Win on Ebay?

Emperor James · Post by **Emperor James** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 11:26 pm

one thing you can do if you have aol is delete all of your emails, get ready to bid, type in a high bid, turn on your sound, and in the last munute or so if you hear"you've got mail" quickly press submit as it is probably the email you get when you are outbid.

I hope this helps

doctorsparkles · Post by **doctorsparkles** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 2:34 am

I too am always annoyed by last minute bidders. You have your hopes up and then BAM!!! You've lost it!
My best advice is to just bid the absolute highest price that you'd be willing to pay. You can't lose if no one else is willing to pay more than you. If someone is willing to pay more, then victory is rightfully theirs.
Also, make sure you're online when the auction ends. Keep reloading to make sure no one else has outbid you, and if they have and you can shell out a couple extra dollars, keep rebidding.

TwoTonic Knight · Post by **TwoTonic Knight** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 3:08 am

I employ two methods.

1: Fire and Forget Bid: I figure out the most that I'm willing to pay for an item, make my bid, and don't expend another ounce of effort on it. If I win, great, if I don't, that's perfectly okay since my bid was the most I was willing to spend. I do not fiddle around with making a bid that will only hold up for a while and then have to come back and rebid at some later point - the trick is to know what the item usually goes for. From there I bid less than that and employ patience. Sooner or later I get the item for my price (but I'm realistic about what the low end is).

2. Last Second Vulture: I have a reliable DSL connection so I make this bid with less than a minute to go, usually about with 20 seconds left. I especially love out vulturing vultures who bid with too much time left.

I never get into a bidding war. Sometimes I make a second last second bid (countering fellow vultures), but that's about the extent of it. I get about 1/3 of my wins with a Fire and Forget, and 2/3 by Last Second Vulture. Fire and Forgets are usually because I'm busy at the time the auction ends, or I just don't want to be bothered with any great amount of effort because I know a similiar one will roll around fairly soon.

Lord Resta · Post by **Lord Resta** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 5:16 pm

I agree. I was bidding for a Black Monarchs castle and lost. He went over what I was willing to pay. He was the fair victor, so ext time my price is going up. Two Tonic, I'll bear your tips in mind! Thanks.

J1A3L5 · Post by **J1A3L5** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 11:54 pm

I agree, be careful with how high you'll go. I know some people who will say 'I'll pay $20 max' and then it goes to 21. Then they decide that it is worth a bit more, so they put theirs to 25. Then it goes up and up far past what they wanted to pay, and then they suddenly realize that they just won it for way more than they wanted.

I have gotten bids in with 3 seconds to spare, at times. I personally don't use ebay much though.

Draygen · Post by **Draygen** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 4:15 am

I was a big ebay user until I stumbled into Bricklinks, now im hooked and just wiping the drool away as I make a list of what I want to get.

If you do use ebay you HAVE to use the last second tactic.. least thats been the case in all of my experiences. 1min left and you think you have it, only to refresh and see someone outbid ya, they keep on bidding a few more cents or a buck more and you'll lose.

Its a cruel world out there, if your gonna buy from a pig pen, expect to be and get dirty

Post by **rogue27** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 12:34 pm

Draygen wrote:I was a big ebay user until I stumbled into Bricklinks, now im hooked and just wiping the drool away as I make a list of what I want to get.

If you do use ebay you HAVE to use the last second tactic.. least thats been the case in all of my experiences. 1min left and you think you have it, only to refresh and see someone outbid ya, they keep on bidding a few more cents or a buck more and you'll lose.

Its a cruel world out there, if your gonna buy from a pig pen, expect to be and get dirty

eBay seems much worse now than it was even 2 years ago.

A year or two back, I could win some incredible deals by bidding early and just watching in astonishment as nobody else bids on the item.

A year or two back, you could get small MISB lego sets from the 80s (like the $3-$4 variety) for less than $10 on eBay. More recently, I saw a Siege Cart selling above $40.

I have made lots of last-minute wins on eBay, but I've also been defeated in the last minute on several auctions. There have also been multiple occasions where I just didn't bid fast enough and completely missed out on some auctions that ended at insanely low prices.

I think you are better off bidding in the last minute on items that don't appear on eBay very often, but you can pretty much bid whenever you want for items that are more common. If you lose, just bid on the next one.