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I've never understood the bidding strategy some people use where they bid over and over and over, moving their bid up in tiny increments. For example, I was watching an item on ebay, and when I checked the bid history one bidder had put in about 5 bids over a period of 15 minutes, each one about $4 higher than the previous one. What's the advantage in bidding like this? Even once he became the high bidder, it was obvious he would only be ahead by a couple of bucks. Can anyone shed some light on how this strategy is supposed to help you win?

I don't think he follows any kind of strategy. He probably believes ebay is a game he can play.

For me there only two strategies: Either make your highest bid in the beginning of the auction or be a sniper and wait until the very last minute to bid. On the first case you must have decided the max amount you're willing to spent regardless what others may bid while on the second case your bid will depend on what others have bidded. You may save lots of money following the latter, but there is a chance not to bid at all, if the highest bid towards the end of the auction is out of your price range.

Ion: I agree w/ you. The problem with people that bid over and over in these tiny increments is that they mess up the first bidding strategy that you described b/c the bidder just keeps entering tiny bids over and over until he/she becomes the high bidder. It irritates me b/c i've lost some items when I've had to enter my bid early; I check back the next day and someone entered 5-10 bids during the final hour, raising their amount a few dollars at a time, until they finally beat me. Had I been able to wait until the last minute to enter my bid, the 'increment bidder' would not have had time to beat me by bidding like this. I really don't see any advantage to bidding in that manner Because of it, I always wait until the last minute to bid if I can, and yes, sometimes I don't get to bid becuase the bid is already too high at that point, but I don't consider that a big deal as it means I would have probably lost anyway.

I guess some mathematician can explain the best strategy according to other strategies or without knowing these !

Well, IMO, bidding in the last hours of the auction seems to be a good strategy, except if you can bid a good amount of money and discourage some.
Bidding early is a way to say to other bidders : "I'm here. I want this item and I can pay a high sum for this one." That can work to discourage other bidders that don't want to make high bids to bid at all.
One advice of mine is that, even with a high first bid, don't make a maximum bid at first ! For exemple, if you plan to spend no more than 70€ on a record, then bid 50€, and keep your reserve for the last hours/minutes of the auction !

Well, this small bids strategy too has an advantage though. Winning an auction without going too high. Because in the last hours one can bid only to piss the best bidder off and make him/her pay a maximum for an item you won't afford to buy because of its insane price.

I watch and than I decide if I really want that shit or only watch for seeing how much it will go.
If it's the first case I will go cheating hehe

nightsblood wrote:I've never understood the bidding strategy some people use where they bid over and over and over, moving their bid up in tiny increments. For example, I was watching an item on ebay, and when I checked the bid history one bidder had put in about 5 bids over a period of 15 minutes, each one about $4 higher than the previous one.

Sounds like someone can't decide how much he is willing to spend and when he sees he's not the highest bidder he starts to think: "Oh maybe I could raise my bid by 5 dollars..."

I usually go for last 20 seconds and bid with the amount I can afford. If the item closes when I'm not able to be online I just put my max bid and hope for the best.

Nabel- I think you're right; these "increment bidders" don't have a fixed value in mind, so they just keep deciding to bid a little more, and a little more, and a little more.

Mr Nuke- good point; I may try that strategy (make a large, but not maximum, bid early).

Mr Nuke also wrote:
"Well, this small bids strategy too has an advantage though. Winning an auction without going too high."

I suppose some may think they're getting a better deal if they enter small bids and win, but the winning bid is always gonna = 2nd place bid + 1 bid increment or less

Mr Nuke also wrote:
"Because in the last hours one can bid only to piss the best bidder off and make him/her pay a maximum for an item you won't afford to buy because of its insane price.:"

True. i know some people do that, but IMO it's rather risky b/c while you're trying to push the best bidder up to his/her maximum bid, you might accidentally beat him and then be stuck winning the item for more than you want/can afford to pay. Then you either have to pay for it or accept negative feedback from the seller when you refuse to pay for the item. Actually, with the new ebay rules preventing sellers from leaving bad feedback on bidders, i wonder if this scenrio is gonna happen more often? That would suck.

My strategy is to put in a low bid early on and then place my "real" bid in the last 10 seconds. The first bid is to ensure I don't forget about the auction (I've missed a few great deals because I didn't do this) and sometimes I don't get a chance to put in a higher bid but I win it anway, which is always nice.

eBay auction style sux, with all shill-bidding most of the major sellers use you are bound to get pushed to your maximum bid and then some.

The best bet would be to use snipper service. This way you dont give a chance to the seller to shill-bid you.

Storm- I've always heard people are concerned about that; it the shill-bidding really that widespread?

nightsblood wrote:Storm- I've always heard people are concerned about that; it the shill-bidding really that widespread?

I remember once on another forum someone pointed out to one of the biggest eBay sellers and you could see one bidder which consistently bid on EVERYTHING day in and day out, auction after auction, winning some and then bidding on the same item next time around, sometimes winning it for more he won it a week before, which wouldnt make any sense at all. So yeah, I think shill-bidding is a very essential part of the auction-style sellers (esepcially ones which always start their auctions for $0.99).

How else would you explan that some sellers will ALWAYS get their items selling for top dollar, while there would be other similar items which will go for considerably less a week later or so...

Sniping is by far the best way and is what I do most often.

Other then that if I can't be home, I'll place my max bid at late as possible and hope for the best.

stormspell wrote:

nightsblood wrote:Storm- I've always heard people are concerned about that; it the shill-bidding really that widespread?

I remember once on another forum someone pointed out to one of the biggest eBay sellers and you could see one bidder which consistently bid on EVERYTHING day in and day out, auction after auction, winning some and then bidding on the same item next time around, sometimes winning it for more he won it a week before, which wouldnt make any sense at all. So yeah, I think shill-bidding is a very essential part of the auction-style sellers (esepcially ones which always start their auctions for $0.99).

How else would you explan that some sellers will ALWAYS get their items selling for top dollar, while there would be other similar items which will go for considerably less a week later or so...

Now I see why my auctions always end at low closing prices...
There was a guy won my CD for around $45. 2 weeks later he put up the same item on eBay (using another username) and sold it for around $90! I know that guy but then that's his own way of doing business and I don't hold it against him. Besides, without his bid my auction might be ended at even lower price...

Anyway, can anyone tell me where I can find a cheap (if not free) snipper service?

mega_lodon wrote:Anyway, can anyone tell me where I can find a cheap (if not free) snipper service?

You do it manually yourself.

If you get caught using a program your account will be banned.

Avenger wrote:

mega_lodon wrote:Anyway, can anyone tell me where I can find a cheap (if not free) snipper service?

You do it manually yourself.

If you get caught using a program your account will be banned.

Do you mean snipper program is illegal on eBay?