Last seconds of auction...How long to wait?

joemardo1

Hi there,

I have bid at 35 seconds left of auction and won it. Was buying an item on friday and started the bidding process at 25 secs. pasted the amount I want to pay in for quickness and confirmed only to be told that auction had ended. Now I'm almost certain that I had done that well within the 25 secs.

My question is, when you refresh the page of the auction and it says for instance 35 seconds, does this mean that its probably nearer the 25 sec mark? time for page to reach you etc and other variables in the system. Im on imbit broadband, but I feel that the time ebay says is left in not the exact time as we see it. At what sec on auction woudl you put in your last bid at?

joe

Moglex

Having watched a few auctions in their closing stages, I would say that the length of time ebay state is absolutely accurate, but they cannot control the transmission time from their server to your machine.

So if an auction is ending at 12:00:00 and you refresh the page at 11:59:30, it may be that ebay receives your request immediately, responds with the information that the auction has 30 second to run, but a short glich in the tranmission from their site to yours means that you don't see the page display until 11:59:15, giving you a false impression of the time remaining.

Hope that explains what probably happened.

Hunnymonster

I always tend to place a stupidly low bid on another item a few mins before the one I want is due up so it doesn't prompt for password at the most inopportune moment.

Usually hit the "bid now" button no sooner than 10s before time. Win some, lose few (usually to fellow snipers who aren't as tight as me )

wigan_rl_till_i_die

There are snipper sites where they bid with 2 seconds to go so you might have been snipped

Moglex

I think that absurdly getting "close to the tape" is a somewhat overrated ploy.

The only time that's important is you have some numpty bidder who happens to have lightning reflexes.

I don' thing there are that many people who sit refreshing the screen with the intention of bidding if their top bid is trounced.

Trying to get too close can result in you losing the auction if there is a transmission glitch which slows things down, or, annoyingly, losing the auction to someone who actually bid less than you were prepared to bid, but close enough that the bidding increment prevented your bid being placed.

I find the best way is to use a sniper site (Bidnip in my case) and go with their recommended time offset (10 seconds).

JWatson_2

As far as I can see the objective of sniping is to bid so late that if someone sees your bid amount they don't have time to put in a higher bid before the auction ends.

If 3 people put in maximum bids of £10, £15 and £20 in the last 5 seconds then the £20 will always win whatever order the bids were placed.

I always bid about 5 seconds before the end which gives me a bit of leeway, but doesn't give someone else enough time to put in a higher bid after mine.

mrbadexample

Open two windows. Use one to refresh, and the other to place bid. Cue it up to the "confirm" point, refresh in other window and hit confirm with 15 seconds or less. The thing I like about it is if you get outbid, you have no time for the red mist to descend and bid silly amounts.

I've lost out on one this evening, where I would have bid too much if I'd have had time. I was furious, but have calmed down a bit now. :rolleyes:

bella4uk

mrbadexample wrote:

Open two windows. Use one to refresh, and the other to place bid. Cue it up to the "confirm" point, refresh in other window and hit confirm with 15 seconds or less. The thing I like about it is if you get outbid, you have no time for the red mist to descend and bid silly amounts.

I've lost out on one this evening, where I would have bid too much if I'd have had time. I was furious, but have calmed down a bit now. :rolleyes:

Thanks for that, made me laugh, a true ebay addict, just what us sellers love....:D

mrbadexample

bella4uk wrote:

Thanks for that, made me laugh, a true ebay addict, just what us sellers love....:D

I've done some silly things before. I'm not an addict, I just don't like being outbid. :mad: Leaving it to the last few seconds is my safety valve.

Mikeyorks

bella4uk wrote:

just what us sellers love....:D

Yes .... but you love even more a couple of items I'm watching at the moment. But where 2 'newbie' bidders are knocking the hell out of each other in their effort to have their name in print as the highest bidder .... and there's still 7 days to go!!:rolleyes:

Sellers must think it's Christmas when they snare such eager idiots?

bella4uk

Mikeyorks wrote:

Yes .... but you love even more a couple of items I'm watching at the moment. But where 2 'newbie' bidders are knocking the hell out of each other in their effort to have their name in print as the highest bidder .... and there's still 7 days to go!!:rolleyes:

Sellers must think it's Christmas when they snare such eager idiots?

Just sold a pair of trainers that retail in the shops for £26 for the grand sum of £48......lovely but crazy....