View Full Version : Tips for winning an EBay auction?
Climb01742
08-17-2015, 07:02 PM
I've never bought a frame off EBay but there's one I have my eye on. Right now the price is low, with five bids, and the auction ends in about 24 hours. Any tips on how to bid/win? I'd like to grab this frame but if I don't, I'll live.:D perhaps most of all, I'd appreciate any strategy for when to bid as the auction winds down and by how much to top the best current bid. Thanks!
eddief
08-17-2015, 07:07 PM
bid what you are willing to spend, then hope for the best. it's just a bike.
Peter B
08-17-2015, 07:15 PM
Sniping is the practice of placing your bid in the last few seconds of the auction with the goal of being high bidder before anyone can outbid you or cause your proxy bid to ratchet up excessively. 10 seconds or so before close usually works, depending on the speed of your internet connection. 5 or 10 minutes before close, be sure you are logged in, type in your max bid (use an odd number of cents rather than .00) then wait and submit w/ 10 or so seconds remaining.
GLWYS
tiretrax
08-17-2015, 07:16 PM
You can bid your max budget now, or you can wait and try to snipe it. One is a lot less stressful, but you may get outbid. If you do bid now, you won't get angry with yourself for forgetting or being unable to bid at the last second.
But, the current bid will only be the hammer price if no one bids again. If it's something special, the price will probably get run up in the next 23 hours, and even more in the last 15 minutes.
weisan
08-17-2015, 07:17 PM
Tsk, tsk tsk...:no:
Master B, do you really have to tell the whole wide world our secrets???
thegunner
08-17-2015, 07:18 PM
use a third party sniping tool, there's almost no way to beat them (their timing is just way faster than yours)
pdmtong
08-17-2015, 07:29 PM
use a third party sniping tool, there's almost no way to beat them (their timing is just way faster than yours)
this, and set a price you can live with. bid that price and walk away. don't get mind-gamed into thinking if you had only bid $1 more you'd have won. if you lose, in a week you wont even remember it.
djg21
08-17-2015, 07:34 PM
Sniping is the practice of placing your bid in the last few seconds of the auction with the goal of being high bidder before anyone can outbid you or cause your proxy bid to ratchet up excessively. 10 seconds or so before close usually works, depending on the speed of your internet connection. 5 or 10 minutes before close, be sure you are logged in, type in your max bid (use an odd number of cents rather than .00) then wait and submit w/ 10 or so seconds remaining.
GLWYS
http://www.esnipe.com
yngpunk
08-17-2015, 07:35 PM
one of the downsides with sniping is that if someone else bids the same maximum as you but does so earlier in the auction. For bids of the same amount, the earlier bid will win.
kramnnim
08-17-2015, 07:43 PM
gixen.com works well.
And yes, set your max snipe bid to be something random, $1,011.67 instead of an even $1,000.
93legendti
08-17-2015, 07:47 PM
Won't help you on this on, but I only buy and sell on eBay via Buy It Now. I used to bid on stuff and then see a similar item came up in my price range with a Buy It Now. By the time I lost the auction at a higher price, the Buy It Now item was gone.
SlackMan
08-17-2015, 07:48 PM
I've never bought a frame off EBay but there's one I have my eye on. Right now the price is low, with five bids, and the auction ends in about 24 hours. Any tips on how to bid/win? I'd like to grab this frame but if I don't, I'll live.:D perhaps most of all, I'd appreciate any strategy for when to bid as the auction winds down and by how much to top the best current bid. Thanks!
All good advice above. The only thing I will add is to realize that many (most?) people often think of their max bid as a nice round number. So, e.g., if someone thinks something is worth $800, they bid $800. If you also think it's worth $300, but you bid $805, you will beat them out for only $5 more. Realizing that someone else might apply the same logic as you and bid $305, you might bid $810 to be sure to beat them out (if no one bids $305 in my story, your proxy bidding by ebay will not make it to $310). See below for more detail:
http://www.ebay.com/gds/Take-Advantage-of-Bid-Increments-/10000000002792188/g.html
dustyrider
08-17-2015, 07:48 PM
I set my max bid and forget all about the auction. The you've been outbid email brings a frown, but the you've won email greatly outweighs the losses.
There have been many items where the high bidder backs out, and I get a 2nd chance offer. If you watch eBay, you'll notice this must happen a lot. So many items "sell" for stupidly high prices and show up a few days later from the same seller..
Hope you get "the" bike!
shovelhd
08-17-2015, 07:54 PM
I've been using auctionstealer.com for years now. Works great. You get three free snipes per week.
I use an auction alert service to notify me of BIN postings when I am looking for something specific. I have done way better using this method than bidding on auctions.
jimoots
08-17-2015, 07:55 PM
Sniping is the way to go. Manual (i.e. sitting and bidding in the closing moments of an auction) can be more exciting but the automated systems are helpful if the auction ends at an inconvenient time.
The only thing I'd add is bid an amount slightly higher than what you're prepared to pay.
No I'm not saying you should pay more than you can afford, but say if you want to spend $1200... put a bid in for $1203.
People tend to put down a bid for round figures. The extra few dollars may win you the auction.
mtechnica
08-17-2015, 08:01 PM
bid late and bid high!
Louis
08-17-2015, 08:08 PM
http://www.esnipe.com
+1
I use them for all (which ain't a lot) e-bay purchases.
makoti
08-17-2015, 09:28 PM
use a third party sniping tool, there's almost no way to beat them (their timing is just way faster than yours)
^This^. Easiest way to do it.
unterhausen
08-17-2015, 10:03 PM
bid late and bid high!
this is my technique. I am not a frequenter of ebay for purchases at this point. But when I do bid, I bid my absolute maximum with less than 13 seconds left. So I give myself a quiet moment to decide the absolute maximum price that I would be willing to pay. And if there was one bid increment higher, then I would be happy that the other person outbid me, because that was one bid increment too much. I have only had to pay this amount a couple of times, usually it's a lot less than that. I bid with less that 13 seconds left. Sure, someone with a sniping program could still outbid me, but I've already bid my max. The whole secret to this technique is deciding the max amount to bid.
If you bid that amount early, some idiot is going to talk themselves into out-bidding you. Don't give them the chance. I enjoy watching the idiots bid on my stuff. I start it at 99 cents and let them go crazy with ebay fever.
fogrider
08-17-2015, 10:56 PM
this is my technique. I am not a frequenter of ebay for purchases at this point. But when I do bid, I bid my absolute maximum with less than 13 seconds left. So I give myself a quiet moment to decide the absolute maximum price that I would be willing to pay. And if there was one bid increment higher, then I would be happy that the other person outbid me, because that was one bid increment too much. I have only had to pay this amount a couple of times, usually it's a lot less than that. I bid with less that 13 seconds left. Sure, someone with a sniping program could still outbid me, but I've already bid my max. The whole secret to this technique is deciding the max amount to bid.
If you bid that amount early, some idiot is going to talk themselves into out-bidding you. Don't give them the chance. I enjoy watching the idiots bid on my stuff. I start it at 99 cents and let them go crazy with ebay fever.
This. Bid early and bid your max. Most people look at what the bid is, and think I'll pay 5 bucks more than that! and bid accordingly. when you pull up an auction, click on the bids and you see a log of the bids. you will notice that most folks don't bid more than 5 or 6 bucks more than the current bid.
if you bid early on a big ticket item, for someone to out bid you, they have to out bid you by a certain minimum bid increments. and by entering an odd price like 305.67, then if someone bids 305, you will still be the high bidder. if fact, if someone bids 306, they will still not out bid you. see this: http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-increments.html
for the first time bidder, the hunt is fun, just don't get caught up on winning!
Louis
08-17-2015, 11:03 PM
This. Bid early and bid your max.
From what I've heard, this is not the way to minimize what you might have to pay to win a given auction.
I don't know if anyone has done a definitive study, but I'm pretty sure that over time you'll spend less money if you use a sniping site.
unterhausen
08-17-2015, 11:39 PM
I really regret the times I've bid early. If nothing else, it gives the seller time to get people to shill bid. I suspect it cost me hundreds of dollars on my lathe.
Scuzzer
08-17-2015, 11:44 PM
I am not a frequenter of ebay for purchases at this point. But when I do bid, I bid my absolute maximum with less than 13 seconds left.
I rarely buy something expensive so I snipe manually. I usually wait until 8 seconds left though. I never bid on something I want (even super cheap stuff) early.
RyanH
08-18-2015, 12:19 AM
The only time I think it's worth bidding before is when the starting price is close to what you're willing to pay. In those cases, I think a high starting price with an existing bid deters some people. Also, as one person mentioned above, some of the best deals you'll get is with a combination of luck and Buy It Now. I'm stilling kicking myself for not pulling the trigger the moment I saw that Pegoretti Marcello for $1600.
cetuximab
08-18-2015, 04:30 AM
http://www.esnipe.com
+1
The computer will be awake and alert at the right time. For a minimal fee sniping can save you money.
CampyorBust
08-18-2015, 09:56 AM
I find praying helps.
Be honest with yourself. What is more important to you getting a smokin good deal or snagging the item in question often also for a good deal? You want a steal or a deal?
Auction sniper let me down in the past, never again.
zoose
08-18-2015, 10:38 AM
http://www.esnipe.com
This. But I agree that BIN is usually where the good deals come from as auctions can be all over the place. Constantly see the same thing being marked at say $200 BIN and then an auction at the same time will have last minute bids that shoot it above the $200.
cderalow
08-18-2015, 10:48 AM
gixen.com is also another free sniping website...
I've had pretty good success with it in the past.
eBAUMANN
08-18-2015, 10:50 AM
i bid as high as I believe its possibly worth with 3-4 seconds left. if someone wants to outbid me and overpay, good on them, they wanted it more - but if im gonna lose, im gonna lose at a price that is above what that item is worth (what im willing to pay).
bid sniping tools will only bid as high as you set them, which could lead to underbidding (if you are uninformed/casual when you set em up) = you losing.
ive never used a bid sniper but ive sniped a hell of a lot of auctions ;)
Louis
08-18-2015, 10:57 AM
i bid as high as I believe its possibly worth with 3-4 seconds left.
:
:
bid sniping tools will only bid as high as you set them, which could lead to underbidding
This seems to me to be contradictory. If you don't know what it's worth to you when you set the price for the sniping tool you won't know any better 3 seconds before the end of the auction. And if you do change your mind, you can always cancel or increase your bid on the sniping site.
Finally, who wants to have his / her schedule ruled by when auctions are ending on e-bay?
tuscanyswe
08-18-2015, 11:16 AM
I do exactly as Eric. Bid my max just before the end. sure one could just as well use a sniper and perhaps its more convenient but i bid on so few items and the one i do bid on i really want so not that big a deal to watch the final minutes of the auction live .)
Saint Vitus
08-18-2015, 11:28 AM
So call me paranoid, a newb or whathaveyou, but how does a company generate revenue by not charging for sniping? And how much info do you hand over to them to do you bidding? I've been doing eBay since '98 or so and have never used esnipe or similar (though I know of the service). I'm very wary of handing over any personal info or keys to the kingdom to what is essentially a service for cheating on a business transaction.
I bid at whatever point I feel is good, I'll test the waters if there are already bidders and ratchet it up a little, if I become high bidder I'll bid a few more times to bring my bid up to close to my max. If there are no bidders, I'll bid somewhere between opening bid and my max, then as others come in I'll ratchet up the bidding toward my max if I'm still high bidder, if I'm not I'll test the waters and decide if I really need this thing and continue or not.
In either case, I'm only willing to pay so much, I make that determination based on market history and perceived value (mine). At some point there is always someone willing to pay more for things than I and has more to play with, so then I say "Enjoy".
SlackMan
08-18-2015, 11:33 AM
So call me paranoid, a newb or whathaveyou, but how does a company generate revenue by not charging for sniping? And how much info do you hand over to them to do you bidding? I've been doing eBay since '98 or so and have never used esnipe or similar (though I know of the service). I'm very wary of handing over any personal info or keys to the kingdom to what is essentially a service for cheating on a business transaction.
When I have used a sniping service, I change my eBay password, give the new pw to the sniping service, and then change it again after the auction ends. Maybe I'm paranoid too. :D
grawk
08-18-2015, 11:35 AM
as with any auction, the way to guarantee you win is to bid WAY more than it's worth. If you expect it to go for $500, bid $5000. You'll almost definitely win it that way, and pay only a little more than the next highest bidder was willing to pay. I do recommend sniping tho, because then it's harder for the shill bidders to raise the price.
eBAUMANN
08-18-2015, 11:51 AM
This seems to me to be contradictory. If you don't know what it's worth to you when you set the price for the sniping tool you won't know any better 3 seconds before the end of the auction. And if you do change your mind, you can always cancel or increase your bid on the sniping site.
Finally, who wants to have his / her schedule ruled by when auctions are ending on e-bay?
Well, it all depends on your ebay habits. I tend to watch a TON of auctions, as I find it to be a great tool for assessing market value on stuff, which is useful to me as I do buy and sell a lot (as most of you are well aware).
So, for example, when I first discover an auction at .99 starting bid, I might go "hmm thats interesting, ill watch that one," not really necessarily NEEDING that thing, but potentially still bidding on it anyways if it ends up selling for well under market-value. In this instance, if I used a bid-sniper, I would not be making a final decision on my level of interest until those closing minutes of the auction (when the bid either climbs or stalls) anyways, so I may as well just watch it and bid myself.
As far as altering my schedule or planning around auctions...thats what my phone is for. It buzzes, I take it out of my pocket and look at the auction, then decide. Or I dont and I miss the auction. That simple.
druptight
08-18-2015, 12:51 PM
as with any auction, the way to guarantee you win is to bid WAY more than it's worth. If you expect it to go for $500, bid $5000. You'll almost definitely win it that way, and pay only a little more than the next highest bidder was willing to pay. I do recommend sniping tho, because then it's harder for the shill bidders to raise the price.
This can be very dangerous - if someone else has the same logic and they pop in a $4000 bid at the last second to try to take the item, and you have a $5000 bid in there - then congrats, you're paying $4,000 (or pulling an "ebay" and backing out of the purchase). Safer to always only bid what you're willing to pay.
denapista
08-18-2015, 01:12 PM
Auction sniping has saved me lots of money.
Set a price I'm willing to pay for and walk away. If I lose then I'm bummed but happy that I didn't spend more than what I would be willing to spend.
If you get caught up in the bidding frenzy, you usually end up spending way more than what you should have in the first place.
Climb01742
08-18-2015, 08:14 PM
Hey, I won! Thank you VERY much to everyone for their advice. Your ideas were really helpful.
grawk
08-18-2015, 08:18 PM
This can be very dangerous - if someone else has the same logic and they pop in a $4000 bid at the last second to try to take the item, and you have a $5000 bid in there - then congrats, you're paying $4,000 (or pulling an "ebay" and backing out of the purchase). Safer to always only bid what you're willing to pay.
Sure, but if you absolutely have to win...
Len J
08-18-2015, 08:21 PM
Hey, I won! Thank you VERY much to everyone for their advice. Your ideas were really helpful.
Details.... what did you win?
Louis
08-18-2015, 08:26 PM
Hey, I won! Thank you VERY much to everyone for their advice. Your ideas were really helpful.
Did you bid $5000 ?
And how did you bid ? ;)
Climb01742
08-19-2015, 08:54 AM
I was trying to scratch a few itches:
Wanted a new bike but for as little as possible. Just can't justify a big purchase now.
Wanted a carbon bike but not one I'd baby or obsess over. I wanted just a tool.
Wanted to be able to play around with fatter tires in the 26-27-28 range, maybe even a 30.
Our roads suck, so wanted something to help, along with the tires, to mitigate the pounding.
Lastly, my wife's family lives in Maine, where not all the roads are paved. This is NOT a gravel grinder:D but when we go visit them and I need a few hours of escape:D wanted something capable and again, not precious.
I'd always heard good things about this model from Giant and the price sure was right. I know it's not sexy by forum standards, but it fits what I was looking for to a T.
As for how I bid, I went the simple route. Waited until 15 seconds left and bid my top price, the price I was most comfortable with. Got lucky. Yay.
Again, thanks everyone for your help/advice.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Giant-Defy-Advanced-1-Carbon-Frameset-ML-56cm-Nice-/181830782753?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.M BE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D32936%26meid%3De735847b268649f 79c03beaf2eb8b8ba%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D 6%26sd%3D252058061381&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=vzFJqm%252Ff5VS6Od62ZQXPijkE8nM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
shovelhd
08-19-2015, 07:17 PM
Well, it all depends on your ebay habits. I tend to watch a TON of auctions, as I find it to be a great tool for assessing market value on stuff, which is useful to me as I do buy and sell a lot (as most of you are well aware).
So, for example, when I first discover an auction at .99 starting bid, I might go "hmm thats interesting, ill watch that one," not really necessarily NEEDING that thing, but potentially still bidding on it anyways if it ends up selling for well under market-value. In this instance, if I used a bid-sniper, I would not be making a final decision on my level of interest until those closing minutes of the auction (when the bid either climbs or stalls) anyways, so I may as well just watch it and bid myself.
As far as altering my schedule or planning around auctions...thats what my phone is for. It buzzes, I take it out of my pocket and look at the auction, then decide. Or I dont and I miss the auction. That simple.
Flipper scum.
:)
Avincent52
08-20-2015, 05:05 AM
The basic strategies mentioned above (sniping, max bidding, using snipe software, resisting "frenzy" bidding) are all sound.
Two larger points about why you might get outbid.
Your time is worth something: A couple years back, I was bidding on Ebay for some vintage "Travel" decals to put on a guitar.
I find a cool "Atlantic City" decal, which I win with a $4 bid. I lose out on a "Nebraska" for $6. (You may sense a theme here.) I find another similar but not identical "Nebraska" decal and I bid $7. I get outbid by someone who buys it for $8. This happens one more time, still under $10.
Then I realize something. My time and attention, and yes, the stress involved in losing these auctions, really do have a value.
So the next "Nebraska" sticker comes up.
I bid $20. A collector of vintage decals would say I was totally nuts.
I was bidding anywhere from 3-5 times what this thing might be worth. (To scale it up, it's the equivalent of seeing a nice Serotta CSI frameset and placing a max bid of $5,000)
My bid seemed crazy to that decal collector, but for me it was smart.
I ultimately bought this one for $8 or something (that's where the decal collectors bowed out) and got what I wanted and didn't have to think about vintage decals anymore.
There's always the "other" guy: A friend of mine is the very best acoustic guitar restoration specialist in the world. You find an 80-year old $200,000 Martin OM-45 in the attic, you take it to him to fix it.
I was just hanging out in his shop and saw a vaguely familiar guitar sitting on the workbench. I had considered bidding on it on an auction site (Skinners, if I recall) and when I saw the hammer price I kind of kicked myself because
a) it was a nice guitar
b) I could afford it.
Seeing the guitar's very nice condition in person, I had deeper pangs of regret.
I told my friend this and he said. "There's no way you were going to buy that guitar."
The guy who did buy it? He was Wall Street hedge fund guy. His "budget" for this guitar was "One dollar more." Than anyone.
If his competition was a few bargain hunting guitar collectors like me, he could get it reasonably cheap. And he did.
I had a max bid, determined by my limited guitar funds and my perceived value of the guitar, and all he had to do was bid a dollar more than me.
If another hedge fund guy got into the fray, that guitar could have gotten bid up very seriously.
Essentially Mr. Hedge Fund had an ability to ignore the market value of the guitar (much the way I did with the travel decals) and put in a bid so far above the market that it would insure that he wouldn't lose the auction.
Now this guy has his limits. He can bid this way in the guitar market. And certainly for a bicycle frame if that's what he wanted.
But he if he was bidding on vintage Ferraris or fine art, he's more like me. He's got a budget and gets frustrated when Paul Allen or a Saudi Prince just decides he wants that 250 GTO or that Manet and bids like it was play money.
But as my friend said, I would never, ever be able to buy a guitar that this guy decided he wanted. All I could do is run up the price for him.
So next time you get outbid on some bike gear on ebay, you might keep these two scenarios in mind. I find it a lot easier to be philosophical when I do.
weisan
08-20-2015, 05:21 AM
Congrats Climb pal!
Very nice score...
http://alicehui.com/bike/$_57.JPG
weisan
08-20-2015, 05:25 AM
Another data point to pay attention....
Go to Advanced Search, do a search for the same item you are bidding on under "Sold" listings, it will give you a general idea what people are paying, the upper/lower limits of prices etc...
binxnyrwarrsoul
08-20-2015, 05:30 AM
Another data point to pay attention....
Go to Advanced Search, do a search for the same item you are bidding on under "Sold" listings, it will give you a general idea what people are paying, the upper/lower limits of prices etc...
This. Then decide what you're willing to pay, bid that amount then walk away. Have spent way too much time "stalking" auctions, only to lose buy a $1. Ebay has gotten very skuzzy, even for ebay, lately. Rather "stalk" the classifieds, someone always puts something I want/need/must have up, eventually. I have had zero issues with the peeps here.
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