Why do people bid at the last moment?

Idiophreak

Ebay still gives people info about your maximum bid though - they know it's more (or less) than what they've put in.

All you bidding early is gonna do is push the price up - probably meaning you'd have to pay more in the end to get it.

rchlbentley

JoeyG wrote: »

But ebay doesnt ever advertise your maximum bid

NO but whos to say that someone can come along and put a ridiculous bid in just to outbid you, then they see what your max bid was.

That person then retracts their bid. Often the seller with another user name for example.

I

gazzak_2

JoeyG wrote: »

None of these answers really explain why people bid at the last minute

Your maximum bid should be exactly that - the maximum you are prepared to pay... if you are put out cos someone beat you by 20p then you didnt set your maximum bid correctly at the start

I fail to see what advantage you gain from bidding at the last minute... you will not get it cheaper, you will get it for a little more than the next highest bidder, same as if you bid right from the start... your max bid is never on show so no-one really knows!

OK, let's give a real life example. You've got to remember that very few people actually stick to their maximum bid, and that's the key point.

So, I want a Wii game, Super Mario Galaxys, (great game BTW). John from Aberdeen is looking at the same auction. We're both prepared to pay £25 for the game.

Scenario 1.
I bid early to my £25 maximum. John bids £10 and is immediately outbid by me automatically. John bids £15, then £20 but again I'm there in his face. John goes to his maximum of £25, lo and behold I'm still winning. John sits back and thinks, "well another pound isn't going to hurt". He bids £26 and is the current bid leader. I get an email saying I've been outbid, go take a look and think "wel £27 would still be a bargain" so bid £28 to be sure. ETC ETC. We're in a bidding war.

Scenario 2.
I bid late. I see John has bid and the auction is currenty at £16. At the last minute I go in with my maximum, (£25), and find that John had actually gone in with a £20 first offer so I win the game for £21. No bidding war.

So you see going in last minute prevents a bidding war and prevents me changing my maximum bid. I know the above example isn't always the case, but it usually is.

Soubrette

JoeyG wrote: »

None of these answers really explain why people bid at the last minute

In my experience I have paid more when I have not bid at the last minute than when I have - I've even given an example, so I can't see how I can explain more clearly why I bid at the last minute when I can.

JoeyG wrote: »

Your maximum bid should be exactly that - the maximum you are prepared to pay... if you are put out cos someone beat you by 20p then you didnt set your maximum bid correctly at the start

Very rational but not all people are not so rational as you. I think some people do feel put out if they've lost by what they perceive as 20p or 50p or whatever and they start to think..hmmm if only I'd bid 20p extra. On a last minute bid they don't have the chance to do anything about it. If someone puts their max bid in a few days before the auction ends then they do have time to do something about it. Also, imo it's a human thing to see what an object is worth to other people before deciding what it's worth to you so if someone puts in a bid that shows for £25 then someone else might perceive the object as being more worthwhile and decide on a higher max than they did when the auction started at 99p again bidding at the last minute takes away this choice. Even if they can't see the max then it might be like my guy with the picture - maybe he thought that if it's worth £15 to me then it must be good or each £1 increment was just a little bit more so didn't feel like a big increase in his max bid.

JoeyG wrote: »

I fail to see what advantage you gain from bidding at the last minute... you will not get it cheaper, you will get it for a little more than the next highest bidder, same as if you bid right from the start... your max bid is never on show so no-one really knows!

In my experience you can get it cheaper. Here's another example - my friend was new to bidding and was trying for an American Fridge, the max she was prepared to pay was £250. The last bid was for £120 so she put in £160 at the last minute - someone got it for £180. Her inexperience at bidding gave someone a bargain as she didn't have time to 'learn' from her mistake in the particular bid (of course she knows now )

These of course are my experiences

Sou

JoeyG

gazzak wrote: »

OK, let's give a real life example. You've got to remember that very few people actually stick to their maximum bid, and that's the key point.

So, I want a Wii game, Super Mario Galaxys, (great game BTW). John from Aberdeen is looking at the same auction. We're both prepared to pay £25 for the game.

Scenario 1.
I bid early to my £25 maximum. John bids £10 and is immediately outbid by me automatically. John bids £15, then £20 but again I'm there in his face. John goes to his maximum of £25, lo and behold I'm still winning. John sits back and thinks, "well another pound isn't going to hurt". He bids £26 and is the current bid leader. I get an email saying I've been outbid, go take a look and think "wel £27 would still be a bargain" so bid £28 to be sure. ETC ETC. We're in a bidding war.

Scenario 2.
I bid late. I see John has bid and the auction is currenty at £16. At the last minute I go in with my maximum, (£25), and find that John had actually gone in with a £20 first offer so I win the game for £21. No bidding war.

So you see going in last minute prevents a bidding war and prevents me changing my maximum bid. I know the above example isn't always the case, but it usually is.

OK i understand that, but in reality John is actually prepared to go up to £30 so whats to stop him outbidding you at the last minute and getting it for £22?... that would not be ideal when in reality you were preapred to go up to £28

Soubrette

JoeyG wrote: »

OK i understand that, but in reality John is actually prepared to go up to £30 so whats to stop him outbidding you at the last minute and getting it for £22?... that would not be ideal when in reality you were preapred to go up to £28

John hasn't got time to bid his £30 because he didn't put in a high enough max and he was outbid at the last second.

Or he put in a max of £30 and wins it because I decided £20 was my max.

No bidding war either way.

Sou

rbulph

rchlbentley wrote: »

NO but whos to say that someone can come along and put a ridiculous bid in just to outbid you, then they see what your max bid was.

That person then retracts their bid. Often the seller with another user name for example.

I

Are people allowed to retract their bids? If that's the case then I entirely agree that you should bid at the last second to prevent abuse like this.

JoeyG

I didnt know people were allowed to retract their bids either

rchlbentley

yes you can retract your bids but you usually have to give a reason.

It says somewhere in your feedback profile- bids retracted (2) or whatever,

so if you see someone who has had a lot of bids retracted - stay clear.

JoeyG

Soubrette wrote: »

John hasn't got time to bid his £30 because he didn't put in a high enough max and he was outbid at the last second.

Or he put in a max of £30 and wins it because I decided £20 was my max.

No bidding war either way.

Sou

Thats assuming John's max bid isnt actually his max bid... AND he doesnt have time in that last second to put a higher max bid

Basically if hes at at his computer at the end of the auction hes probably willing to engage in a bidding war and will use the same tactics so its more about luck... if hes not at his computer then he probably just set his max bid to the maximum he was willing to pay, so you still end up paying just a little more than him (same as your example)