[SantaEugence]

Infuriating (from a buyer perspective), been watching something for a few days on eBay, was sitting at just over a hundred quid then someone comes along and drops their £560 max bid with a few days to go.
Great if you're a seller of course, but all they've done is given all the other amateurs (sorry not sorry) time to chuck in higher bids and increase the price of the item. Never understood the logic.
As you can tell I'm clearly frustrated that I'm no longer getting bargain I thought I might

[mikeoz]

Possibly a con from the seller or there mate to get a stupid high price?

[Sennen]

Originally Posted by SantaEugence

Infuriating (from a buyer perspective), been watching something for a few days on eBay, was sitting at just over a hundred quid then someone comes along and drops their £560 max bid with a few days to go.
Great if you're a seller of course, but all they've done is given all the other amateurs (sorry not sorry) time to chuck in higher bids and increase the price of the item. Never understood the logic.
As you can tell I'm clearly frustrated that I'm no longer getting bargain I thought I might

It is probably a friend of the seller trying to get the price up.

[SantaEugence]

Originally Posted by mikeoz

Possibly a con from the seller or there mate to get a stupid high price?

Originally Posted by Sennen

It is probably a friend of the seller trying to get the price up.

Good point, but then it's only gone up that high because someone else had already entered a previous bid with a limit of £560.
Don't get me wrong the item (bike) is clearly worth much more than that, especially given the current supply/demand, just a pet peeve I see a lot of on eBay!

[M33DLO]

Shhhh.. dont tell everyone, I always enjoy bunging in a last second bid when everyone bid days ago and has forgotten about the auction end.

[AyrshireColin]

You've lost me a little. I never knew that there was a manual for eBay and I've clearly missed it...

I do what you describe all of the time. I decide what I'd pay for something and enter my max. bid regardless of when the item ends. Sometimes the auction instantly shoots up higher than that (triggered a highest bid belonging to someone else), sometimes it trickles up over the remainder of the auctions period and I maybe end up winning.

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Did you bid and did you have a max bid set?

[chowser51]

If I don’t have time to watch and snipe an auction, I just drop the max I’m willing to pay and if I get it I get it. If not, start over.

[SantaEugence]

Originally Posted by AyrshireColin

You've lost me a little. I never knew that there was a manual for eBay and I've clearly missed it...

I do what you describe all of the time. I decide what I'd pay for something and enter my max. bid regardless of when the item ends. Sometimes the auction instantly shoots up higher than that (triggered a highest bid belonging to someone else), sometimes it trickles up over the remainder of the auctions period and I maybe end up winning.

But you're then giving everyone else the opportunity to re-think their maximum bid and to outbid you.

For example person A might think they're willing to spend £100 so they enter that and are the high bidder, you come along and drop your max bid of £120, if you'd waited until close to the auction end you'd have won, however as you put it in days/week before person A now has the chance to think actually if they upped by just a little they'd be winning, so now they enter a slightly higher bid. Now multiple that by say 10 people all bidding on an item and you see the problem. As I say, great if you're the seller but terrible tactic for buyers!

[SantaEugence]

Originally Posted by Goneinsixtyseconds

Did you bid and did you have a max bid set?

Nope auction is still ongoing, I have an idea of what I want to pay and if it's still below that amount I'll drop it at the last second

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Originally Posted by SantaEugence

Nope auction is still ongoing, I have an idea of what I want to pay and if it's still below that amount I'll drop it at the last second

Could it be that the person just entered a max bid of £560 and one of the existing bidders at around the £100 mark had also put in a max bid of around £560?

If one person had already done that it makes your hope of getting it for less irrelevant anyway because it might have jumped over your lower bids as soon as you placed yours.

At least this way you can see what the real bid was rather than kidding yourself for days that it was up for grabs for less.

[dizzy619]

Originally Posted by SantaEugence

But you're then giving everyone else the opportunity to re-think their maximum bid and to outbid you.

For example person A might think they're willing to spend £100 so they enter that and are the high bidder, you come along and drop your max bid of £120, if you'd waited until close to the auction end you'd have won, however as you put it in days/week before person A now has the chance to think actually if they upped by just a little they'd be winning, so now they enter a slightly higher bid. Now multiple that by say 10 people all bidding on an item and you see the problem. As I say, great if you're the seller but terrible tactic for buyers!

Exactly... It's irritated me for years... If everybody held fire till the end or used a snipe programme someone will get a bargain... But no.... That's too tricky

[robbiep]

Originally Posted by SantaEugence

But you're then giving everyone else the opportunity to re-think their maximum bid and to outbid you.

So what ? A person is going to decide how much an item is worth to them, and bid accordingly.

If you think that bike is now no longer good value, you'll walk away.
Chucking your toys out of the pram only proves one thing.

[SantaEugence]

Originally Posted by robbiep

So what ? A person is going to decide how much an item is worth to them, and bid accordingly.

If you think that bike is now no longer good value, you'll walk away.
Chucking your toys out of the pram only proves one thing.

I think you're missing the point. A person will initially think it's worth x and enter that bid. If you outbid them and give them time, they'll revisit that train of thought and may well decide actually they can afford slightly more and up their bid. They wouldn't have done that but for you entering a bid a week before and allowing them that extra time - it's basic psychology people want what they can't have and suddenly you've taken that item away from them, a lot of people will respond to that and bid more money.

I know the bike is worth good money, but I don't want to pay anymore than I have to (obviously) so why would I chuck bids in early and inevitably increase my expenditure - it's entirely illogical.

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Originally Posted by SantaEugence

I think you're missing the point. A person will initially think it's worth x and enter that bid. If you outbid them and give them time, they'll revisit that train of thought and may well decide actually they can afford slightly more and up their bid. They wouldn't have done that but for you entering a bid a week before and allowing them that extra time - it's basic psychology people want what they can't have and suddenly you've taken that item away from them, a lot of people will respond to that and bid more money.

I know the bike is worth good money, but I don't want to pay anymore than I have to (obviously) so why would I chuck bids in early and inevitably increase my expenditure - it's entirely illogical.

Surely the point if the max bid function is to allow you to bid as low as possible but then increase until you get to the maximum you’re willing to pay? Without having to check the item all the time.

If two people do the same then it does shoot up quickly.

Also, there isn’t just one right strategy for bidding. One big bid might clear out a load of prospective buyers who might have hung around and competed at the end, with a few rushes of blood resulting in a higher final price.

Less people looking at it at the death might increase the buyers chance of getting it for what they were willing to pay.

Your way isn’t the only way, it’s just your tactics.

[robbiep]

Originally Posted by SantaEugence

I think you're missing the point. A person will initially think it's worth x and enter that bid. If you outbid them and give them time, they'll revisit that train of thought and may well decide actually they can afford slightly more and up their bid. They wouldn't have done that but for you entering a bid a week before and allowing them that extra time - it's basic psychology people want what they can't have and suddenly you've taken that item away from them, a lot of people will respond to that and bid more money.

I know the bike is worth good money, but I don't want to pay anymore than I have to (obviously) so why would I chuck bids in early and inevitably increase my expenditure - it's entirely illogical.

The alternative way of thinking about it is that you put in a decent bid, and intimidate everyone else out of it - they go and look at what might be a bargain, and leave you be on that item at a reasonable price.

I've done that with real life auctions. Put your hand up, and get all the timewasters out of the way. Now it's me and other serious bidders, and I've just announced to them all that if they want it, it's going to hurt.

[SantaEugence]

Originally Posted by Goneinsixtyseconds

Surely the point if the max bid function is to allow you to bid as low as possible but then increase until you get to the maximum you’re willing to pay? Without having to check the item all the time.

If two people do the same then it does shoot up quickly.

Also, there isn’t just one way strategy for bidding. One big bid might clear out a load of prospective buyers who might have hung around and competed at the end, with a few rushes of blood resulting in a higher bid.

Less people looking at it at the death might increase the buyers chance of getting it for what the were willing to pay.

Your way isn’t the only way, it’s just your tactics.

I can see what you're saying, but the fact remains the longer you give competing bidders to think about whether their max bid is actually their max bid, the higher the probability they'll decide to up it.
There's no benefit in you dropping a large maximum bid early on because even if you thought you'd flush out low ballers, they'd have been flushed out at the end when you put your bid in anyway, all you're doing is revealing your hand too early.

[SantaEugence]

Originally Posted by robbiep

The alternative way of thinking about it is that you put in a decent bid, and intimidate everyone else out of it - they go and look at what might be a bargain, and leave you be on that item at a reasonable price.

I've done that with real life auctions. Put your hand up, and get all the timewasters out of the way. Now it's me and other serious bidders, and I've just announced to them all that if they want it, it's going to hurt.

But again, there's no benefit to doing that in online auctions which run for a week because you're just giving others time to outbid you?

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Originally Posted by SantaEugence

I can see what you're saying, but the fact remains the longer you give competing bidders to think about whether their max bid is actually their max bid, the higher the probability they'll decide to up it.
There's no benefit in you dropping a large maximum bid early on because even if you thought you'd flush out low ballers, they'd have been flushed out at the end when you put your bid in anyway, all you're doing is revealing your hand too early.

That dismisses the rush of blood when bidders are there at the end, so doesn’t quite work in my mind.

I know plenty of people who’ve paid more at the death than they wanted to. If they’d already been scared off days before by a big bid, when that bad judgement is less likely, then they wouldn’t have over spent.

I’ve sold loads of things where one big bid 4 or 5 days before the end stopped any more bids coming in at all. You might argue that they overpaid. They’d probably argue that they got it for what they wanted to pay.

There definitely isn’t just one right way to bid on eBay. And psychology isn’t that simple either.

Plus, if your bike is worth £800 secondhand the £560 probably won’t be the final bid anyway.

[SantaEugence]

Originally Posted by Goneinsixtyseconds

That dismisses the rush of blood when bidders are there at the end, so doesn’t quite work in my mind.

I know plenty of people who’ve paid more at the death than they wanted to. If they’d already been scared off days before by a big bid, when that bad judgement is less likely, then they wouldn’t have over spent.

I’ve sold loads of things where one big bid 4 or 5 days before the stopped any more bids coming in at all. You might argue that they overpaid. They’d probably argue that they got it for what they wanted to pay.

There definitely isn’t just one right way to bid on eBay. And psychology isn’t that simple either.

Plus, if your bike is worth £800 secondhand the £560 probably won’t be the final bid anyway.

That's a fair point, I'd normally enter the bid at the very last possible moment though to prevent anyone having the opportunity to then increase, also means I'm not tempted to enter more because I haven't time.
I guess the real frustration here is that initial excitement that you might cop a bargain whilst the bidding is low, only for someone to wade in early and shatter that dream. At least let me live the illusion a bit longer so I actually think I have a chance of paying less

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Originally Posted by SantaEugence

That's a fair point, I'd normally enter the bid at the very last possible moment though to prevent anyone having the opportunity to then increase, also means I'm not tempted to enter more because I haven't time.
I guess the real frustration here is that initial excitement that you might cop a bargain whilst the bidding is low, only for someone to wade in early and shatter that dream. At least let me live the illusion a bit longer so I actually think I have a chance of paying less

Ha, the illusion might be just that though.

You could be willing to pay £300. You might watch it at £200 up the last few seconds and add £220 with confidence. Only to find the other bidder had a max bid set that just automatically outbids you. You’ve then lost it for less than you were willing to pay because you waited. Ultimately eBay is a bit of a lottery without a buy now option.

[dizzy619]

Originally Posted by Goneinsixtyseconds

Ha, the illusion might be just that though.

You could be willing to pay £300. You might watch it at £200 up the last few seconds and add £220 with confidence. Only to find the other bidder had a max bid set that just automatically outbids you. You’ve then lost it for less than you were willing to pay because you waited. Ultimately eBay is a bit of a lottery without a buy now option.

If you did this you are mad... If bidding late... Always bid the max you are happy to pay... If it goes cheaper... Then great but if you lose it for a figure less than you were happy then that's a ridiculous way to bid.