Confused---should I snipe on Dutch auction?

Dutch auctions are kinda of different, but the benefit of sniping still apply: avoid a bidding war; don't let the competition know your interested.

Good luck.

But don't ask for all of them, unless your willing to pay your high bid for each.

I forgot that there is no proxy bidding for Dutch's, placed a bid for all six @ $3, opening bid was $1, no other bidders, auction ends I owe $18...


My seller was kind enough to offer them for the opening bid, after hearing of my mistake.
I split the diference cause she was so very nice to do this, she certinly didn't have to.


robert

[This message was edited by robert on June 11, 2003 at 02:42 PM.]

That seller sounds like a real "keeper" to me.

Steve and all,
She is a keeper all right, great shipping policy for multiple purchases, seems to deal mostly in Vintage Swarovski crystals and beads. Almost two thousand transactions (637 are from unique users) with 100% positive feedback.
So if you like that sort of thing, check her out...mkbe*here*now

If all sellers were like her, eBay would certinly be a better place.

robert

[This message was edited by robert on June 12, 2003 at 05:19 AM.]

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.

Rinoboy-
You are right on in your bidding strategy...
Dutch auctions work so much differently than "normal" eBay auctions I'm surprised eBay doesn't place a tutorial on each page!


robert

RhinoBoy and robert,

You would recommend sniping a Dutch auction over proxy bidding?

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but dutch bidding is an exception to proxy bidding. You bid now the amount you are willing to pay. All winners pay the amount of the lowest winning bid.

As I said before, I don't snipe dutch auctions. I use the strategy I mentioned earlier and bid as early in the auction as I can.

Hope this helps

Thanks for your help. I've decided to just go ahead and bid.