Sniping on eBay...tips? };)

[Heliodor]

 

Putting this in off-topic because my question doesn't really relate to ponies. I'm really kind of an eBay loser and don't know many tactics to win auctions. Recently, I was looking at some original artwork on eBay and there were two lovely pieces I wanted to get. Normally I don't bid until the end, but I decided to place a starting bid because, well, in my case anyway, I am often deterred from bidding on auctions that already have bidders. I figured if anybody else out there was like me, maybe they wouldn't place any bids if they saw that someone had done so already.

Okay, so then I was in the seller's store and checking out their other artworks. I saw that there was a serious bid fest going on with some other artworks of the seller's, and they were similar to the two that I had my eye on. I got a little bit nervous at that, because I thought those bidders might look at the other cheaper auctions if they can't get those ones.

Then I realized I don't know crap about bidding really, I mean, I have sniped auctions before, but I was probably just lucky. Also I'm an extremely nervous, socially anxious, shy person and it's actually a hassle to worry about something I've bid on like 24/7 until it ends.

Sooo I was wondering, can anybody give me some tips? My g/f, who is an expert eBayer, got me my last items because she's so darn clever at it. I actually forget what she said now, but she was able to manually win me some ponies, and I think she told me that she puts in a bid as close as possible, but with something like "$10.01" so it isn't a round number, etc.

But I sorta forget, and I would like to get these items for as cheap as possible...I think I could still do it up to 15$ per item, but after that I might be out...depends on my next paycheck... And the other auctions jumped from 8$ to 20$ in just one bid.

It does kinda confuse me, because when I put in a bid it stays at 8$, yet some bloke pushed in a 20$ bid straight up on the other items. I mean, I want to pay as little as possible, but I also don't understand how he did that?

I have also seen bid histories on some big ticket items, like MLP handmade plush (they go over 500$!) and some people bid, literally, not even kidding, like one second before the close, and I have no idea how their computer even went that fast.

Can any clever eBayers give me tips on how to win? 

 

EDIT: Sorry mods, I wasn't really sure where it should go D: thanks for moving

[moving to TS - kaoskat]

[CasseminaPie]

I always have my max bid at some strange non-round number as most people's max bids are in the tens or fives (so I normally bid something like $15.97) and definitely bid your max in the last few seconds

I normally use my phone because I can have my bid ready and watch it countdown and then hit bid when it gets to about 2-3 seconds.

Those people who are bidding in the last second are probably using auto-bidders. There are lots available where you enter your ebay details and your max bid and it will bid for you at the last possible second. It's pretty much impossible to beat someone using an auto-bidder (unless of course your max bid is just higher ) but I really don't trust any of those sites with my details!

Other than that it's just a lot of luck really!

[Glacia471]

I usually put in a minimum bid on something I want at first, that way I not only get a bid on it (so the seller is less likely to pull it for whatever reason, and people know that someone else wants it) but I can keep better track of it in My Bids, versus my Watch List where I've got dozens of other items saved. Also, if I change my mind halfway through the auction, chances are high that someone else will outbid me (since I only put the minimum amount that I had to).

When it comes to the end of the auction, I always log out of ebay and then log back in (usually with 5-10 minutes left in the auction). I've lost out on items I've tried to snipe because ebay suddenly wants me to 'sign in again' When I'm ready to snipe, I try to get the page to have my bid ready to go and have the countdown going on at the same time. When there's about 5 seconds left, I hit the final 'submit' button.

As for the amount, I always have some extra amount of cents (like $5.01, $7.03, etc) and it has won me auctions before too where the other bidder has entered a solid number like $5 or $7. If there's multiple other bidders, I check the bidding history to see if anyone else is doing this too. If another bidder is consistently bidding $X.01, I'll bid with $X.02.

I've never used an auto-bidding service myself, but I know they are frequently used. I've heard there have been issues with them too, so I don't trust them. At least if I mess something up, I'll know it's because of something I did

[Heliodor]

Wow I don't even think of some of that stuff. Thanks for those tips! Okay, yeah, I searched "snipe eBay" and I got a lot of random sites that say they will do it for you, but I don't know, I don't think I'd just give them my passwords and usernames. @_@ That seems shady.

I have a question. I can't figure out how this person won this auction. It was on a different artwork. Here is from the bid history:

Bidders: 10 Bids: 11 Time Ended: Dec-12-12 11:10:46 PST Duration: 7 days

Winning Bid:    GBP 25.05   Dec-12-12 09:54:28 PST
Last Bid before winning one:    GBP 24.05   Dec-12-12 11:09:57 PST

How the heck did someone who bid at 9:54 beat the person who bid at 11:09, one min. before the auction ended? o_O Is this some kind of sorcery??

Thanks for these great tips...I never do any of this stuff I'm gonna try this.

[Glacia471]

It means the sniping bid wasn't high enough to beat the other bidder's max bid Ebay will automatically bid for you up to your maximum bid if someone else bids against you. So you are the first bidder on an item, and bid $10 (and the starting bid is say $1), and someone else comes along and bids $3, then ebay will automatically raise the price to $3.50 on your behalf. If they had bid $10 instead, the same as your bid, then your bid would be considered the highest since it was placed earlier and the price would be pushed to $10.

[cloud_weaver]

Um...     *looks around*  Confession time!  I use a sniping website for auctions that I'm super serious about.     The site that I've used I've used for over 5 years and never had a problem.  I pay them some money from my paypal account (the snipe site doesn't have my payment info) and I have a balance there whenever I need it.  They do have my ebay info, but again, I've been using them for over 5 years without one problem.

It costs me about $.10 per winning snipe, but I don't bid a lot on ebay and so I think I put about $5 in my account just to have it there.

I set my 'shot buffer' to 3 seconds before the auction ends, instead of the normal 5 seconds.  So how it works is I type in my max bid into the sniping site a while before the auction is set to end, and 3 seconds before it's ending, if it hasn't exceeded my limit, it bids on the item for me.  If I win, yay!  If not, then I'm happy because I didn't spend more than I wanted to.

I typically do type in random amounts as well, because I'd hate to lose out by $.5 or so.  =)

Any other questions???   

[coinoperatedgirl]

I use a sniping software called Gixen.  It does pretty much the same thing as the websites.

[Eskara1862]

I manually snipe.  I keep two windows open with the auction I'm going to win; one has my max bid in it and is waiting for me to hit submit, the other I use to watch the time. I know my computers refresh speed (about 3 seconds), so I know to hit submit at 4 seconds left. You can figure out your computers refresh speed by going to eBay and refreshing several times on a listing that is about to end. It shows you how many seconds are left; however many seconds have passed is how quickly your computer is sending the info. This is the method I've used for 10 years and the only auctions I've lost are the ones where my max bid wasn't high enough.

Ooh, I never bid on an item I want until that single bid in the last three seconds. No reason to drive the price up any higher than necessary! I also don't put it in my watch list if I'm really serious about it; people can see how many other people are watching the listing. After all, if you really want an item and know 10 people are watching it, you'd enter a higher max bid than if only 2 people were watching it. I don't want anyone to know that I'm even interested in the auction so my final bid is a total surprise!

Good luck with yoru artwork! And with future bids =)

[RainbowWindy]

I also don't put it in my watch list if I'm really serious about it; people can see how many other people are watching the listing. After all, if you really want an item and know 10 people are watching it, you'd enter a higher max bid than if only 2 people were watching it. I don't want anyone to know that I'm even interested in the auction so my final bid is a total surprise!

Good luck with yoru artwork! And with future bids =)

How? I know how many people are watching my own auctions but how to you see how many people are watching someone else's auction?

[banditpony]

My tips ~
Put in a small bid in the beginning so you'll get a reminder email that an item is ending soon. Sometimes I don't even watch an auction, because if I put in a small bid, it will come up on my ebay page anyway.
Figure out your MAX bid beforehand, don't let the anxiety of an auction let you keep going so higher. (ugh, which is why I find real auctions so hard !)
Make sure you are logged in ~!
I like to wait less than 10 seconds before placing a bid. (normally I am within 3 seconds).

But, in the end, highest bidder wins-- and sniping never guarantees a win.. (but there certainly are some pros to sniping... and cons...)

Sometimes if there is a counter, you can look at it within 5 minutes of the auction end.. refresh page.. and see if there are any new hits (This way you know if someone else was looking at it right before it ended). I mean it's not accurate, but it can give you a good idea if it went up +7 within the last 5 min, that someone else might be trying to snipe too.

[Ringlets]

Looks like you got some great tips here already    I dont have anything to add, since I use the same methods as some of the others here ( place a small low amount bid to start with and then watch the end of the auction with a time window open and another with my max bid ready... then submit at the end in the last few seconds. I also enter an amount such as $7.67 rather than a round figure)
Hopefully you'll be winning more auctions soon