Why do people bid on items with days of the auction to run?

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

Caporegime
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
77,345
Location
Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
I am looking to see if I can pick up a second hand amp on eBay to replace my dying one. Seen a few amp that I like but with a few days to go there have been like 20 bids!

Why? Surely all that does is drive the price up? Why not wait until the last moment and put in a bid?
 
Raymond Lin said:
I am looking to see if I can pick up a second hand amp on eBay to replace my dying one. Seen a few amp that I like but with a few days to go there have been like 20 bids!

Why? Surely all that does is drive the price up? Why not wait until the last moment and put in a bid?
Click to expand...

There may well have been only two people bidding - the price has gone up by 20 incremental values.
 
I understand what you are saying, I always wait till the last hour to bid, keeps the price down if no one else has bid on it!
 
mejinks said:
umm thats how auctions work.....

What amp are you looking for? Car one or house one?
Click to expand...

That just drives the price up, I rather put in my ceiling or my valuation in the last minute and not show my hand as late as I can.

Watch the auction ticking over and if in the last 2 min it is under my valuation I put a bid in, not place a 99p bid on day one with a max bid of £200. Doesn't the system automatically put in that £200 for you if someone goes over you 99p?

If that's the case then you basically are bidding against yourself.

P.s. I am after a hi if amp.
 
Last edited:
The real question is why do eBay auctions end on a fixed time limit? Surely a better way is the final bid + 1 minute to allow sellers to get as much as people are willing to pay.
 
You put your max bid and it bids for you. It's the whole point of the system but nobody seems to understand and thus everyone goes mad at the end and usually end up paying more than they wanted to.
 
Because thats how your supposed to do it?

Thats the point with a maximum bid you decide what its worth to you and put that in, if you win you win if you don't you don't.
The only way it will end up cheaper is if someone who intended to bid for it failed to get there in time, say they forgot. Otherwise if someone decides its worth a set amount thats what they will bid upto.
And just maybe others have more to do in life than have to organise their life around leaving it to the last minute to bid for an item on ebay that they could just type in what they are willing to pay for it when they spot it...
 
Just find a few that you're interested in an use something like Goofbay to snipe in the last few seconds (obv. cancel unwanted snipes if you win an auction). I've paid a fair bit less than I expected to for a lot of things by sniping.
 
Hxc said:
You put your max bid and it bids for you. It's the whole point of the system but nobody seems to understand and thus everyone goes mad at the end and usually end up paying more than they wanted to.
Click to expand...

If an item has no reserve.

It starts at £0.99.

It is worth £100.

Now, I would consider getting it for £50 a bargain, £70 reasonable and £90 Max.

Who in the right mind would put in a bid for £1 and place a max bid for £90? If I want a chance to get it for around £50 to £70. It would be stupid to place a £1 bid with a max bid of £90, won't it?

Isn't that how max bid works? When someone go over your current bid, it puts in your max bid? Unless of course I put in a £50 bid when it was at £0.99. Then that would be silly won't it? You might ruin the chance of no one else bidding and thus getting it for £1.
 
I was watching a tent with 1 bid on it, put in a much higher bid in the final seconds of the auction but the first bidders autobid beat me in the end. I was the only other bidder though so i bet he was a bit angry that i cost him an extra £120 :)

Goes to show that it does work though.

Edit - regarding your above post it doesn't just automatically put your max bid on if you get outbid, it adds on another £1 ontop of the other persons highest, so if you bid a maximum of £90 but the other bidders highest is only £50, you get it for £51.
 
Last edited:
Raymond Lin said:
If an item has no reserve.

It starts at £0.99.

It is worth £100.

Now, I would consider getting it for £50 a bargain, £70 reasonable and £90 Max.

Who in the right mind would put in a bid for £1 and place a max bid for £90? If I want a chance to get it for around £50 to £70. It would be stupid to place a £1 bid with a max bid of £90, won't it?

Isn't that how max bid works? When someone go over your current bid, it puts in your max bid? Unless of course I put in a £50 bid when it was at £0.99. Then that would be silly won't it? You might ruin the chance of no one else bidding and thus getting it for £1.
Click to expand...

Jeez it doesn't work like that.
It automatically places the next bid for you applying the next minimum bid increment and repeatedly does this until someone gets the highest bid
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom