Timing of bids

londonman81

I've put an item for sale on Ebay but was wondering at what stage most of the bids are made.

I've put it on a 7 day aution but with 4 days to go I've only had 2 bids. However there are also 6 'watchers'.

So my questions are:

1)How long before the end of teh auction are do most people start to make their bids for an item??

2)Both of my bidders so far have a zero feedback i.e they are new to Ebay - am I correct in thinking that the 6 'watchers' are experienced Ebayers who wait until the end to make their move and don't push the bid unecessarily high early on in the life of the auction?? While at the same time the inexperienced Ebayers - like my two bidders so far - tend to get excited and bid immediately as soon as they see an item??

Anyway with 4 days to go and only 2 bids for a VERY popular item I hope I'm going to be spotted and not run out of time.....

Cheers!

Gem+Dave+Kaci

It's hard to tell if watchers are potential bidders or other sellers as if I've got a few items to sell I regularly watch other people auctions for the same item to see how much they end for so I can get a rough guide on how much I'll be able to sell them for.

soolin

In my experience there seems little correlation between the number of watchers on an item and the ending price of it. One of my best ever recent profits went to a bidder who came in with minutes to spare and outbid the existing bidders. However, at no point did i have *any* watchers on that auction!

On the other hand one item I sell regularly gets lots of watchers, yet often finishes with either no bids or starting price only. I always assume that my competitors are the watchers.

Just checking my own ebay watch list, I am watching several items with no intention to bid, I just want to know what they finish at. Some i am watching as they have a paypal surcharge and I'm watching out of curiousity to see if the auctions get pulled..they rarely do.

Soo

tujags

You can use auction stealer.com or lotsnip.com - you log your bid with these sites including your max price they wait till the end of the auction & slap a bid in in the last few seconds. It is a way of greatly improving your chance of winning & by not showing on ebay it stops price escalation. good for buyers not so good for sellers maybe. Some watchers may be using these sites.

Hintza

Most bids will come in the last few minutes of the auction.