I hate ebay!

[Mark_ab 5,000+ posts]

Man, I hate ebay...losing your bid in the last 3 seconds, bah!!!!

*grumbles*

Click to read more...

 

[Brutus2600 10+ year member]

Yeah, that really does ****. Proxy bidding can be nice, but mostly it's of the devil. You just gotta learn to do the same thing as those other guys. Here's a few tips to win the auction you want:

• Make sure you are signed in and have the box checked that keeps you signed in. If you don't you will have to load just one more page as you are bidding, annoying and time consuming.
  
• DO make a soft price for as high as you're willing to go, but when it hits that price and a few minutes are left, allow yourself to go another few dollars if it's a good price, 5 bucks isn't going to matter in the long run as long as you win.
  
• Don't place a bid on the auction at all until the last day. Any time before that and it's just bumping the price up before the last few hours when it really get's busy.
  
• The last day place a weak bid that you would like to win the auction with but don't really expect to. When the last 15 minutes comes start watching it and refreshing every few minutes or so. Continue to place bids according to the bids that are placed and how high you are willing to go.
  
• During the last three minutes, if you have a broadband connection (not dial-up) refresh often watching for those jerks who will bid during that time. If you do connect using dial-up, refresh as fast as you can, but don't expect to place a bid after the 30 second mark hits because going through the three pages will take a bit.
  
• If somebody does happen to outbid you in the last minute or so, place another bid, but place it at least $5.00 more than the minimum bid (I recommend $10), because if they are just trying to squeeze you out in the last second, they will most likely only place a minimum bid and proxy bidding will take care of outbidding them for ya.
  

I've been eBaying for quite awhile now and don't usually lose an auction if I really want the item. I've found that I prefer to find an auction with a reasonable But-It-Now price and just do that. It's quicker and you don't have to worry about somebody outbidding you. Of course if you are bidding on an item that isn't very well-listed, then it might not have a Buy-It-Now and so you will have to do it the old fashioned way //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif Good luck!

 

[Mark_ab 5,000+ posts]

Good advice, thanks. It may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as I found I may be able to get the item through a dealer I know for a cheaper price, and NEW.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

After losing a couple bids on things I really wanted, I too learned how to play the game. With my DSL or the T1 line at work I can snipe anyone in the last 15 seconds and get away with it. I keep a timer near the PC so I know exactly how much time is left. Keep hitting F5 (refresh) to see the count down then I bid the highest amount I'm willing to spend.

Gotta fight fire with fire.

 

[DooDoo45]

Ebay can smell my fart

 

[cranker289 10+ year member]

Ebay is awesome. I just use Buy-It-Now. If anyone knows about home theater, then you know how good (and expensive) Sunfire Subwoofers are. In October, I bought a True Subwoofer Signature on ebay for like $1600. Well, a month or so ago, I really fuc*ed that thing up . Turns out, I have to send it out all the way to Washington to get it fixed. But before I could do that, I had to wait for them to send me some packaging materials. I sent it out a week ago, and I almost died when I saw how much shipping was (like $60). I should be gettin' it back next week. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/banghead.gif.8606515f668c74f6de0281deb475b6fd.gif :banghead:

 

[Heresy 10+ year member]

I love Ebay just because of the prices you can get and the (sometimes) variety of crap you can buy. I've bought gauges and switches off them for 30%-70% less than I could get anywhere else. The way to beat others is to literally just use a stopwatch. It is more accurate than refreshing a million times. Usually I have at least two windows open, one with the auction time which I can refresh constantly and one where I have a specified bid. You can snipe in the last seconds of an auction easily this way.

The only thing you have to watch out for is yourself. I have bought so much crap which I did not need at all. I usually end up selling half of it again because either I realize that I don't need it or I need some cash quick and I need to clean out house. Thank god I don't use a credit card, my bills would be through the roof.

 

[cranker289 10+ year member]

Well, I stand corrected. Around noon today, the doorbell rang and it was UPS with my subwoofer. I'm so happy //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif .

 

[89926]

http://www.auctionsniper.com use that to snipe ppl.......its very handy to have