New to EBay - keep losing out in final minutes - help?

Tiddlywinks

Hi all

Looking for some advice... I've been trying to buy furniture and have been the winning bidder right up until the final minute (and twice the final 30 seconds) only to have someone come in and get it at the very end.

How come they are so quick with their bidding? My fingers can't work that fast:rolleyes: .

Also, I have my suspicions that sometimes it is just to bump up the values as well?

What's the secret to winning?

Thanks

Tiddly

chja

Simple secret - save your final price until the last few seconds (as close to end time as you trust your browser).

I think there is something called a "sniper" (?) which lets you automatically bid right at the end, but don't really know much about them.

lrr_2

watch it but dont bid until final minute

mikey72

Either bid a maximum, over the current price in the last 30 seconds, and let ebay automatically increase your bid, or pre load multiple windows in your browsers if you prefer to bid yourself, and bid in the last few seconds. Most winning bids are in the last five seconds, if there is interest.

woodmeista

Hello

Decide on the max price you want to pay and enter it as a bid. If the current price is lower than your max bid then you will become the highest bidder. Ebay will then continue to bid automatically on your behalf and continue to do so until either you win or someone outbids your max bid.

The beauty of this is that you never exceed your budget and you will quickly get a feel for what the average price for such an item is.

Don't be tempted to get into a last minute bidding war and pay over the odds; there will always be a similar item in due course.

Good luck!!

Mandy44

Also stick in the price you're prepared to go to so it'll autobid for you if someone else gets in after you

missjennipenni

I always use a sniper, it bids for me in the final seconds

Browntoa

put in an odd max amount as well, if you want a max bid of £20 then enter £20.08 or £19.98 as most people seem to bid in round amounts

as the others say , only bid in the last minute or 30 seconds

erichamster

I never ever bid until the very last minute, you might think by bidding early you are being sensible and sticking to your budget, but in reality all you're doing is driving the price up, as many people will actually bid more if there is someone else's maximum bid already set to bid against, in a kind of winning frenzy. Besides if you wait til the dying seconds you have a much better chance of a bargain. If you can't be there when the auction ends use a sniper, goofbay is good and free.

nickj_2

try this https://www.goofbay.com

baffcat

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

Looking for some advice... I've been trying to buy furniture and have been the winning bidder right up until the final minute (and twice the final 30 seconds) only to have someone come in and get it at the very end.

How come they are so quick with their bidding? My fingers can't work that fast:rolleyes: .

What's the secret to winning?

Hi

There's no secret, just a method.

1/ Find the item you'd like to buy/win.
2/ Decide on the maximum you'd be prepared to pay. NOTE: This isn't what you'd like to win it for, but the MAXIMUM you'd pay if you really had to. Do not enter a bid yet.
3/ Save to your 'watch' list.
4/ Log in to ebay with approx. 10 minutes left to run (very important to be logged in).
5/ Goto to the listing in your watch list.
6/ Open another window with the same listing in it.
7/ Enter the maximum price you'd decided upon in #2 in one of the windows, but DON'T bid yet.
7/ Reduce both windows in size so you can see them side by side, or alt+tab between them. If you're alt+tabing, don't have any other windows open in case you tab to the wrong one nearer the close of the auction & lose out.
8/ Use one window as the 'refresh' window, so you can see the time remaining. Refresh every few seconds in the last minute or so, if you feel you need to.
9/ Have your MAXIMUM bid entered into the other window, where you only need to hit enter to confirm your bid.
10/ With about 8-10 seconds to go, hit 'Bid'. If your maximum bid is higher than any bid already in, you'll be, at this point, the winning bidder, but not necessarily at your maximum bid, as ebay will bid up incrementaly for you.
11/ If you've bid higher than any other bidder, you'll win, and usually at a lower price than your maximum.

The most common mistake new ebayers make is to bid just above the existing highest bid, then wonder how that bidder manages to get another bid in to beat them. The answer is that they, or another bidder, has used ebay's own bidding system prpoerly, or a 'sniper' which does the same thing, in the way they're designed to work.

The golden rule is not to bid what you hope to buy it for, but the maximum you'd be happy to pay. Invariably you'll win most items, and usually at a hefty discount from your maxiumum bid.

Happy ebaying.

Baff