Why do people bid at the last moment?

rbulph

rover placed his last bid for the item below one second before the auction closed. And he placed his previous bid just 14 seconds before that. This seems to happen quite a lot. Why do people do it? If he was willing to pay £9.05 then why not just place one bid for this amount well in advance? I'm just wondering if he might somehow be connected with the seller and be trying to up the amount that I end up paying? If so, how does this work?

rbulph( 11) £9.5512-Feb-08 12:21:23 GMT
rover( 93) £9.0517-Feb-08 14:07:46 GMT
rover( 93) £8.0517-Feb-08 14:07:32 GMT
ben( 5 ) £6.0112-Feb-08 23:04:09 GMT
ben( 5 ) £5.0012-Feb-08 23:02:52 GMT

G-G_4

If you bid at the last moment possible then you are likely to win.. and keep the cost of the item down.

Butlers1982

If you want an item that is for sale in an auction, you want to buy it as cheap as possible. if the auction ends at say 22:00, your not going to enter your maximum bid at 13:00- you wait and see what other people are going to bid, if no one bids then you can enter a smaller amount than what you may have needed to do if others were bidding.
Pretty easy really

rchlbentley

If my max bid for an item was just say £10, and the item had a few seconds left, then i would whack that bid in the final few seconds because if i bid my £10 an hour or even a day to go then its easily showing everyone what im willing to pay, and it gives plenty of time for others to outbid me.

I do it last few seconds, always have done.

Soubrette

rbulph wrote: »

rover placed his last bid for the item below one second before the auction closed. And he placed his previous bid just 14 seconds before that. This seems to happen quite a lot. Why do people do it? If he was willing to pay £9.05 then why not just place one bid for this amount well in advance? I'm just wondering if he might somehow be connected with the seller and be trying to up the amount that I end up paying? If so, how does this work?

rbulph( 11) £9.5512-Feb-08 12:21:23 GMT
rover( 93) £9.0517-Feb-08 14:07:46 GMT
rover( 93) £8.0517-Feb-08 14:07:32 GMT
ben( 5 ) £6.0112-Feb-08 23:04:09 GMT
ben( 5 ) £5.0012-Feb-08 23:02:52 GMT

I always bid at the last second because it stops me being caught up in a bidding war, I decide what the item is worth to me and put in my max at the end.

It also stops other people taking a guess at my max. I wanted 3 pictures once, all very similar. I bid for two at the last minute and got them for under a tenner (I was prepared to go to £15). I lost the last one because I was out at the time so put in my max bid of £15 and was outbid. What was hilarious was it looked like the winning bidder had come back every 20 mins or so and upped his bid by a quid. It was almost worth losing it for the chuckle he gave me

Sou

Aesop

he may have had it in autobid, i do this. I put in the most I am prepared to pay and put autobid on. it automatically ups my bid if someone puts in a higher bid but under total prepared to pay.

emmy05

ppl will always bid at the last minute, it happens, some ppl dont want to be caught up in a 'keep bidding' war, incase they tend to overspend, ive seen it at so many auctions as well, and my mum is famous for doing the last minute bidding, i think it makes sense myself, or you could very well be putting yourself in for a downer if you keep on bidding for something you really want x

rbulph

OK, thanks, it seems that your answers confirm that there was no shady business going on to get me to pay closer to my maximum. Not sure I agree with the approach that most of you seem to have mind you - if I want something I decide how much I'm willing to pay for it, so I'll bid that as soon as I decide. Then I can forget about the auction until it's over. If the price goes above what I bid then too bad, I'm not going to enter a higher bid.

SUESMITH_2

rbulph wrote: »

OK, thanks, it seems that your answers confirm that there was no shady business going on to get me to pay closer to my maximum. Not sure I agree with the approach that most of you seem to have mind you - if I want something I decide how much I'm willing to pay for it, so I'll bid that as soon as I decide. Then I can forget about the auction until it's over. If the price goes above what I bid then too bad, I'm not going to enter a higher bid.

trouble is with that is you can end up losing by 20p if someone keeps upping their bid to see how much you've put on it. i also bid last minute now

Soubrette

rbulph wrote: »

OK, thanks, it seems that your answers confirm that there was no shady business going on to get me to pay closer to my maximum. Not sure I agree with the approach that most of you seem to have mind you - if I want something I decide how much I'm willing to pay for it, so I'll bid that as soon as I decide. Then I can forget about the auction until it's over. If the price goes above what I bid then too bad, I'm not going to enter a higher bid.

I like it when people like you want the same stuff I want

Sou

StaffsSW

I tend to bid with odd amounts, such as £10.10 - just gives me an extra advantage over someone who bids round figures.