Thread: Help with ebay!!

I hate ebay, can't stand it. And yet part of me loves it for what it offers. That said, I've lost countless bids where I've submitted the highest bid with less than 5 seconds left and I still lose. So I need some help. There is a beautiful razor that I DO NOT want to lose this time!! When it comes down to the final seconds, what do I do? Just bid $100 or something? Is there some kind of strategy I'm missing out on? Sounds like a stupid question but its frustrating losing a whole bunch of stuff over and over lol.

Why do you hate Ebay? Ebay LOOOOOVES you! Bid higher!

Originally Posted by animalwithin

I hate ebay, can't stand it. And yet part of me loves it for what it offers. That said, I've lost countless bids where I've submitted the highest bid with less than 5 seconds left and I still lose. So I need some help. There is a beautiful razor that I DO NOT want to lose this time!! When it comes down to the final seconds, what do I do? Just bid $100 or something? Is there some kind of strategy I'm missing out on? Sounds like a stupid question but its frustrating losing a whole bunch of stuff over and over lol.

Either manually or with a sniping service (I use eSnipe) enter a bid that is the highest amount you are willing to pay within the last 10 seconds or so. That's really all you can do. If you loose, someone wanted it more and/or could afford to pay more. That's the way life works. . .

Use a sniping service,Bidnapper works for me,is a no brainer.

this is how i dealt with ebay. i'll watch an item, and i'll have a set/max number in my head i'm willing to bid on. the last 7 sec before the item bid is up i'll put my number in if i win great if i dont then some one out bided me and im fine with that because i put my top bid in anything over that it wasnt worth it to me well thats my rationale !

Bid as much as you are willing to pay, at the end of the day you either won, or someone else had more money to throw at it. Thats really the bottom line. The snipe bidders don't always get it any cheaper.

You want it? Bid like it.

Just bid the maximum amount you would be willing to pay for it. That way, you know you gave it your best shot.

The only advantage to a snipe is that you have not actually bid until the last seconds, and most allow you to retract the snipe up until the last 6 minutes. so you have a bit more flexibility in your strategy... - HOWEVER- In the end it still comes down to the deepest pockets after the item

Originally Posted by animalwithin

I hate ebay, can't stand it. And yet part of me loves it for what it offers. That said, I've lost countless bids where I've submitted the highest bid with less than 5 seconds left and I still lose. So I need some help. There is a beautiful razor that I DO NOT want to lose this time!! When it comes down to the final seconds, what do I do? Just bid $100 or something? Is there some kind of strategy I'm missing out on? Sounds like a stupid question but its frustrating losing a whole bunch of stuff over and over lol.

Im sure you know this already, but on the off chance you dont (at some point this was a revelation for me) you only pay a couple dollars more then the last guy bid, so just bid 300, and keep your fingers crossed the last guy only bid 75. Guaranted win lol.

What they say about bidding the max you are willing to spend is true. The thing I do is to try and put myself mentally in the place after I have won the item for whatever I though my max was and try to decide if I will have buyers remorse or not. In other words, let's say you put 250$ max bid on that razor your eying and won it for that. Now are you telling yourself 'whew, glad I bid that much' or 'you lunkhead, that razor was only worth 100 bucks no matter what everyone else said...'? After watching the bay for sometime myself I can tell you 2 things without question; there's always another 'can't miss' deal on the horizon and, probably should've checked the classifieds on this site first. There may be some once in a lifetime items pass through the bay from time to time, but likely not on my salary, anyway....

beware the auction panic virus...