09-25-2004, 04:51 PM
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aspiring banker
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: toronto
Posts: 10,870
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Quote:
Originally posted by tootie
I don't like to bid the maximum I'm willing to pay, because then the bid gets too high before the auction ends.
If you place a high bid near the beginning of the auction, the bid usually goes too high, but if you wait to place your bid until closer to the end of the auction, the ending price is usually much less.
For example, on the first day of an auction listing, you bid $50 on an item that you estimate is worth $75. Someone else is going to come along and up your bid because they want that item, too. The guy might have bid $20 to start if your bid was lower, but he has to raise his bid to above $50 just so he can be the current winner. Then by the end of the auction, these crazy people are so angry that they've been outbid, that they'll pay $125 for a $75 item just so they don't get outbid. They take it personally.
However, if you bid $1 on your $75 item, then some guy comes along and bids a maximum of $20... you let him think he's won it at $2 until right before then end and then you bid $50 and you get it for $21. 
I don't use eBay often, but when I do, I have to use it right. I collect toys and magazines and such from the 80s, and every once in a while something extremely rare comes up. I can't afford to pay alot for an item, so bidding the max I'm willing to pay right at the beginning is just eBay suicide.
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only make your bid 20 seconds before the auction ends |
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