How does Ebay work???

[Bob Barker]

So I am bidding on a cheap-o holset HY35 and each time I place a bid I instantly get outbid... what the crap is happening? I've never bought anything from Ebay or even bid on anything before. Is someone hussling me with some kind of program that auto bids instantly after each of my bids by $1 or something?

But I really want to win this bid. So far for 2 days left it's the best price I've ever seen on this style turbo...

[ZEUS]

Yeah, the top bidder most likely has an auto bid setup. It is prolly the seller's brother and it will keep going till they get to the minimum they are willing to take. That's just my guess from my experiences and read stories...

[phines]

Bob, if the first bidder bids $100, it does not automatically go to $100, it starts out at $1 or whatever the minimum bid is. If you then bid $5, it automatically jumps to $6 and the other guy remains the highest bidder. In this case, you would not be the highest bidder unless you bid $101 (or more).

Basically, your bid is saying the maximum you are willing to pay for the item, but only gets that high if someone else is willing to pay that much too.

[VX KAT]

My nickname is "the Queen of all things ebay"......

Paul is correct. It's called "Proxy bidding."
When you enter a bid amount higher than the current high bid (Usually about $1 some times it's .50 cents on cheaper items) the ebay system AUTOMATICALLY does "proxy bidding" for you (and all ebay bidders).

So if current bid is showing as $50 and YOU enter $100 as your maximum bid...it will enter a bid of $51 for you..... if nobody else has entered a maximum bid higher, you become the new high bidder at $51.

Then I come along as another bidder and bid $75 MAXIMUM....it enters it as $52 and then ebay's computer proxy system immediately recognizes that YOU have a $100 max sitting there...so ebay's system bids $52 ON YOUR BEHALF. This happens in like a nano-second so it's all automated and instanatious. I get a message saying I've been outbid.

That's the situation you're describing right now.


Next, I decide to bid again and try to become the high bidder. Until I bid ABOVE your $100 MAX, you will remain the high bidder with the bid going up in increments of $1. (at some point the increment gets bigger, don't know when it clicks over to $5 increments or whatever).

Ebay's automatic/proxy bidding will ONLY bid your money UP to the MAX you entered, AND ONLY if it has to to outbid another bidder. So it's totally safe to enter a maximum bid...just make sure you're willing to pay the amount you enter as your max bid.

You get to enter e NEW MAX bid every single time you are placing a bid. You do NOT have to enter the MINimum of $1 (in my example above)....you can, but you may have to enter like 25 or 30 individual bids until you EXCEED the max bid of whomever is in the lead.

Because the system works this way....I find it better strategy to ONLY bid at near the very end of the auction....like 15 seconds or less before it ends. Otherwise, you are just bidding the item up in value over and over.

I like to come in with 5 or 10 seconds left and enter a whopper of a max bid (an amount I'm willing to pay for the item). I even open up my computer's analog clock graphic so I can see it and time it down to the second.
I virtually always WIN because many ebay users such as yourself, are not familiar enough with how the bidding/proxy bidding system works and very often have NOT entered a very high max amount. I've lost out maybe 4 times in many many many auctions.

RISKS to doing it my way:
1) If your internet connection craps out or slows down in the crucial last 10-15 seconds...you lose out.

2) IF someone else has a max bid on file that's HIGHER than what I just bid in that last 10 seconds...THEY will become the high bidder and I won't have enough time to enter ANOTHER bid...time will have run out.

KEY POINTS OFTEN NOT UNDERSTOOD BY NEW EBAYERS:
Just remember, ebay's proxy BID system is automatic, and it is effective on each and every bid, for all bidders.

Also, ebay will NOT spend your money unless it has to to TRY to get you as high bidder, so don't think if you enter $100 you absolutely will pay that much for the item.....you only will if some other bidder bids it up to that amount.

PM me if you have any other questions.....ebay's my guilty pleasure ....so I can give you lots of info so you can win what you want.

[Marlin]

Kat, I am glad we don't bid against one another on the same items...I have been on Ebay since it was only a tristate Ohio/Indiana/Kentucky company. Many moons ago, wish I would have bought stock then...I certainly would have more than one VX if that were the case.

[VX KAT]

Kat, I am glad we don't bid against one another on the same items...

Yeah, I'm wicked good on winning stuff and never use a sniping program or anything, do it all by "hand"...that and my clock with a second hand. My record is 2 seconds, but usually I average 4-5 seconds.

Really cleaned out our TX house before we moved to AZ 3 yrs ago, sold tons and tons of household stuff... luggage, purses, clothing, jewelry, sunglasses, electronics, bath towels, sheets, the list goes on and on. And the number of shoes I sold is ridiculous!

[Bob Barker]

damn! So I should just stop bidding until the last minute of this auction?

How do I know when I become max bidder again? Just enter $100 until I stay as top bidder?

When I first bid on it I stayed as top bidder for about 5 hours and then got an email that I'd been outbid...

[Marlin]

damn! So I should just stop bidding until the last minute of this auction?

How do I know when I become max bidder again? Just enter $100 until I stay as top bidder?

When I first bid on it I stayed as top bidder for about 5 hours and then got an email that I'd been outbid...

As Sue said, just put in the max you would be willing to pay at the last minute, then cross your fingers, refresh after the time has expired and hope you win.

Sue's explaination was pretty spot on. You enter one bid. Say you enter 100. As long as no one else has entered a bid, you will have it at the next highest amount, lets say the other guy bid at 75. That means you will have it at 76, until someone enter a value higher than 76. At that point, the bid will go up to 1 dollar above their highest bid (unless they bid higher than 100) at that point you would no longer be the highest bidder, and would have to top their highest bid to win.
So advice, wait until the last second to bid. You may not win, but it could save you some bucks. I also try to bid odd numbers, stay away from even 25 increments or 10 dollar increments. I will bid 76, just assuming the other guy bid 75, and I beat him buy a buck
Also notice the S&H charges, some items will go very cheap, only find out they are gouging the S&H charges. This is due to ebay charging the seller a fee based on sell price, not including S&H. So you may pay 30 bucks for an item that is worth 50, but the seller charges 30 for S&H to make up the difference.
You can get some amazing deals on ebay, but there are also a ton of rip offs.

[Bob Barker]

Thanks!

Shipping is set at $36 but it's a pretty heavy box. If I get it for less than $100 I'd be happy to pay that shipping cost!

[VX KAT]

So I should just stop bidding until the last minute of this auction?

~I'd recommend you hold off until the last minute. BUT, you have to make sure you are in front of a computer at that time...and don't forget about it (I've done it many times) AND your internet connection is good.

How do I know when I become max bidder again? Just enter $100 until I stay as top bidder?
~ Ebay's system is lightening fast so you'll know in a nano second after you enter a bid whether or not YOU are the high bidder. Don't rely on ebay's email notifications, they're delayed.

When I first bid on it I stayed as top bidder for about 5 hours and then got an email that I'd been outbid...
~ Again, DON'T rely on the email notification from ebay that says you've been outbid...those are often sent hrs late...they're not real time. Rely only on the live ebay screen and keep refreshing your screen so you see what's happening.

A few more points:

Marlin raised shipping charges....
~yes, because ebay charges sellers based on the SELLING price, some sellers try to "shift" the cost to shipping/handling and avoid some charges. That's not really an issue to YOU, just make sure you are aware of the s/h $ and add it to your budget for the item.

~More on s/h:......
when it says "FREE SHIPPING"...often the seller has padded their price to cover shipping. So you have to always add s/h to your price to make sure you're always comparing apples to apples when comparing prices of an item from several sellers.
Ebay recently changed policy on the sorting priority items are listed ....and those with "FRee Shipping" get listed earlier in YOUR search results.....better exposure/more likely to sell....so now you'll see a ton of "free shipping" offered so sellers get their items listed sooner on your search. All it really did was cause most sellers to pad their prices to cover s/h. But customers all like "free shipping" and think they're getting a great deal...so gotta watch out for that.

~Make sure you have a good idea what the item is worth!
Like Marlin said some on ebay are a rip off and you can get the item cheaper either locally or online somewhere. So don't get caught up in a bidding war and end up paying too much for an item.

As soon as I see an item I want, I research it on the web and see what it's going for, like at Amazon.com or the manufacturer directly or other sellers online.

If it's a rare or one of a kind (VX part ) then you decide how much it's worth to YOU and add the s/h and decide what your max bid will be. If I really want something, I'll bid some crazy high $ amount...(like when I found a purple dog crate....I HAD to have it! ) I was willing to pay like double because I couldn't find the same item anywhere else!

~PAYING for your item:
You pretty much have to open a PayPal account to buy stuff on ebay. Ebay OWNS PayPal, so they've tried to make it the only way to pay, so they can collect even more fees Occasionally you'll find a seller that will take a money order.
It's free to open a PayPal account. YOU do NOT get charged anything as the BUYER.....but the seller does get charged a % (around 3%).
PM me if you want more details about PayPal.

PM me if you have any more ?s.

Moncha...maybe we should start an "ebay - How to" to capture all this info?

[Riff Raff]

Ditto on what's already been said. The "Sniper" tactic (whether Automatic or Self-Timed with a manual clock/wristwatch) by bidding at the very last 2-4 seconds and with a very high ceiling cap (proxy) set is truly the best and sure way to win. Otherwise, you're just jacking-up the price for everyone else and the item doesn't become a good deal anymore. This sniper tactic totally smash'es all other bids at the very last second and you become the winner, and most importantly doesn't allow another competing bidder to react in time with a counter-bid before time runs out. As previously mentioned, the most important thing is to "be willing to pay" the possible very high price you set as a ceiling cap (yes, the bidding may go that high in the final heat of the moment), and really watch-out for the High Price Shipping Charge's scam (very common nowaday's as a sales trick on eBay by Seller's trying to swindle more money for an item).

Incidentally, I won my Proton VX on eBay with 2-seconds remaining in the auction and I had an extremely high ceiling cap bid proxy set using the Sniper tactic. The actual ending selling price of my VX never came close to reaching my max ceiling cap, but my auto-bid proxy totally smashed-out all other eBay bid's as auction time expired (what I like to refer to as a "Nuclear Warhead").

The other advice I would add is when buying very expensive items of value on eBay like motor vehicles or high-end electronic stereo/TV gear or anything else of major value is to always use www.ESCROW.com as the monetary conduit to make the purchase exchange. Never, never, send a substantial monetary deposit payment directly to a Seller (he'll just cash your advance deposit payment and quickly disappear into the shadows never to be heard from again).

With www.ESCROW.com; you the Buyer, would electronically send your payment to Escrow.com which would "hold" your money and they would notify the Seller that the purchase funds are now "secured". The Seller would then ship the item (without payment) to you the Buyer, and you will have a 3-day inspection period upon the item's arrival to either "accept or reject" the purchase. If you; The Buyer, accept the item and it meets your satisfaction, then Escrow.com electronically dispurses the purchase price (your "secured" funds) to the Seller (transaction completed). The really cool thing is that if you check-out the item upon its arrival during the 3-day inspection period and discover the item is total junk and does not meet your satisfaction, then you The Buyer can "reject" the item via Escrow.com; pay to ship the item back to the Seller, and then Escrow.com will refund your original money back to you, The Buyer. Consequently, there is no way for you The Buyer to ever get ripped-off by a possible shaddy Seller (yes, they are out there). The very worst case scenario would be that you had to pay for shipping both ways (to you & from you) for the item, but at least you wouldn't be stuck with a lemon or piece of junk.

If an on-line Seller ever refuses to cooperate with the established Escrow.com policy, then that's a sure tell-tale sign the item he's selling is total junk and it's a scam to rip you off, and that gives you a legal "out" to back-out of the original eBay auction purchase. Visit www.ESCROW.com for more specific information, as it will give you total Peace-Of-Mind when buying high-value items on-line over the internet on eBay or Craigslist, etc.

[Bob Barker]

There's a whole lot of info in this thread... I went crosseyed reading it.

[Stephen Biko]

I use auctionsniper.com - that way I don't have to worry about sitting in front of my computer at the very moment the auction ends. The dollar or so extra is worth it to me to have a "set it and forget it" up. There are plenty of other sniping services out there too.

FWIW, ebay started in San Jose, California. They were called auctionweb at first, although the founder already owned ebay.com it was for his consulting business "echo bay technology group."

[vt_maverick]

I was wondering about that Stephen... good catch.

For others wanting more reading...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebay

[Marlin]

I read through that as well, and I know that it was Ohio, In, Kentucky only. I sold a pez dispenser in 96 or so for 50 bucks that I got in a box of toys at an auction. It was only available to that area at the time I was selling. My parents have been taking my brother and I to auctions since I was a little kid. Tons of fun and highly addictive. More of a midwest thing to have weekend estate auctions.