? About Dutch Auctions

Crafty, it looks like you are in at the moment for 5.

Thanks Mrs M. I hope I win. My daughter wants to use these at her wedding. She saw the pictures of the "heart" and that's what she wants to put behind her wedding cake!

Crafty

Six inches Lord, that's all I need!

Crafty, I find dutch auctions very confusing, but I think I told you correctly! Hopefully one of the others will take a look too.

Yes, so far you have 5 at $2 each.

Thanks Puppy. I just wanted to be sure I read it right!

Just for the future, I would not have used AS to snipe, but...
I would have waited much longer before putting in a bid.
Not that you're wrong, just a little more control by waiting.

You're at $2 till someone bids for at least 3 more.

Puppy, really? We were told a long time ago to always bid early on a dutch. That was where you got your leverage! I don't understand them altogether.

Here it is

quote:

---

I don't snipe dutch

I don't usually snipe dutch auctions because the timing of the bid is so important. Dutch auctions are more like those who get in line first win. The people who bid early get to place lower bids because of the bid increment requirements.

Here is what I mean:
* There are 10 items for sale.
* Current bid is 1.00
* I figure the value of the product to me is 10.00
* I want 6
* There currently are 8 bids for 1.00 each.
* I bid 10.01 for 6

Now why would I do that? Everyone keeps bidding at the lower level with the bid increment increasing at minimum increment. Now two things can happen:

* Bidding stops way lower than my 10.01. This is great for me because I get all 6 for the winning lowest bid. If the lowest bid is $2.00, I get 6 for 2.00 each. I have the highest bid so I get my 6 even if the 2.00 bidder wanted all 10.

* Bidding gets to the 10.00 range. I have an advantage because my bid was at that range 1st. If someone else bids 10.01 and wants all 10, I still get my 6 because I bid first. The other advantage is the bid increment thing. One time I didn’t bid early and the bid increment stopped me from bidding. Say in this case, the next available bid would be 11.00 and it wasn’t worth it to me. Everyone got theirs for 10.00 and I would have been one of them if I had bid earlier.

Sorry if this gets confusing, I’m trying to be brief here for the sake of those who aren’t really interested. This strategy has been so successful for me that I deliberately search for dutch auctions. I find I get a much better deal because it requires having so many people willing to pay top dollar. That usually doesn’t happen.

---

I guess it depends on how many are avaliable, and how many you want, but I would have waited. I vaguely remember the conversation about it, but never quite understood the logic of bidding early.

You found it! I get it up until here:

quote:

---

* Bidding gets to the 10.00 range. I have an advantage because my bid was at that range 1st. If someone else bids 10.01 and wants all 10, I still get my 6 because I bid first.

---

I would have placed a late bid for 10.02, not 10.01 and won.

quote:

---

The other advantage is the bid increment thing. One time I didn’t bid early and the bid increment stopped me from bidding. Say in this case, the next available bid would be 11.00

---

Possible, but not always, and not in Crafty's case. The minimum bid is one increment above the LOWEST bid not the highest. So my bid for 10.02 would be valid.

...auctions -- the only ones that early nuclear bidding makes sense!

Jabbergah                                                  

Thanks for trying to help, but I'm still confused. Something tells me to stick to BIN, but unfortunately there are times when the only way I can get something is with the regular auction.

As long as the bidding stays BELOW my $4.99, I win my 5? But if it goes over my $4.99, then I lose?

aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggghhh,
Crafty

Six inches Lord, that's all I need!

Crafty

Yes that is correct. And if you only win 4, you MAY still buy them, but are NOT OBLIGATED to buy.

Clear as mud?

Gotcha! Clear as mud!

As it stands now, it looks like I lost. I'm not worried, this lady sells a bunch a wedding things so I'm fairly sure that she will relist some more soon.

But - thanks for the help,
Crafty

Six inches Lord, that's all I need!