Do you bid to win???

[Junkman]

Sometimes I come across a tool, and just watch how the bidding is going. If I am intent on winning, I will place a sniper bid for my top dollar. If I don't care one way or the other, I will just place my highest bid a few hours before the end. Most times, it seems that I am outbid, but my bid has caused the auction to go way beyond what the item is worth to me. A classic example is this Snap On 1/4" drive ratchet. The price is now approaching close to what it cost for a new one when you factor in the shipping. $52.59 for used vs. $73 for new. To save $20 on a ratchet to me doesn't seem like a good enough deal, especially if when it arrives, it isn't as good as the seller says it is. In this case, I didn't bid to win, but just to see how high it was going to go...

 

[rsanter]

generally I bid to win the item at a steal of a price. for me its the fun that I might get so lucky that I might get it for unrealistically cheap.
do I win much...no
but when I win its a deal and it is a bit exciting.

there have only been a couple of times I have bid on anything agressivly and that was on some parts for the car that I just had to have to get the project moving. the stuff was hard to find and so I was stuck

bob

 

[bmwpower]

Could be a foreign bidder. I usually snipe to win or bid to take a chance. But not lately. EBay seems kinda dead.

 

[mikeyr]

I always bid to win, if I want it, I bid and I win. If I don't want it then I don't bid.

Last item I bid on (and won) was a super rare LUCAS switch for my car, bidding was at $120 and I bid $1,000 3 days early when I saw it and sent the owner my address. I was quite shocked when it got as high as $416 but its in the mail.

I have only bought a few items on ebay but its always the same if I want it, I win. I am only bidding on rare things for cars there are extremely rare and the parts don't come up very often so its win or lose the part forever. Everything else is buy it now.

 

[akdiesel]

I used to snipe, but now if I realy want it I will try to watch down to the wire with a price in mind.

 

[Frank Elson]

Depends on the item. If it's rare and desperately needed, as above parts for cars, I'll go as high as I have to.
But at the moment I'm top bidder on a Teng ratchet. It sells for £25. I'd like it for £15 which is a reasonable saving, so that's what I've bid. I don't want it for £16 'cos there'll be another one along sometime soon.

 

[Cebby]

I don't use snipers - IMO that takes the fun out of it. I've always viewed eBay as a good source of entertainment.

If you want the price to remain reasonable, never bid early. I win nearly every auction I've participated in by making sure I put the max I'm willing to spend in a bid within the last 2 seconds of the auction.

I also make sure that if I want to spend for example around $40 on an item, I round up to some odd ball figure, like $43.87. The pattern I've seen with most bidders is that they use round numbers. $40, $42 or $42.50 are what I consider round nums in eBay speak.

 

[tigerbalm2424]

If you want the price to remain reasonable, never bid early. I win nearly every auction I've participated in by making sure I put the max I'm willing to spend in a bid within the last 2 seconds of the auction.

I've never lost an auction this way!

Havent been on Ebay much lately but back when It came out I was in college and made so much money buying and then selling in person it was rediculous!

 

[Frank Elson]

I lost it by £1.
So, who'd like to bet that I find a nicer one cheaper this weekend ?

 

[twostory]

I always bid to win. BUT I never bid until 2 minutes before the auction ends. This gives me time to rebid, if someone is there, or has an auto bid active.

I usually am buying tools, so if I get outbid, not a problem, I just wait for the next time.

I will use the "buy it now" if the price is fair. I look thru expired auctions to see what stuff really sold for.

 

[chammyman]

frank what ratchet you going for? the plastic sided teng one?

You seen the super deal on the britool flex heads?

Anyway I think everyone bids to win, I normally always do the last few seconds sniping method. I set a limit and stick to it

 

[Junkman]

I usually snipe when I actually want to win, and if I don't get it for my snipe bid, then it went for more than I thught it was worth. All too often I will watch a item, and then when it gets close to the day that it is ending, I will have forgotten about it, and that is the main reason I snipe. This happened to me a few months ago. I was watching an auction for a set of SAE Snap-On OEXL wrenches that were like new. I didn't think that they would sell for a low prices, so I just didn't keep following it. In the end, the 6 or 8 wrenches sold for $45, and I was annoyed at myself for not putting in a sniper bid. That was the least that I have ever seen them sell for.

 

[Frank Elson]

yeah Chammy, the standard plastic handled one.
What Britool deal?

I usually bid at the end but this auction finished while I was at work, so I had to bid from home. My max was £15.20 and I'd have been happy at that. It went for £16.20 which you might say was ok for a £25 tool, but who knows where it would have stopped?
I can pick one up on the way home for £25 minus my 10 pr cent "trade" offer.

 

[dcjredline]

I do the same as most others. Bid what I think is a fair price to win it, if I dont I dont care if I do its a deal for me. I also will use "odd" numbers for the same reason as to hopefully beat out the other guy by pennies.

 

[BooUrns!]

I'm an old school ebay sniper. Usually won't bid until the last 7-15 seconds. Multiple windows open if I really want the item, all with a higher bid amount in each. I do it mainly for fun. It irks me when I see clowns bidding up to retail prices for ebay items.

I got into the sniping because I would see people get into auction fever; bidding not for the price savings but just to win the item. Irrational exuberance. I'm in there to save money and since most of the tools I buy are usually somewhere in the lower states, I need to save money to offset shipping costs and customs fees.

 

[Torque1st]

I'm an old school ebay sniper. Usually won't bid until the last 7-15 seconds. Multiple windows open if I really want the item, all with a higher bid amount in each. I do it mainly for fun. It irks me when I see clowns bidding up to retail prices for ebay items.

I got into the sniping because I would see people get into auction fever; bidding not for the price savings but just to win the item. Irrational exuberance. I'm in there to save money and since most of the tools I buy are usually somewhere in the lower states, I need to save money to offset shipping costs and customs fees.

I have always done the same which is similar to what Cebby said. I have a price and no more that I snipe with. Sometimes I win, sometimes I don't. I won't pay more than what an ebay item with inherent risks is worth.

I don't use ebay anymore. I have not seen anything I wanted on there for a decent price for over a year. I still have an account but it is totally inactive. I no longer receive emails etc. If they ever get back to being an auction site instead of a retail store I may buy something but not now. If I want to buy something from a retail store there are plenty in the neighborhood. I can inspect the item itself and take delivery today.