Always Outbid!!

FirstTimer4Me

I'm getting to grips with EBay's auctions :j however, everytime I bid (you need to bid xxx) I'm always outbid, no one's bid on the item for hours, yet the moment I bid, someone outbids me.

Can anyone help me understand whats happeneing please?

daydream_believer

If someone has put a higher bid on previously, then when you place your bid it will automatically 'up' the previous bidders bid.

FirstTimer4Me

Thx, how do I place automatic bid?

eaglesrjh

just to expand on what the previous reply said, basically the auction works to sell at just above or equal to the SECOND highest bid regardless of how much higher the actual highest bid is.

ebay works on bid steps, so each bid must be x amount more than the bid before, this is to stop bidding going up by 0.01 each time. so if the bid is at £1.00 you would need to bid at least £1.20 to have a chance, however the first bidder might have already bid higher than that.

lets do a walkthrough.

item starts at 99p
bidder 1 enters a MAXIMUM bid of £5.00
however the actual bid is still 99p, if no one else bids they pay the 99p not the £5.00

you then bid £2.00
as this is less than the original bidders maximum you would not be the successful bidder, however the original bidders price has now gone up to £2.00,

you bid again at £10.00,
this is more than the original bidders maximum so you will be wining the auction, your current price will be £5.00 (the other bidders maximum) + 1 bid step, i think at this point it is 50p, so your current price would be £5.50, it would stay like that until someone else bids, you would remain the winner until someone else bid more than £10.00 however your price would rise in line with other bidders maximum until it reached your maximum.

hope that helps a bit.

eaglesrjh

FirstTimer4Me wrote: »

Thx, how do I place automatic bid?

Automatic bids are the ebay system placing bids for you up to your maximum dependent on what others are bidding.

If your not "Sniping" which is using a tool to bid at the last second then you generally bid the max your willing to go to and the system places automatic bids to manage your position up to that maximum.

FirstTimer4Me

Ah ha, I think I've got it.

Place bid = whatever my maximum is.

I was confused = my bid had to be above the current bid, I wasn't understanding where the "Automatic bid" was kicking in.

Think I've got it now :j

FirstTimer4Me

eaglesrjh wrote: »

If your not "Sniping" which is using a tool to bid at the last second

Is that an external link, or provided part of EBay?

Chrysalis

if you bid say £50 but the other person only bid £10, then ebay will auto bid for you at £11 (or whatever is needed to just beat the other person). If someone else then bids £20 they will then be instantly outbid by you as ebay then auto bids for you to beat them as you already told ebay your max bid is £50.

yoyoegg

Is that an external link, or provided part of EBay?

External. Sniping tends to suppress final value, which cuts Ebay's fee income

Meadows

FirstTimer4Me wrote: »

I'm getting to grips with EBay's auctions however, everytime I bid (you need to bid xxx) I'm always outbid, no one's bid on the item for hours, yet the moment I bid, someone outbids me. Can anyone help me understand whats happening please?

Well just add the maximum you are prepared to pay and then see what it goes for, your bids will increase automatically bit by bit as others bid - up to your maximum offer.

Bid too early and you start a bidding frenzy (depending on the item).

Early bidding is nearly always done by new comers as they are not sure how the bidding works, best to bid at the last minute (unless you are not there to see the end of the auction) with the most you are prepared to pay and hope that it is a higher bid that someone that has already bid (but may have a maximum higher bid than what you see) and leave next to no time for some one to outbid you!

This_Year

eaglesrjh wrote: »

Automatic bids are the ebay system placing bids for you up to your maximum dependent on what others are bidding.

If your not "Sniping" which is using a tool to bid at the last second then you generally bid the max your willing to go to and the system places automatic bids to manage your position up to that maximum.

Not always using a tool, a snipe bid is any bid placed in the final seconds of an auction. I always bid like this, watching the timer countdown and confirm my bid at the right time - usually my bid registers with 1-2 seconds to go.

FirstTimer4Me wrote: »

Is that an external link, or provided part of EBay?

There are sniping tools out there, I've never used one.

yoyoegg wrote: »

External. Sniping tends to suppress final value, which cuts Ebay's fee income

Not necessarily. A sniper bids their maximum which will either win them the auction at one increment over the previous high bid or it will push up the high bid automatically to one increment above your snipe (if the other bidder's maximum/proxy bid is higher than the snipe bid).

If there are no other bidders the sniper will win the auction at the start price.

Hope this hasn't confused you more!