Question about ebay.

joe123

Just noticed I was bidding there and every bid it kept coming up saying you have just been outbid (by 2 euros).

I read up on it wondering was I doing something wrong but from what I gather say if something is up for 100 quid. Im willing to pay 200. My bid will go down as 105 and for every bid will go up by 2 euros untill it hits my 200 limit?

jor el

Someone else has a higher maximum set than you, and every time you bid, they automatically out bid you by the minimum bid increment. This is how eBay works.

rubadub

Ebay auctions are not normal, you are doing proxy bidding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_bid

Proxy bidding is an implementation of an English second-price auction used on eBay, in which the winning bidder pays the price of the second-highest bid plus a defined increment. It differs from a Vickrey auction in that bids are not sealed; the "current highest bid" (defined as second-highest bid plus bid increment) is always displayed. In a standard first-price English auction the winner pays the amount of their bid, regardless of competitors' bids, and it is therefore desirable to place a bid that exceeds the current highest bid by the smallest possible increment. Under proxy bidding, however, the price paid is determined only by competitors' bids and not by the amount of the new bid, and so there is no economically rational incentive to place a bid below the amount one is willing to pay, or to place multiple increasing bids. An "economically rational" bidder will therefore bid the maximum amount they are willing to pay on their first bid, and never raise their bid.

Because of this many people will snipe auctions, I use www.snip.pl and have no doubt that I have saved a lot because of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auction_sniping

Auction sniping is the process of watching a timed online auction (such as on eBay), and placing a winning bid at the last possible moment (often seconds before the end of the auction), giving the other bidders no time to outbid the sniper. Some bidders do this manually, and others use software designed for the purpose. A bid sniper is a person or software agent who performs auction sniping.

There are also online sniping services, where the software agent is run from a website rather than the sniper's own computer. This decreases the failure rate of the snipe, because the website is expected to have more reliable servers that might be quicker to react.

Non-sniping bidders object to sniping, claiming that it is unfair to place bids at a point when it is impossible or unfeasible for other bidders to evaluate and possibly counter the bid, causing them to lose auctions even though they would have been willing to meet the winning bid amount. However, when a proxy bidding system such as eBay's is available, buyers are encouraged to truthfully enter the maximum amount they would be willing to pay. In this situation a sniper only wins if they are willing to pay more than the high bidder, meaning that they would have won anyway.

Bidders sometimes object to sniping when multiple, identical items are listed, as this ensures they must wait the largest possible amount of time to find that their maximum bid has been exceeded (instead of possibly being able to immediately bid on one of the other items).

I explain more in post 6 here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055326637

joe123

I was currently bidding on an item and I got a notification that the seller had cancelled the auction. They had no reserve price but still just cancelled it even though there had been bids placed. I didnt even know a seller could do that. So if I ever see a real cheap bargain that nobody has spotted the seller could still just cancel it whenever they feel like?

Also whats the safest way of sending money if your buying something? Whether it be Ebay or say Adverts.ie. Is it always better to use Pay Pal or are you always at risk no matter what way you pay?

One last question. Say I want to sell something on Ebay what charges go to ebay?

jor el

joe123 wrote: »

Also whats the safest way of sending money if your buying something? Whether it be Ebay or say Adverts.ie. Is it always better to use Pay Pal or are you always at risk no matter what way you pay?

Paypal is the safest payment method for a buyer on eBay. Cash is always the best method for a seller.

joe123 wrote: »

One last question. Say I want to sell something on Ebay what charges go to ebay?

Depends on the way you sell it, what you're selling and the price. You'll have to check the listing fees to know.

Huawei Gallagher

I got caught out a couple of times by people bidding in the dying seconds. So I am now also a sniper like the rest of them. So if you really really want the item, then look at the counter as it counts down on the page, and start counting the seconds in your head. Make sure you have set your maximum bid to something realistic, you need to decide if you really want the item or if you just want a bargain. When the seconds in your head get to 20 (or 10 if you are a risk taker), place the bid. I also missed an item that I really wanted by leaving it to late.

Remember that another page will come up after you place the bid, and you must press the button on this page to confirm the bid before the clock runs out, so give yourself time. Thats my method, I am only an occasional E Bay bidder,so I am sure others on here have better ways of doing it.

I like PayPal as a payment method, I once had to use their dispute service, as I bought something from a website and the company never sent it or even replied to e mails. PayPal wil refund you (well they did in my case).

rubadub

joe123 wrote: »

So if I ever see a real cheap bargain that nobody has spotted the seller could still just cancel it whenever they feel like?

There is some limit on it, like I think they cannot cancel if there are only a few hours to go.

Stanley Blade wrote: »

I got caught out a couple of times by people bidding in the dying seconds.

In other words you were not using ebay in the way they recommend -i.e. putting down your TRUE maximum, if you put a bid of €100 then ask yourself if somebody else bidded €101 would you go to €102, -if so then put down €102! or whatever the real max is, then you can never be "caught out".

Stanley Blade wrote: »

When the seconds in your head get to 20 (or 10 if you are a risk taker), place the bid. I also missed an item that I really wanted by leaving it to late.

Using sniping software gets rid of this problem, you can also tell it how many seconds you want to go from the end. So you can bid on auctions ending at odd times too when there are less likely to be bidders. Sniping software also lets you line up several auctions with "forumlas", e.g. if I win auction A then do not bid on any other auctions, or if I win auction A, then reduce my bid by €10 on the upcoming auction B.

delllat

rubadub wrote: »

There is some limit on it, like I think they cannot cancel if there are only a few hours to go.

In other words you were not using ebay in the way they recommend -i.e. putting down your TRUE maximum, if you put a bid of €100 then ask yourself if somebody else bidded €101 would you go to €102, -if so then put down €102! or whatever the real max is, then you can never be "caught out".

Using sniping software gets rid of this problem, you can also tell it how many seconds you want to go from the end. So you can bid on auctions ending at odd times too when there are less likely to be bidders. Sniping software also lets you line up several auctions with "forumlas", e.g. if I win auction A then do not bid on any other auctions, or if I win auction A, then reduce my bid by €10 on the upcoming auction B.

auctions may not be cancelled in the last 24 hrs by sellers
but buyers can cancel at any stage even after theyve won and fcked up your auction

of course you can give them a strike for being a non paying bidder but then they can leave you a negative feedback which will probably not be removed by ebay under any circumstances