item has a $5.00 starting price and the maximum price I'm willing to pay is $10.00, do I put $10 in the bidding box and then the system will automatically start at $5 and go up to $10?

This is exactly what you do. If say, someone came along and bid $7.00, by placing the $10 max bid, the bid would then go to like $8.00 and if no one else bid, that's what you'd win the auction at. Ebay won't automatically have the bid come in at $10 if that's your max. It will only go up as bidders come along and raise it.

 

[clarabelle]

Put 10.00 as your maxium bid.
It will move up to 10.00 not start at 10.

 

[cinmell]

Thank you!

 

[lynxstch]

for example..if you want your max bid to be $10..I would make it like $10.51 if I really wanted it..someone else may come along and big $10..and that $.51 might then win you the item..just don't make it much more than you really want to spend..another one usually comes along sooner or later..but I always make it end in like 7 cents or some odd amount like that!

 

[Towncrier]

Another friendly piece of advice. Wait until the last possible moment to place your bid. That way you avoid bidding wars. There have been at least a couple of auctions which I would have probably won if I had kept my maximum bid amount secret until the last possible moment.

A prime example is a piece of software that had an opening price of $1. I was willing to pay as much as $15.00 for this particular CDROM, but I jumped the gun and placed my bid one minute before the auction ended. Someone else came in at around 40 seconds before the end of the auction and started furiously placing ever increasing bids to find out just how much I had offered for the software. Their first bid was $12. When they realized that it was not enough, they had time to place another bid and ended up with the CDROM for $15.50 with only seconds to spare. If I had waited until there was no time for the other bidder to place his/her second bid, my $15 bid would have beaten their initial $12 bid.

I see this happening all the time on Ebay. I have gotten into heated arguments at work about why it makes sense to hold off your maximum bid until the last possible second. That way, if you are outbid, it is not because someone had a second (or more) chance to feel out your bid and win.

 

[Florida_Mom]

Another friendly piece of advice. Wait until the last possible moment to place your bid. That way you avoid bidding wars. There have been at least a couple of auctions which I would have probably won if I had kept my maximum bid amount secret until the last possible moment.

A prime example is a piece of software that had an opening price of $1. I was willing to pay as much as $15.00 for this particular CDROM, but I jumped the gun and placed my bid one minute before the auction ended. Someone else came in at around 40 seconds before the end of the auction and started furiously placing ever increasing bids to find out just how much I had offered for the software. Their first bid was $12. When they realized that it was not enough, they had time to place another bid and ended up with the CDROM for $15.50 with only seconds to spare. If I had waited until there was no time for the other bidder to place his/her second bid, my $15 bid would have beaten their initial $12 bid.

I see this happening all the time on Ebay. I have gotten into heated arguments at work about why it makes sense to hold off your maximum bid until the last possible second. That way, if you are outbid, it is not because someone had a second (or more) chance to feel out your bid and win.

That's good advice. I've always wondered, too, why bidders start bidding on say, day 2 of a 7 day auction! That's only going to jack up the price, right?

Wait until the end and then jump in with your bid.

 

[cinmell]

Thank you for the great advice, I appreciate it!