Auction Sniper and Dutch Auctions help for Newbie.

corprolite, WELCOME to the forum.

AS will place the bid you tell it to. It is the proxy bidding system at eBay that takes over to calculate bid increments in a regular auction.

Dutch auctions work much differently, but AS does not know (or care) what type auction it is bidding on. You fixed the final price at $9 when your bid was placed, because Dutch auctions don't use eBays proxy system. ( see note on >> THIS << page. )

And >> THIS << link will tell you about Dutch Auctions.

disney girl also paid $9 each for her four.

There appears to have been 2 other bidders, but even without them the result would have been the same, because yours was the lowest successfull bid.

Hope that helps.

Welcome to the forum, Corp!

Dutch auctions are tricky to understand. Basic rule of thumb is ALL sucessful bidders pay the same LOWEST SUCCESSFUL bid.

Another important thing to remember, if you are the lowest successful bid, BUT you did not win the NUMBER of items you wanted, you have the option of backing out of the deal. In your case, your seller circumvented this by offering you the number you wanted, which was nice! If you need 3 rolls to do a room, 2 ain't gonna cut it, right?!

I read somewhere, either on this forum or somewhere else, that sniping a dutch auction is much less effective than sniping a normal auction. The writer described how the best approach to a dutch auction was to place your maximum bid as early as possible. Since then, I don't waste snipes on dutch auctions. I'll try to find that posting and repost it.

Jabbergah                                                    

Here is a pretty good discussion of Dutch auctions. Mrs.M's repost is the one I remember.
So I guess this is a repost of a repost!

>>>Click Here<<<

Jabbergah                                                    

I agree, Dutch auctions are tricky. Jabber is right in that "Basic rule of thumb is ALL sucessful bidders pay the same LOWEST SUCCESSFUL bid." Another way to say that, is that the proxy system DOES NOT WORK in a dutch auction. I didn't know that, and yes, I got burned...

Example, let's say there are four items up for bid, and there are three bidders who want them.

First bidder bids 2.00 for two of them, second bidder bids 3.00 for two of them, and the third bidder bids 2.50 for two, then bidders 2 and 3 each get two of them for 2.50, and bidder #1 gets nothing, right?

But let's say the third bidder REALLY wants them, so he bids 5.00 for all four -- he'll win all four, but he'll pay 5.00 each for them, not 2.75 (or whatever the next bid increment would have been -- Dutch auctions also don't use bid increments). And if bidder #4 comes along and bids for two at $7.50, #3 and #4 will each win two at $5.00 (though #3 could be off the hook since he didn't win as many as he wanted to).

Another tricky point in a dutch auction -- keep in mind that some sellers charge shipping PER ITEM, even on a dutch auction. Even with a discount for multiple items, you may end up paying a lot more than you expected if you buy more than one.

Yeah, I know that's not really about sniping, but like I said, I got burned, so I try to educate when I get the chance...

Thanks for the dutch auction info, Shirley. Nothing like the words of experience to tell it how it is!

I haven't bid on many dutch auctions, and I'm VERY CAUTIOUS when I do. It's almost like things are backwards in Dutch auctions compared to standard auctions. Proxy bid is out the window, sniping is not very effective, seems everything is different.

One of the things I like about this forum is that it's NOT just about sniping. There is a lot of good info and expertise in practically all aspects of ebay auctions!

Thanks for contributing!

Jabbergah                                                    

I've found sniping effective, but you have to do it manually and look at all the bids and quantities before you bid. A change of a few cents or a quantity + or - one can change things drastically. Few snipers, so bidding 5 min before closing is usually safe.

Yeah, and to get a bargain, if you can follow the math, try figuring out exactly who's about to win what, then bid just a few cents over the current lowest winning bid. You don't have to be the highest bidder, just higher than everyone who is about to lose!