last minute bidding

tether

when i bid on an item at ebay, whilst i it showed me the result - ie winning or not and the rise in price immediately, when i went back to the auction room and the item there, it took a while to update - a few minutes i think it was.

does that mean that someone could bid on an item in the last few minutes and other people watching the item on ebay might not know until its too late?

if i was bidding late on an item, how close to the end of the auction should i leave it to be safe that my bid does get included - one minute? two? five, ten?

thanks.

MrJoeSoap

I've only done it once, and it was quite a while back, but I don't remember there being any problem with delays etc...

I'm pretty sure there were a few bids in the last 4 or 5 minutes (including mine) and it seemed fairly "live" but none within the last 2 or 3.

Just make sure you have a decent connection, bid 10-15 minutes before the deadline to be safe, and keep a close eye on it (keep refreshing etc...).

Dades

In my experience if you really want the item you'll need to be there at the end of the auction. People sit back and lull you into a false sense of security so you think nobody is interested, then within the last minute outbid you with their first bid. The only way around this is to have another bid ready that they won't be expecting you to make.

As MrJoeSoap suggests having a good internet connection is a big help.

In short keep refreshing until it's over. If you're lucky you'll have time to counter a sneaky bid, or better still no-one will bid at all!

Ruu_Old

Yep, Ive done this a few times. Make sure your max bid is pretty high (maybe have a look and see if theres a buy it now option you can aim for) , you know it probably wont go that high but just in case it does you wont be frantically clicking and trying to get logged in, etc. What I do anyway. I think theres an option in FF to have the page refresh after x amount of minutes. Save you the bother, just watch and wait

nava

Hi

the best option is to bid in the last second, you can use Auctionsniper (unless you want to risk loosing because your internet connection is slow), it works by bidding for you in the last few seconds before the Auction ends.

When you register you get 3 free snipes and after that you get 3 more per user that registers using your referral link (like mine above or on my sig).

To register in Auctionsniper you need to have an account with ebay 1st.

If you want to register please use the link on my sig and I get a 3 free snipes

Let me know if you have any questions. Been using it for about a couple of years without any problems.

THANKS

Simon201

It's kinda like it recommends on the ebay help pages. When you want something, you've simply to decide the maximum price that you'd pay for it and then get a second tab on your browser with the ebay official time that you can refresh or put your television on to teletext - pretty sure the bbc channels are aligned with ebay time, and have a look at about a minute to the end of the auction and if the price is still within your range put in your bid at about 15 secs to before the end. Of course you may get it cheaper than your bid is cos the item is sold at the next increment up from the present bid. This is assuming you have broadband - with dial up you'd be looking at 30 or 40 secs putting in your highest bid.
Then again I'm not sure why it took a few minutes to refresh - that wouldn't help you at all.

nlgbbbblth

I find that bidding in the last 30 seconds usually wins me the auction.
Always an odd amount like 53.39 etc.

Bidding early just drives the price up.

BopNiblets

I find 15 seconds is ok, 10 at the very latest if you want to sneak in a last bid. Mwahaha.

I also recently learned about the max bidding system, I'm such an eBay n00b!
There I was putting in tiny increments to beat the previous bid and I thought I was getting whomped by AuctionSniper! Stupid eBay autobid thing.

nlgbbbblth

BopNiblets wrote:

I find 15 seconds is ok, 10 at the very latest if you want to sneak in a last bid. Mwahaha.

(

30 seconds allow you enough time for a second bid before closing.

ambro25

TBH, easiest way to go about it without sniping aids or fiffing/faffing is:

(i) figure out what's your max bid for it (and if you've smart, use advanced search and check completed similar items to get an idea of how much they go for - no point bidding €100 if all the same widgets, with bells and trimmings, have sold for €65 max in the last 3 months)

and (ii) bid it in the last minute if you can be live,

otherwise (iii) bid it sometime on the last day.

If someone snipes you by €1, so be it - you may still get it €10 cheaper next time - otherwise you may well find yourself in a minute-long bidding war where you may end up paying more than you ever wanted (biggest and most usual "risk" with eBay use ).

smemon

for a bidding war, search for '2gb sd' cards, all goes down to the last seconds with them

just for the craic i bid early at a fairly decent amount so as to inflate the price at the end it's great craic stopping people from getting bargains!

theres nothing worse than winning something, thinking you've got a great deal, and then a few days later seeing it go for much less

ambro25

smemon wrote:

theres nothing worse than winning something, thinking you've got a great deal, and then a few days later seeing it go for much less

:rolleyes: well, what do you expect? That you be the only one "having a great craic stopping people from getting bargains"

Talk about the "sprayed sprayer"

smemon

:mad: :mad: :mad: i was pipped at literally the last second on what would have been a sweet deal.

i refreshed and i was still winning with 1 second left, refreshed again and i'd be outbid by 50c on a camera :mad:

hate it when that happens.

wanwarlock

if you can be live for the auction, just open 2-3 windows minimum of the auction at the bid page.

use the 1st window as your main page, keep refreshing it and wait. make a bid and see how it goes. on the other windows, make sure you're on the confirm bid page. key in your max bid in the other windows e.g. E5 in 1 window and E5.50 the next (find out how much the bid increases by)

if u were out bid, u can just click confirm bid on the other windows and hopefully u will win the item.

if u just open 1 window for the auction, it will take time to refresh/confirm bid etc.

hope this helps....

indiewindy

I've been caught out a few times with these folk bidding at the last second. I now always keep track of auctions by always checking out the watch counter so I have a fair idea of how many others are checking out the item

smemon

whats the best sniper for ebay? by best i mean free

smemon

im already with auction sniper, sorry!!

just wondered if theres anything free & unlimited?

blobert

smemon wrote:

im already with auction sniper, sorry!!

just wondered if theres anything free & unlimited?

I dont think there is a free alternative, though these guys give you a bunch of free snipes also: http://www.snip.pl/en/