Any Ebay ninjas here // Does the UK sellers hate mainland Europe?

[Centaur_Seducer]

So, it has happened once again - 20 seconds before auction ending, someone raised the bid with 50p.
And once again I find myself in the situation of being a bit irritaded and still baffled.
This might just be me, but if I want a thing, I have a upper price in mind. So, when I bid, I put down my maximum bid directly. Either I have the highest bid, or not. It's rather simple.
However, I seem to be in a minority. Rarely have an item gone through the whole process without being upped and slammed the last five minutes. Usually with me being the highest bidder for five days...
So, my question;
Do you prefer to bid in the end, or are you fine with just putting down your max bid and letting it go on?

I know that a bid war is a classical past-time hobby for oldhammer collectors (or so I have percievef it), but the rest of you lads and ladettes?

[Captain Blood]

Oh dear. You're talking about me I'm afraid 
I don't buy much off eBay, but if I do, I always bid at the last second.
Seems to me that's the way to get the best possible price, without pushing the price up much earlier in the process. Just seems logical to me.

The downside, of course, is that if you go in with 2 or 3 seconds to go, and don't bid high enough to gazump the existing highest bidder (who may well have already registered a higher bid, in order to stave off such an ambush) you have no chance of winning the item.

The other downside, is that it pisses off people like you, that have placed their bid and assumed they were in a winning position. Not very nice, I admit - but that seems to be the way the thing's set up...

[Cubs]

If I really want the item, I will lurk for a last-minute bid. Not because I like doing this, but because it's the best way to ensure you get it.

An auction is not always a logical exercise, it's a competition, an emotional and confrontational head-to-head. People who get caught up in the bidding war can bid a lot more than they originally wanted to. It happens all the time. Why? Because humans are illogical and emotional creatures.

I even got caught up in a bidding war for something I didn't even want, because by the time the auction came close to ending, I'd already bought it elsewhere! It's nonsense. It's like road-rage, there's just no excuse for it, but it's entirely natural behaviour.

So yes, in an ideal world I would chose £10.00 as my maximum bid early on and be happy with that, not getting upset when scooped at the last second with a bid of £10.02. That extra 2p is more than I was willing to pay, right, so I shouldn't be upset?

If it's just something I kind of want, but I'm not that bothered, I'll stick a bid down and leave it. If you look at when the auction is ending you'll get an idea of how busy it's going to be for those last-minute bids. If it's Sunday teatime, it'll be like rush hour on the Tokyo underground. If it's early morning or late night, things will be a lot quieter.

[Lowtardog]

I tend to put a bid on something at a price I am willing to pay, or if tentative a lowest bid to start it off and log it on e-mails.

However I will snipe if just outbid and worth the extra few pennies. So yes not quite a nija, more a tactical sniper 

[M Blakey]

Im a bid stalker when everything you watch makes your mobile go berserk 15 mins before it ends might aswell take a snipe. I tried to last minute bid yesterday only 15 seconds to go bang down a nice round number and lost by 2p serves me right for trying to be cockey 

[Quirkworthy]

It depends. Sometimes I stick a bid on and leave it. However, experience teaches me that this is a poor way of actually winning bids, so I have learned to snipe at the last second if I particularly want the item and can be around when it ends. It isn't especially nice, but it is how the site is set up.

[Dr.Falkenhayn]

yup same here,i start bidding 8 seconds before an Auction ends  
and i really hate when a Price goes silly 6 Days before the Auction ends...

[The Dozing Dragon]

I am the same, I normally bid just before the end. Remember though that although you may be outbid by 20p etc the actual amount bid by the last person may be a lot more, it will only go up as high as to beat the highest bidder. I remember many years ago staying up on a US auction and frantically rebidding as I kept getting outbid...I pictured a US bidder sitting there as frustrated as I......didn't realise at the time it was just the fact that their top bid was higher and I would have to beat that to get the goods!

[Gibby]

I know the frustration of being bid sniped, but I know the glorious victory of sniping a win at the last second. It is the nature of eBay, and really the only way of getting stuff at the best price. With no auctioneer to use his hammer of power and quick tongue to regulate it, it's down to users to be aggressive and/or sneaky to win.

As a seller I prefer it when the price bumps up over the course of the auction, but you can guarantee if it's watched by a few people that the biggest jumps go in during the last minute.

[Lowtardog]

I know the frustration of being bid sniped, but I know the glorious victory of sniping a win at the last second. It is the nature of eBay, and really the only way of getting stuff at the best price. With no auctioneer to use his hammer of power and quick tongue to regulate it, it's down to users to be aggressive and/or sneaky to win.

As a seller I prefer it when the price bumps up over the course of the auction, but you can guarantee if it's watched by a few people that the biggest jumps go in during the last minute.

Oh yes the last minute hyke is a glorious thing to behold as a seller I have had some jump to mad levels compared to what I consdier the true value

[Momotaro]

yup same here,i start bidding 8 seconds before an Auction ends  
and i really hate when a Price goes silly 6 Days before the Auction ends...

I'm an 8-second man too (for Ebay sniping anyway  ).

It lets you put in a bid with no chance of retaliation.  Often you'll get something (especially if you study the bid history), sometimes you don't.  Sometimes someone snipes YOU with a couple of seconds to go.

The numbers you put in are important too.  People often put in round numbers - £1.00, or £12.50.  So years ago you could win an auction by putting in £1.03.  That has crept up, so these days my favoured bid is £1.68 over the current price.

Lots of folks do it - I was watching one auction, and it went from £42 to £122 in the last two minutes!

Bidding wars are daft, and people do get carried away.  People don't just forget their "top price"; I've seen plenty of GW auctions that go over the retail price (and then you add in postage when it's free from GW...).

So there you go - "Secrets of an Ebay sniper"

[Dolmot]

cant you get software that does it all for you?

Yes. Loads of them from day one. I've never bothered to set up one, though. But because anything else than last-second sniping would be inefficient and I find old-fashioned real time alarms stressful too, my solution is not using eBay at all. (,  ,  )

[former user]

I don't see any other option, frankly, if you want to buy something for a reasonable price.
Auctions have been invented especially for the profit of the seller, and limiting the time allows for a gap that can outsmart others.
It's as simple as that.
I usually set my maximum price (to protect my budget), and confirm five seconds before expiring. This way I managed a good compromise between bidding success and budget preservation

[Mahwell skel]

cant you get software that does it all for you?

Ebay used to have their own and I bid on something that I would not budge on the price. 3 weeks and about 25 auctions later I won on my terms but it was tough to resist.

I do wonder if ninjas sometimes put in silly bids to ensure they get top bid. I always hold out the hope that one day 2 such ninjas collide and one of them pays a ridiculous amount for a single figure. 

Selling on ebay is fraught with danger as I makes you more aware of what is up for auction and I generally spend any profits within a week.

[Arlequín]

I just put down the maximum I'm willing to pay in the last 30 seconds or so. The E-Bay machinery only bids you to an increment above the highest bidder, so it's not like you actually pay that amount... unless someone else has done the same.

If I bid for something I want it... it's an auction after all. If you go into it with a bargain whore mentality it's a recipe for failure.