Insurance Bidding

Hi Henry
I just load the max amount I am willing to pay for the item, use 8 seconds as my lead time and let AS do the rest. I guess the danger is if you put an unrealistic amount in as you suggested of $500 and other persons (using various sniper programs or manual proxy bids) have done the same you could end up paying an amount that would horrify you especially if the said item is only worth say $60...I have heard of this happening over here in OZ land

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To aviod this in the future, should I bid earlier, say 1 minute, if winning with an acceptabe amount, say $55.00, immediately bid again with a super high amount around $500, blocking any new bids for the remaining 45 seconds? How can I get stung doing this?

Henry,

One additional consideration – I don’t see any advantage to bidding the smaller bid at the 1-minute mark, unless it’s for backup. The downside to bidding early is that if there happens to be someone watching the auction, and they happen to see your bid, one minute would be enough time (Oh, I hope no one disagrees with this statement) for them to place an additional bid, or two, or . . . . So, even if you win, you would win at a higher price than necessary.


Happy Sniping

The idea is to test the waters with a sane bid, see where the current highest bidder is. If you accept this amount, then bid to the moon and nobody will be able to get a bid in after you???? Make sense?

Or... why can't we bid three days before the auction closes, get the item at $10 and the bid $1000 and watch everyone else get turned down when they try to bid? Am I missing something here.

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Originally posted by H2Hester:
The idea is to test the waters with a sane bid, see where the current highest bidder is. If you accept this amount, then bid to the moon and nobody will be able to get a bid in after you???? Make sense?

Henry,

Yes and no (don’t you just hate those kinds of answers).

It kind of sounds like, first place a sane bid, and depending on the results, place an insane (“moon”) bid?

Everyone approaches this stuff (ebay) differently. We’ve got some (one) extremist sniper on this forum that would probably snipe a 1-cent auction, and wouldn’t place a proxy bid even if their mother was the seller. Then there are some bi-biddals (sometimes they proxy bid and sometimes they snipe – they swing both ways). And, there are some that proxy bid and snipe, all on the same auction (the French have a name for that). One thing that snipers usually agree on – DON’T AGREE.

Not sure how one can test the waters. The 1-minute bid might be too low or too high (and, you’re giving yourself only 1 minute, or so, to get all your testing in). Either way, if one is willing to spend more based on what someone else bids, then maybe bid that more to begin with? Also, I can’t see how one tells where the current highest bidder is, unless you get lucky. AND, there’s always the potential that after testing the water, there’s another sniper around that won’t be so accommodating to leave a proxy bid for water-analysis, and will make the water extremely warm for you (I was going to say “blow you out of the water”, but I think I’ve “pumped” this metaphor too much as it is).

As far as “nobody will be able get a bid in after you” – like they say, “The game ain’t over until the fat lady sings” (I never understood that, because she sings at the beginning of the game – it makes some sense if it’s an opera.). There’s most likely time, both before and after any snipe, for someone else to place a bid, which might, or might not be higher, or just high enough to turn that moon bid into a stellar one.

Bottom line – do what you think best. These auctions are too dynamic and have too many variables for there to be any one correct method. Hell, there are probably times when an early proxy bid scares other bidders off – I mean, surely that’s got to happen . . sometimes? maybe?

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Originally posted by H2Hester:
Or... why can't we bid three days before the auction closes, get the item at $10 and the bid $1000 and watch everyone else get turned down when they try to bid? Am I missing something here.

Don’t understand. In your example, are you talking about placing a $10 proxy bid followed right away by a $1000 proxy bid, both 3 days before auction end, or only a $10 proxy bid and a $1000 snipe?

Henry, I actually, as a seller, had someone put a much to big bid on an item of mine and someone else ran the price way up just before the snipe was placed. She paid at least four times what she should have paid. I did make it right for her, but someone else might not do that. I don't know. I guess you cannot win every auction. I place my snipes at eight seconds, bid the most I want to pay and let it go. The only times I have lost is when someone paid more than more than I felt it was worth. So be it. Another one always comes around.

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Originally posted by Smart:
H2, you seem to be labouring under a misapprehension. Just because you've placed a bid in the vicinity of the moon doesn't mean eBay will block or turn down lower bids. Those bids will be taken and force up the price you'll pay (if you win). If you place your $55 bid to take the lead, and then bid $500, I might come along and bid $100. eBay then wants $102.50 from you. I bid $200, you pay $202.50. I bid 300, you pay 305. If I bid $500 you'll still win as your bid went in first, but eBay'll want all 500 bucks of it. See the problem? So, bid your max and do it too late to let me in!

This totally explains it. Quite honestly, it's been years since I haven't sniped at 4 seconds so I "forgot" how the auction system works. Thanks all.