Thread: Max Bids?

So I haven't been on ebay in like 10 years, seems they've made some updates. From what I can tell about this new system though...and please correct me if I'm wrong...but if I bid on a razor set my max bid to something ridiculously high, say 300 bucks for something starting out at 10...and in no way worth 300, my only gamble on price would be to match the seller's reserve price?

If two people have that same philosophy then you could end up paying your max bid. I have been tempted to do this in the past but if just one other person sets a ridiculously high max bid then whoever is higher wins-AT THE HIGHEST WINNING BID. So if I set my max bid to $200 on a razor I only would pay $55 for at the most and someone else comes and sets theirs at say $175 then I just won a $55 razor for $176.00!!

Hopefully this is what you were asking?

Well yes, but I've found that although it won't tell me what the high bid currently is it won't let me place a bid lower, like if last persons max bid is 100 and I place a bid of 80 it says place a bid higher than 80, then I try 90 and it will say again try a bid higher than 90. So if my max is 200 someone will have to place a max bid of at least 200.01, am I getting this right? Because if that is the case you never end up paying a ridiculous amount unless a- there is a current bid and you just jump to something high without going up in increments to see what his max bid is near or b-the reserve price is high since that isn't disclosed and remains a mystery throughout.

Originally Posted by Steel

So if I set my max bid to $200 on a razor I only would pay $55 for at the most and someone else comes and sets theirs at say $175 then I just won a $55 razor for $176.00!!

Hopefully this is what you were asking?

It seems like that scenario would only work in reverse, if there is already a bid on an item and that person set 175 as max, then you come along and drop a bid of 200 it would be yours for 176. I think it's like a game of who got there first. If you went in and this guy bid 175 though and say it's currently at 10 instead of going straight to 200 some you see there's a box on it, you can test out out and say you would pay 50 for it if you had to you can try 45, 50, and if you have to bid higher than that you can move on.

I think your strategy which is seemingly to save you increasing your bid in increments is quite risky, if you place a bid of $300 just to save you time and the item is bid up by the drunk or insane then you may end up paying close to your max bid.
Surely the max bid is the most you would be prepared to pay? Is the item worth $300 to you? Yes - then drop the bid and hope for the best, no - bid the most you would pay for the item and see what happens.

Never set your max bid beyond the maximum amount you are wiling to pay, otherwise the bid could go up to your max bid and you win at whatever that amount is. I usually wait for the very last seconds to place my max bid. I find it to be much more fun. You can get bid programs to place your bid for you in the final seconds but where is the fun in that. I do not win a lot of items but I have fun and never feel that I have overpaid, at least not right away...

Originally Posted by Maxx

It seems like that scenario would only work in reverse, if there is already a bid on an item and that person set 175 as max, then you come along and drop a bid of 200 it would be yours for 176. I think it's like a game of who got there first. If you went in and this guy bid 175 though and say it's currently at 10 instead of going straight to 200 some you see there's a box on it, you can test out out and say you would pay 50 for it if you had to you can try 45, 50, and if you have to bid higher than that you can move on.

It would seem, but in reality it doesn't matter who bids first. The way eBay does it now is the bids are determined automatically whoever is higher. As long as it is before the close of auction the bid will increase. A recent example- I set my max bid at $65.00 on a razor. I was the first one there so it only went to 9.99 which was the opening bid (but my max was set to $65) this bid was good until the last day someone put their max bid in at $25. Now since my max was higher eBay bumped up my bid to $26 and I was still the highest bidder. Then at the last seconds four other people (one was probably Sean. Lol) put in their bids but the highest of the four was only 50.00 which still under my max of $65 so eBay automatically adjusted my bid to $51 and I won the razor. Now, you can see that if I just put in a max of say $650 the scenario would have played out the same and I would have only had to pay $51 BUT AS WAS POINTED OUT all it takes is one drunk guy coming along and bidding $500 and BOOM I just won a razor for $501. It doesn't matter who bid first.

Do what you want though. It's your money. eBay also explains this well in their information.

I read through eBay but didn't really believe it because I thought I was noticing something different happening but I very much appreciate you clearing that up. Will be sure to be cautious on that front. All in all I should keep my ass far from eBay in any case but thank you for setting that straight.

No problem. If you play it safe and only bid the max you are willing to pay and go through a couple auctions it will become more clear too. It's a bit difficult to explain but once you do it, it is very simple. I too need to stay away from eBay (for more than a week).

Originally Posted by RezDog

Never set your max bid beyond the maximum amount you are wiling to pay, otherwise the bid could go up to your max bid and you win at whatever that amount is. I usually wait for the very last seconds to place my max bid. I find it to be much more fun. You can get bid programs to place your bid for you in the final seconds but where is the fun in that. I do not win a lot of items but I have fun and never feel that I have overpaid, at least not right away...

Pretty much my philosophy. I do have a proxy bid program and use it occasionally if I know I'm not going to be around to bid. It fires your bid in the last 3 seconds of the auction. I win some, lose most.

Advantage to the proxy bid programs is that it keeps that person who is dead set on having the winning bid from running the bids up during the course of the auction. If you decide that item is worth $50 and place a max bid and you're sitting at say $11, then the nervous Nellie will come in and bid up fifty cents or a dollar at time until he's at $51. I'll let him sit there at $10 and fight off the other bidders until the last three seconds either by placing the bid myself or letting auctionsniper do it for me..