Thread: How would you bid on this theoretical auction?

I don't care about reserves, starting bids etc. If I want a razor I decide what would be my maximum price and enter that amount into Gixen and I don't look back.

Edit: Scenario #2 would cause me not to bid.

I love auctions that start with a low price. Speaking strictly as a buyer, this gets my interest right away, but of course, the item has to be something I think I'd want.

I look for "reasonable" shipping charges. $30 for a fragile rock shipped from another continent might be reasonable. $30 for a two ounce razor shipped from the next state means spend my money elsewhere.

ChrisL's sample item is a great example of a desirable razor, but I'd know that realistically, I'd have a low chance of winning a quality item like that because someone else would be willing to pay more than I would - but hey, that's what ebay is all about, so no grumbles there.

If I see an item I like, I decide what I'd pay for it, watch it, and if the price is right near the end of the auction, I snipe for it. If I win, cool, if not, then that's money I can use elsewhere.

Originally Posted by JeffE

. . . But could someone please tell me what is the logic of this kind of bidding (and I see it often, so excuse me if this is being done by someone on this site) -- bidding again and again and again by the same person, with each bid no more than 2 or 3 or 5 dollars over the last bid and with no intervening bidders. So you'll see this for bidding:

zzz $127.50
yyy $125
xxx $50
xxx $35
xxx $30
xxx $25
xxx $15
xxx $12
xxx $10

Note that these are NOT automatic bids, these are actual, separate bids made by xxx, each one just a few seconds or minutes after the last bid.

When I see this kind of bidding, I think that the person making the bids has no friggin understanding about eBay's automatic bidding software, but then I see that the person making the bids sometimes has 100 or more eBay transactions. . .

JeffE, I feel ya, man! That's why I look for auctions that start low because sure as shootin' someone comes along who wants to "feel up" what the high bid is, and won't step away from the computer until they are top dog (for "now"). As a seller though, I would love these guys! I don't understand it either.

I look at it like "someone's marking their cyber-territory".

Reserves, starting prices, or shipping costs don't enter into my decision. The one exception is a starting price that is out of line, in my opinion.

I decide what I am willing to spend including shipping, and set a snipe. If I'm outbid or my bid does not meet the reserve, I move on. If the price goes beyond my snipe with several hours or even days left, I cancel it.

Not counting watched items that have ended .... I kept what I have bid on and did not win within my ebay for the past month without deleting any of the finished auctions. Adding up what it would have cost me had I been the high bidder it came to $2,300 without shipping. Many of them weren't serious bids but a fellow can dig a mighty deep hole to fall into pursuing their ADs on ebay.

This is great info, thanks guys.

In the small sampling here, it seems to me there are two different loose categories. Bargain hunters and Shoppers. Sure, we ALL want a bargain. But to me a bargain hunter is someone who is most or even exclusively interested in buying low or very low. A bargain hunter would set a low threshold dollar amount and would have no interest in "going to the mat"/joining a bidding war, etc to buy a particular razor.

In the shopper category, the BARGAIN is not of primary or sole concern, instead, a shopper looks at the RAZOR and focuses on whether or not they want THAT RAZOR; if so, they bid accordingly and higher or much higher than a bargain hunter would.

Obviously there can be crossover between the two camps, but do you think this is accurate?

For me, I lean toward the bargain hunter camp, but definitely crossover when I want something.

I'd go as far to say that it's the bargain first and the razor second to a bargain hunter as far as satisfaction and enjoyment are concerned?

Chris L

Originally Posted by mrbhagwan

JeffE, I feel ya, man! That's why I look for auctions that start low because sure as shootin' someone comes along who wants to "feel up" what the high bid is, and won't step away from the computer until they are top dog (for "now"). As a seller though, I would love these guys! I don't understand it either.

I look at it like "someone's marking their cyber-territory".

Poncho, it's worse than that!!

I could understand someone making repeated bids just to inch up to the maximum of the highest bidder. That happens all the time.

But if you look at the TIME when the bids were made, you can see that some people are entering 20, 30 or more repeated bids when THEY ARE ALREADY THE MAX BIDDER!! Like somehow entering more bids will keep other people from bidding?!? Or maybe entering more bids will convince others to bid lower?!?

This is one of the dang stupidest things I've ever seen, but if you look at the razors and hones on eBay, you see it pretty often. Look for auctions with 40, 50 or 60 bids and just three or four actual bidders. Who are these people?!

Some guys seem to need to see their name in the high bidder slot. They will bid again and again whenever they are outbid no matter how much time is left. Others appear to be 'staking their claim,' as it were, to the item. There are still others who are going to try to scare other bidders off and sometimes that strategy succeeds. Unless you don't care about money the last few second snipe is the best way to go IME.

Originally Posted by JeffE

Poncho, it's worse than that!!

I could understand someone making repeated bids just to inch up to the maximum of the highest bidder. That happens all the time.

But if you look at the TIME when the bids were made, you can see that some people are entering 20, 30 or more repeated bids when THEY ARE ALREADY THE MAX BIDDER!! Like somehow entering more bids will keep other people from bidding?!? Or maybe entering more bids will convince others to bid lower?!?

This is one of the dang stupidest things I've ever seen, but if you look at the razors and hones on eBay, you see it pretty often. Look for auctions with 40, 50 or 60 bids and just three or four actual bidders. Who are these people?!

Maybe this guy! this guy