E-BAY Bidding Wars, Whats the purpose (LOGIC)?

pongshi

I don't know the exact details, but many times folks will put out an ebay item with a very low price and a high buy it now price. Once bidding starts, the buy it now price is no longer available. Someone will bid early to keep someone from executing the buy it now price option and hoping they can snag a good deal due to the low starting bid price.

Now, we have a lots of folks interested all hoping to get a GREAT deal due to the low starting bid price. They are thinking of waiting until the last minute to snag the item, but many others have the same idea. Lots of people competing means, less likelihood of winning the item. Folks will bid early to winnow down the last minute bidders to just a handful. Their view may be that winning the item with a good deal is better than losing the item to try to obtain a great deal. There is always a method to the madness. Hopefully, this makes sense.

Polkie2009

I'm such a cheapskate when it comes to bidding on ebay. I research how much the item should be worth and just bid that much. If someone wants the item worse, they can have it. Ya'll are right about those friends of the seller's bidding something up, happens all__ the time and it looks like it works out great for the seller. Sucks though for us buyers,lol. So much nicer to just buy from fellow Club Polk forum members here that you can trust without all the shenanigans.

Dennis Gardner

eBay is a strange bird, as it only takes two bidders that want an item to change the demand for that item. I recently listed a NOS guitar flight case that would be over $300 new that sat at the $79 price for 3 weeks unsold. I relisted it and had a potential bidder ask if I would take less as he had a European tour coming, so I lowered the price to $65 and told him that I would end it early to sell to him if he placed the initial bid. It went the next 4 days without any word from him at all, but at the last minute 2 other guys ran the bid up to $87 in the last few seconds. The thing was about to be put out to the trash as a 35 lb unwanted item.

I sell way more items for more than I ever thought I could get and rarely have to cut to the bone. I price items on 5-7 day auctions at about 75% of what the going rate is and I rarely have to relist unless the item is an obscure or generally mundane item.

For purchases I use Myibidder on my iPhone to snipe for the most part, bu just yesterday I did win a chinese 6J1 tube phono amplifier that regularly sells for $60 as a BIN listing, when they put one on auction for $35. I placed the opening bid 4 days out expecting to come back later and have to rebid, but it ended while I was at my grand kids basketball tourney. I won it for the opening bid making it the only one of that model that has sold that cheap in months. Odd for sure.

Jimbo18

If I want something that gets listed a lot, say a small appliance or golf club, for instance, I research the completed auctions for that item, find the lowest successful bid, and then use that as my guide.

I bid on one of the items right away at something close to that amount and then just wait to see if I get it. If I don't, I bid the same amount again on another auction, and so on, until I win it.

Of course that has to be for something that there are a lot of and that I don't need quickly. I have gotten some great deals that way