Why do people outbid at the last second

JohalaReewi

Bidding in the last seconds makes it difficult for the seller to shill bid too.

kriss_boy

JohalaReewi wrote:

Bidding in the last seconds makes it difficult for the seller to shill bid too.

Shill bidding isnt really common enough to justify sniping.

Ive been using ebay for about 5 years and ESPECIALLY when it comes to expensive items, ie over a grand, sniping just means you end up paying more.

As a seller its worrying when a guitar worth a grand quickly goes up to around 800 quid or so bbecause then less people watch it. Probably looking at the others which are cheaper.

Whereas when it stays low you get tonnes of watchers and with 2 or 3 mins to go bids start flying in! Taking it up to 900.. then a grand.. then the real snipers end up paying over the odds.

I should really just survey the guitars a sell, there values above and below what they were worth, and how that related to the timing of the bids.

But I see it will my own eyes everyday.

lilmiss

I just bid the lowest amount, i guess i'm not very good at bidding!.

victory

to get a bargain!! xx

frivolous_fay

kriss_boy wrote:

ESPECIALLY when it comes to expensive items, ie over a grand, sniping just means you end up paying more.

Can you explain why? I would have thought the opposite would be the case.

rich_45

There's no reason whatsoever to bid until the last moment...it always makes me laugh to see people bidding, say, £5 early on for an item that is expected to sell for over £100...they must be hoping for the bargain of the millenium! :rotfl:

jembie

rich_45 wrote:

There's no reason whatsoever to bid until the last moment...it always makes me laugh to see people bidding, say, £5 early on for an item that is expected to sell for over £100...they must be hoping for the bargain of the millenium! :rotfl:

...but the bidding has to start somewhere...

kriss_boy

rich_45 wrote:

There's no reason whatsoever to bid until the last moment...it always makes me laugh to see people bidding, say, £5 early on for an item that is expected to sell for over £100...they must be hoping for the bargain of the millenium! :rotfl:

Doesnt mean they only placed a £5 bid though. I often place a small quick bid just to get it in my ebay, instead clicking watching this item, that way I remember to give it another look over and decide to bid or not.

kriss_boy

frivolous_fay wrote:

Can you explain why? I would have thought the opposite would be the case.

Im assuming there are less abundant expensive items compared to inexpensive ones. With dearer items flutchations in price are more pronounced too... paying 10% more than you expected to on a £1000 item is £100 whereas the same proportion on a cheap item at £10 is negligable and could be absorbed within cheaper postage.

Imagine you have two guitars. Both virtually identical. Both start at 99p with 10 days but when you see both guitars in ebay one is up to £900 and the other is a slow starter at £300. Both are worth a grand and both with inevitably sell for that.

Which would you chose to watch? Perhaps both but most of the time in my experience people watch the cheaper one and end up bidding on that. items already bid up high get less watchers and I can only assume this is becuase the high price deters them.

Ive sold over 300 guitars on ebay and Ive just noticed these things. Its just a fact.. when items get bid up high early they get far far less snipers.. most of the time none. So that 900 quid guitars sits and sells at that price for 4 days while the other one gets all the attension and the last minute bids.

People hege their bets in getting the cheaper one cheaper.

kriss_boy

Obviously this only applies to particular markets based on supply and demand.

I mean look at CDs and DVDs... you see some go for £6 one minute and £0.99 the next. The reason being they are so common that cheeky low bids can often survive. On an expensive guitar in a heathly market theres just no way enthusiasts and musicians will refuse a bid if its sitting a third or so less than its worth.