pricing my snipe

Next increment, just like you were bidding on the auction page itself.

rsmiller40

quote:

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Originally posted by thinbuddha:
But theoretically, if the bid price had reached $15- and the high bidder had actually already bid $20, would a bid of $20.01 even beat him

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Yes. That's correct. At $15, you would only need $15.50 to have your bid get placed, but your $20.01 you win.

What, Rick, if the bid was up to 20 dollars, he cannot win with 20.01 can he?

rsmiller40

In the example the current bid price was $15.00. Placing a $20.01 would reach the next increment and would then outbid the $20. One need not win by a full increment, one need only reach the next increment for the bid to be placed, and since $20.01 is the high bid, they would win. That's why so many people bid uneven amounts.

"Have I ever steered you wrong before?"

rsmiller40

Thanks- That was confusing- I'm glad that someone understood the question.

Of course it also works the other way round. If you want to win at less than $20.00, you can bid $19.99, or $19.87, or $19.51, or $19.49, or...

Bidding odd amounts has worked very well for me. It is less predictable to your opponents and as in the $20 versus $20.01 example has allowed me to win a few auctions by just a few cents...

Here's what eBay says about bid increments and winning bids that are less than a full bid increment. Pay close attention the "NOTE":


Bid Increments

The bid increment is the amount by which a bid will be raised each time the current bid is outdone. It is predetermined based on the current high bid.

Here is how increments are determined:

Current Price Bid Increment
$ 0.01 - $ 0.99 $ 0.05
$ 1.00 - $ 4.99 $ 0.25
$ 5.00 - $ 24.99 $ 0.50
$ 25.00 - $ 99.99 $ 1.00
$ 100.00 - $ 249.99 $ 2.50
$ 250.00 - $ 499.99 $ 5.00
$ 500.00 - $ 999.99 $ 10.00
$1000.00 - $2499.99 $ 25.00
$2500.00 - $4999.99 $ 50.00
$5000.00 and up $100.00

Note:
A bidder may be outbid by less than a full increment. This would happen if the winning bidder's maximum bid beats the second highest maximum by an amount less than the full increment.

A bid increment will go higher than the standard increment in two situations:

To meet the reserve amount
To beat a competing bidder's high bid
If you were bidding against another bidder's maximum bid, your bid had to meet the other bidder's maximum bid plus one cent to become the current high bidder on the item.

diva (aka Dag)

I always bid odd numbers...I avoid putting in numbers like "$15.00" or '$40.00"...always go for very odd numbers. If you want to put in $20, I say put in about $21.27 or something like that. Make it so fellow bidders can't predict your bid. Novice bidders will always use even numbers, or bid at the starting bid and not put in enough money to avoid being outbid. Also, keep in mind the bid increments (as stated in the above post). My advice is to put in as much as you feel safe putting in. If you don't want to pay too much for it, then don't bid too much. Bid with comfort, I say. As well as confidence, of course. Although, on rare items that I know have a very unlikely chance of popping up anytime soon, I tend to put in my absolute max bid, whether through a snipe or from the start of the auction. After all, I don't ALWAYS snipe...I only snipe in situations that I feel I need to (mostly popular items or items I have bidded on in the past and failed through the normal manual bidding method). Good luck to you!

*~samuraiblossom~*

Samaurai--just curious: Why don't you ALWAYS snipe? I do.

Good question, lol. I suppose I just go with the flow of things. I get a hunch on how to bid on a particular auction, I normally just snipe when I feel I need to. If there's an auction that has multiple listings a week and I know there always will be another listing, I feel no need to snipe, naturally. However, such is not the case with most things I want, being a collector, so I feel the need to snipe frequently in order to win. Most things I like on eBay are things others want just as much...so the need to snipe is strong, indeed.

*~samuraiblossom~*

Just a note to remember that bid increments on non-US eBay sites are not always the same as on eBay (US).