Strange Bidder History on eBay

[Merkava_4]

eBay (http://offer.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=260200119738)

One guy bids $15.02 and then another guy jumps all the way up to $29.23

What's up with the two pennies and the twenty-three cents? :confused:

[i12flytoday]

Yeah, kinda funny looking. But after that it looks like real people bid on it, so ebay probably wont do anything.

Wade

[Joe B.]

I always do that if I think it is just going to go higher anyway. No real reason. Just more entertaining that watching a presidential debate.

[li0nhart123]

this is probably what happened

the 15.02 guy had his proxy bid set to that amount. Ebay will bid in increments on your behalf up to your max proxy bid. the 29.23 guy placed his proxy higher at at least 29.23 after the 15.02 guy.. another bidder bid 28.23 but the 29.23 proxy bid immeadiatly outbid him...the auction then ended.

[NOMAD]

If your bid is 23.01 and someone bids 23.00 at the last minute you still win. I always add strange cents just for kicks.

[Merkava_4]

eBay (http://offer.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=270201201497)

Here's another one: a bid jumps from $45 up to $60. You would think it's a little unnecessary to jump $15 right? But that's not all, it's the same guy! He raised himself up by $15! Why not stop at $50, then $55, and then go to $60? Why make yourself pay an extra $15 if you don't have to?

[li0nhart123]

You can't bid against yourself...you can raise your proxy but ebay will still only bid one increment above what has just been bid. you can bid a million dollars on a penny auction and if nobody else bids you get it for a penny.

i never play that stupid game anyhow...bididng on a 7 day auction during the first 6 days 23 hours and 59 minutes is just plain tarded for a buyer....all that manages to do is drive the price up buy giving other like minded fools the ability to bid against you.

I use aution sentry and bid in the last 3 seconds with my maximum amount i am willing to pay. It's all or nothing. If someone has a higher proxy bid they will get it. Most of the time they do not. They don't even know I'm coming until it's too late. They have no chance to bid against me.

"Sniping" also means you do not get into a bidding war an let your emotions drain your bank account. I also look for auctions that end in the middle of the night. Not many bidders are gong to stay up late enough to manually enter bids in at the last moment. I set my software to snipe for me and just go to bed.

[Merkava_4]

Yeah. . . I'm going to have to learn a little more about that bidding software. :)

[Danglerb]

Easy to make a mistake, I goofed twice in a week. I bid tonight on an auction for 2 items, and learned a minute or two later that ebay doesn't do a proxy bid for those. I set my bid about $10 more than the current bidder, and joy won and the auction and had to pay $10 more than the next bidder offered per item. Hopefully it taught me a lesson on bidding.

[l_bilyk]

I always bid some random penny amount, because people seem to always bid in multiples of 5 and 10

[chad s]

I always bid some random penny amount, because people seem to always bid in multiples of 5 and 10

Yup, sometimes you can win by a penny!

[lbgradwell]

i never play that stupid game anyhow...bididng on a 7 day auction during the first 6 days 23 hours and 59 minutes is just plain tarded for a buyer....all that manages to do is drive the price up buy giving other like minded fools the ability to bid against you.

I couldn't agree more.

I use aution sentry and bid in the last 3 seconds with my maximum amount i am willing to pay. It's all or nothing. If someone has a higher proxy bid they will get it. Most of the time they do not. They don't even know I'm coming until it's too late. They have no chance to bid against me.

Although I bid manually, I employ the same strategy.

I also look for auctions that end in the middle of the night. Not many bidders are gong to stay up late enough to manually enter bids in at the last moment.

Same here. I love the auctions that end at 2am in the middle of the week!

[lbgradwell]

Yup, sometimes you can win by a penny!

I have several times! Often with my own Max Bid!

[lbgradwell]

Easy to make a mistake, I goofed twice in a week. I bid tonight on an auction for 2 items, and learned a minute or two later that ebay doesn't do a proxy bid for those. I set my bid about $10 more than the current bidder, and joy won and the auction and had to pay $10 more than the next bidder offered per item. Hopefully it taught me a lesson on bidding.

I don't follow. Can you post a link to this auction so I can take a look?

[NOMAD]

Sometimes Ebay will not show the competitor's bid info if they only bid several times nad the winner's maximum is still higher. The winner's amount is bumped up to beat the other guy but all you see is that they went from 20 to 40.

[PAToyota]

You can see the reason for pennies further up the list for the auction - two people both bid $35 and then another two both bid $50: http://offer.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=260200119738

As for the second one, you have to pay attention to the time and date of the bids as well: http://offer.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=270201201497

Based on the bids, 9521garys places the first bid of the auction at $45. Later on that day, he decides it is worth $60 to him and places that bid. At that point, the bid still shows at the $25 opening price. Four days later, busch40 joins the auction and bids $40. At that point, the bid likely stands at $41 because 9521garys still has his $45 maximum in there. Another day goes by (and likely in the final moments) and wise3 comes in and bids his maximum - shooting past both of 9521garys bids - and proving li0nhart123's statement about bidding before the final minutes...

[Red Green]

I figure out what the total I am going to pay for something is then subtract shipping and end up with my bid price so if I am going to pay $25 for something and the shipping is $9.02 I have a max bid of $15.98.

[Danglerb]

I don't follow. Can you post a link to this auction so I can take a look?

Its a quirk of how a multi item dutch auction works when you are bidding for all the items. In a normal dutch auction for 5 sockets, each person bids an amount and a quantity, like $6 each and 3 sockets. When the auction ends the items go to the top bidder(s) with the price set by the lowest winning bid.

If I had set my quantity to 1 instead of 2, I would have won 1, and the other bidder would have won 1 (instead of the two he wanted) and the price would have been his max bid for both of us.

http://pages.motors.ebay.com/help/buy/buyer-multiple.html

[Danglerb]

I figure out what the total I am going to pay for something is then subtract shipping and end up with my bid price so if I am going to pay $25 for something and the shipping is $9.02 I have a max bid of $15.98.

Very common practice, so I typically make my bid at least one bid increment higher than that, like 16.27.

[lbgradwell]

Its a quirk of how a multi item dutch auction works when you are bidding for all the items. In a normal dutch auction for 5 sockets, each person bids an amount and a quantity, like $6 each and 3 sockets. When the auction ends the items go to the top bidder(s) with the price set by the lowest winning bid.

If I had set my quantity to 1 instead of 2, I would have won 1, and the other bidder would have won 1 (instead of the two he wanted) and the price would have been his max bid for both of us.

http://pages.motors.ebay.com/help/buy/buyer-multiple.html

Interesting. Good to know! Thanks!

[PAToyota]

I figure out what the total I am going to pay for something is then subtract shipping and end up with my bid price so if I am going to pay $25 for something and the shipping is $9.02 I have a max bid of $15.98.

More and more, I see people trying to get you on shipping - stuff like something that would fit in a standard flat rate USPS box for about $9~$10 and they are charging $38 for the shipping and starting off with a real low opening bid. Sometimes you can still get it for a deal if the shipping scares bidders off and it is worth substantially more than $40. And I'm sure that the other reason they are doing it is to get around the value fees from eBay (it only sold for a buck!). But the games do get a bit crazy at times...

[Spookrider]

Whwn ever I bid I alway add some cents to the end. I guess to devil the other end bidder.

[SuperKid]

Most of my bids have odd cents because of a few rules I've set for myself:

1.) Only buy new. (So there's no question on whether or not it'll work.)
2.) Don't bid more than 75% of retail minus shipping. (To keep myself from over spending.)
3.) Don't fret if I lose an item. (Just about everything I buy will eventually turn up again on eBay)

Number two is where my strange bids come from. Here's an example to show you what I mean. Say I'm bidding on a Snap-On 1/2" ratchet S936. Retail is $112.00 and shipping is $9.07. I multiply $112.00 by .75 to get $84. Then, I subtract the $9.07 from $84. That would give me my max bid of $74.93.

[li0nhart123]

That would give me my max bid of $74.93.

4.) Take that 74.93 and feed it into your sniping software where that bid will be fired in 3 seconds before the auction ends.

[Merkava_4]

eBay (http://offer.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=260200119317)

Seams like a lot of people wanted this wrench. :wtf:

[Charles (in GA)]

I add not only odd cents, but also odd dollars. My high bid on one auction was $253.53 The next higher bidder bid $252.00 thinking I'd only bid even amounts plus a few cents, I guess.

The more valuable an item, the more cushion I give myself from even amounts.

Charles

[SuperKid]

4.) Take that 74.93 and feed it into your sniping software where that bid will be fired in 3 seconds before the auction ends.


I hate that sniping stuff. To me, it takes the fun out of bidding on things. I'd rather just throw up my max bid when I see an item and wait until the auction ends. If I win, great. If not, no big deal, another one will come by again.

[li0nhart123]

I hate that sniping stuff. To me, it takes the fun out of bidding on things. I'd rather just throw up my max bid when I see an item and wait until the auction ends. If I win, great. If not, no big deal, another one will come by again.

and you will get to pay top dollar for your item as well...

the sniping software is actualy easier to use than ebay's bidding system.

You do not have to log into ebay to use it. The software does all that for you. I thinks it's more fun to watch an auction to the end as you have just sniped the auction form some unsuspecting noob who thought they were gonna get it for a song.

I have even had them email me asking how I managed to outbid them 2 secs before it ended.

[Merkava_4]

I have even had them email me asking how I managed to outbid them 2 secs before it ended.

A link to the software site please. :D

[li0nhart123]

A link to the software site please. :D

http://www.auction-sentry.com/

[GT crew]

Using a sniping program is the only way to go. In addition to the benefits previously mentioned, swooping in for a last second snipe keeps your bidding/buying history safe from the prying eyes of contending bidders. Savvy eBay users will check bidder history in an effort to determine bidding patterns and possible max bid based upon past auction results.

[Merkava_4]

http://www.auction-sentry.com/

^
Thank You Sir! :bounce:

[SuperKid]

and you will get to pay top dollar for your item as well...

Read the first rule I wrote. I don't bid more than 75% of retail. Also, I don't see how I'll pay "top dollar." The only way what I actually pay will rise is if someone bids higher than the current price but less than my max bid.

[GT crew]

While you won't pay more than 75% of retail, using a sniping program increases the chances that you will pay much less. Say bidder A has had a bid of $50 dollars riding for the past two days on an item you are interested in that retails for $100. You place your $75 bid and blow bidder A away. But then bidder A proceeds to bid back at $2 a pop until the bid stands at $76.00, an action that was prompted solely by your bid of $75. Using a sniper it may be possible to take the auction for $51.00 because bidder A thinks he has the high bid. Potential savings: $24. But if it's only money...

[PAToyota]

Also, I don't see how I'll pay "top dollar." The only way what I actually pay will rise is if someone bids higher than the current price but less than my max bid.

Typically I "manually" snipe - just place my bid in the final seconds of the auction. But recently I was going to be away from my computer at the end of an auction, so I gave one of the sniping services a try. It was supposed to bid in the last five seconds, but for some reason it bid at 40 seconds to go. In those final forty seconds, the guy I outbid put in two more bids trying to win. If I had been doing it manually and bid in those final five seconds, he would have never had the chance. The auction still ended lower than my maximum bid and I won the item, but if he had not had the chance to get those final two bids in I would have saved a good bit of money.

That is how you pay more by playing your hand while others still have a chance to submit bids.

Granted, there are other times that by the time the auction is down to the final minutes it is already over what I had originally determined would be my maximum bid. I have no problem letting those go because it was more than I'd have paid anyway.

[Merkava_4]

You mean that if your maximum bid is higher than the last bidder's maximum bid, you still win?

[li0nhart123]

Using a sniping program is the only way to go. In addition to the benefits previously mentioned, swooping in for a last second snipe keeps your bidding/buying history safe from the prying eyes of contending bidders. Savvy eBay users will check bidder history in an effort to determine bidding patterns and possible max bid based upon past auction results.

Exactly...I have two EBay Id's. One for selling and one for buying. My selling ID is at 100% feedback rating. My Buying ID is a lot less. That's because I neg sellers who screw me around. Of course I receive a retaliatory neg in return. If I were to bid 'normally'. Sellers would have the opportunity to see that I don't take carp and would block and cancel my bid. By sniping, they can't do that and when I win..they see by my "horrible" feedback that I won't put up with garbage like jacking up the shipping, shipping broken junk..etc.

Since I live in Canada, I have had to put up with a lot of carp from sellers in other countries shipping to me...I never neg based on shipping times as long as the postmark on the package was reasonable compared to when I paid. If shipment was held up in customs, that is not the sellers fault...poor packaging, etc is as far as I am concerned.

I generally get pretty good treatment from my sellers now as they know I wont' hesitate to give em what they deserve if it comes down to it.

[PAToyota]

You mean that if your maximum bid is higher than the last bidder's maximum bid, you still win?

Not quite sure of your question, or if it was directed at my post...

If it was, what I was saying in my example (making the numbers easier so that the discussion is more simple):

Basically, I figured that the item was worth $250 to me. That was the maximum bid I was willing to put in at the final few seconds. Up to that point, the bidding had reached $150. When the "service" put my bid of $250 in at forty seconds to go, the bid went to $155. The last guy, seeing this, put in bids of $175 and $200 in an attempt to win the auction before time ran out. Since his maximum bid was $200 and mine was $250, the final auction price was $205 - his final bid plus the bid increment. I still won and was under my maximum bid of $250. But if my bid went in at 5 seconds instead of 40 seconds, he would not have had time to bid and I would have gotten it at $155 instead of $205 and saved $50 in the process.

[Merkava_4]

eBay (http://offer.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=220189551576)

Why did larryb8816 keep bidding on top of himself? :confused:

[Danglerb]

Lets say an item is worth $500, but the bid is only $12. I make a max bid of $99 hoping for a HUGE bargain, and I have the top bid at $13. Couple days later I decide I would rather WIN than risk a bargain and increase my max bid to $500 as insurance against snipers. No sniper and I win at $13, sniper that wants a bargain more than winning and maybe I win for $125 or $499.

[PAToyota]

eBay (http://offer.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=220189551576)

Why did larryb8816 keep bidding on top of himself? :confused:

Again, look at the dates to make sense of it. kccm93 bid $10 on January 8th. Then becodered bid $45 on Janurary 10 - but at that point the bid would have shown as $11. All of larryb8816's bids are on January 12th as he tried to get "over" becodered's previous maximum bid. Interestingly, larryb8816 gave up a dollar short - at $44. If he had gone to $46 he would have outbid becodered.

Now, using that as an example, say that those two were the only ones bidding on it and it would have ended at the final $45 bid. By putting in his bid early, becodered not only nearly lost the auction, but he also got bid up over $30. If he had waited until the last minute, larryb8816 would have put in his $12.45 bid to beat kccm93's $10 bid - and would have thought he was going to win the auction at $11. Then in the final seconds, becodered would have come in with his $45 maximum bid and not only won, but also gotten it for $13.45 instead of $45.

Beginning to wonder why I am arguing all this out as it is giving away the secret to most of my auction wins... I'd actually prefer if more people bid like Merkava_4 and SuperKid... :lol_hitti

[Merkava_4]

Then in the final seconds, becodered would have come in with his $45 maximum bid and not only won, but also gotten it for $13.45 instead of $45.

That's the part I can't figure out, but thanks for trying to educate me; I appreciate it. :)

[nissan_crawler]

More and more, I see people trying to get you on shipping - stuff like something that would fit in a standard flat rate USPS box for about $9~$10 and they are charging $38 for the shipping and starting off with a real low opening bid. Sometimes you can still get it for a deal if the shipping scares bidders off and it is worth substantially more than $40. And I'm sure that the other reason they are doing it is to get around the value fees from eBay (it only sold for a buck!). But the games do get a bit crazy at times...

Yep, I just won a Bosch ps20-2 lithium ion driver for $67, but the shipping was $19. However, it's $130 at lowes and home depot, so I still saved $44. I think people were discouraged by the $19 shipping. Works for me.:bounce:

[PAToyota]

That's the part I can't figure out, but thanks for trying to educate me; I appreciate it. :)

What can't you understand? How the maximum bid works?

Basically, if one person bids $10 and another person bids a million dollars, the bid will only increase one bid increment - not the million dollars. So at $10 it would increase $0.50: http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-increments.html

But then if the $10 bidder comes back and bids $20, it will jump to that and then $20.50 - because the other bidder is still higher. But it still only goes one bid increment above the other bidder.

[PAToyota]

Yep, I just won a Bosch ps20-2 lithium ion driver for $67, but the shipping was $19. However, it's $130 at lowes and home depot, so I still saved $44. I think people were discouraged by the $19 shipping. Works for me.:bounce:

Depending on where you are in relation to the seller and what the weight was, I can see $19 being reasonable. It is when shipping is $50 for something that fits in a $10 flat rate box that I don't get.

Actually, you can fit quite a bit into a flat rate box although I have found that there is an 70 lb. limit to it... :wtf: :bounce:

[Merkava_4]

What can't you understand? How the maximum bid works?

Basically, if one person bids $10 and another person bids a million dollars, the bid will only increase one bid increment - not the million dollars. So at $10 it would increase $0.50: http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-increments.html

But then if the $10 bidder comes back and bids $20, it will jump to that and then $20.50 - because the other bidder is still higher. But it still only goes one bid increment above the other bidder.

I understand now - Thank You sir! :bowdown:

[mikester]

I bought a Hotchkis suspension setup for my 81 Malibu and I won the auction by .25. I almost always bid an odd number. Can you imagine how pissed the other guy was that lost to me !

[li0nhart123]

That's the part I can't figure out, but thanks for trying to educate me; I appreciate it. :)

Think of it this way....say you have a 500 amp power supply and your tool only requires 100 amps. you got 400 amps to spare.

now you plug in another tool that uses 200 amps..you now have a total of 300 amps drawing but since your have a 500 amp power supply you can cover it.

your power supply is your max bid.

the tools are the little "niblers" or bidders increasing the bid amount.

The power supply will hand out amps to cover the needed draw until a tool is plugged in that takes the draw over 500 amps.

with sniping you throw your breaker in one shot hoping you got enough amps to cover the charge.

[KnacK]

Just a couple of things:

1. eBay does have a link on each auction page to report it. One of the reasons given that you can repport an auction is shipping ripoffs.

2. I use jbidwatcher (http://www.jbidwatcher.com) and usually snipe at 4 seconds with great success.

As mentioned a few times in this thread, making a bid on an item 2,3, or 4 days out will in just about every case, cause the winning bid to be higher than it needs to be.

If you find something that you like, add it to your watched list, then when the last minutes roll around, you can plan accordingly, or just use some sniping software.

Chris

[Merkava_4]

eBay (http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=330204115445)

If zundrace hadn't of bidded, would mayo1126 have won the auction at US $55.00 ?

[lbgradwell]

eBay (http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=330204115445)

If zundrace hadn't of bidded, would mayo1126 have won the auction at US $55.00 ?

No, mayo1126 would have won at $46.00 or $46.50 (whatever the incremental difference is at that $ value). He need only have outbid lmox27's existing bid...

[Merkava_4]

No, mayo1126 would have won at $46.00 or $46.50 (whatever the incremental difference is at that $ value). He need only have outbid lmox27's existing bid...

Thank you sir! :)

[PAToyota]

And that is a perfect example of bidding too soon. Not only did it give mayo the chance to put in five more bids before the auction ended, but you can also see that mayo thought about it over twenty minutes before putting in his final bid - he nearly gave up and zundrace would have won then but still at much higher than he could have...

[Mike F]

One of the problems with ebay is that it has strayed from what it originally started out as- a more Craigslist type site that people auctioned their unwanted used merchandise on. There are so many vendors that it has become essentially an internet store, complete with ways for the owner not to risk much. A recent example of this is what happened to my wife just yesterday. She bid on a jersey that had a buy it now price of $99. Opening bid was $25. She figured it was worth $60 and placed that as her max bid. A couple of hours before bidding ended, 11 incremental bids were placed and the bidding ended at $61. Low and behold, a "second chance" notice was sent to us to buy the item at her max bid of $60 (which she did). Now, the seller obviously was bidding up the price himself, probably with a max bid of $100 or so. He protects himself from getting burned if nobody bids up the initial low bids which would mean he would have to sell the item for a loss. He is obviously the winner of his own auction, and then either offers a second chance to buy, or puts it up for auction again and again until he gets a buyer to pay his price. In this instance, sniping software won't work, since his maximum bid is still higher than my wife's max bid, and he will always come out on top until someone bids over his maximum. An auction should be just that. Take a chance on the sale, and hope you get your price. Set a higher initial bid if you like, but a person should not be permitted to bid up his own price to avoid a loss. Just my opinion- others may disagree.

[wrenchr]

One of the problems with ebay is that it has strayed from what it originally started out as- a more Craigslist type site that people auctioned their unwanted used merchandise on. There are so many vendors that it has become essentially an internet store, complete with ways for the owner not to risk much. A recent example of this is what happened to my wife just yesterday. She bid on a jersey that had a buy it now price of $99. Opening bid was $25. She figured it was worth $60 and placed that as her max bid. A couple of hours before bidding ended, 11 incremental bids were placed and the bidding ended at $61. Low and behold, a "second chance" notice was sent to us to buy the item at her max bid of $60 (which she did). Now, the seller obviously was bidding up the price himself, probably with a max bid of $100 or so. He protects himself from getting burned if nobody bids up the initial low bids which would mean he would have to sell the item for a loss. He is obviously the winner of his own auction, and then either offers a second chance to buy, or puts it up for auction again and again until he gets a buyer to pay his price. In this instance, sniping software won't work, since his maximum bid is still higher than my wife's max bid, and he will always come out on top until someone bids over his maximum. An auction should be just that. Take a chance on the sale, and hope you get your price. Set a higher initial bid if you like, but a person should not be permitted to bid up his own price to avoid a loss. Just my opinion- others may disagree.

It is the buddy system, They have someone else bid on it or have a second account.

[krusty the clown]

it's called shill bidding...........turn him in

[Mike F]

it's called shill bidding...........turn him in

Thanks for the info. I was not aware of that policy. To be honest, I feel that this is not an infrequent situation.

[lbgradwell]

Low and behold, a "second chance" notice was sent to us to buy the item at her max bid of $60 (which she did).

This wasn't necessarily a case of shill bidding... Another possible explanation is that the Seller in this case has multiple units of the exact same item.

The only time I have ever received a "second chance" email was from a reputable Seller who definitely has many units of NOS Herbrand tools. I'm sure of this since I've watched him sell them almost weekly for a couple of years!