I see that some feel they can enter their max. bid early in an
Auction and it makes not difference. I disagree as persons bidding
up to this will raise the high bid and then there is more time for
thought (from other bidders). I Sell more then Buy on Ebay but I
believe that those who bid smart are in with there highest bid at
the last, and they split their proxy. Splitting your proxy can save
you $ and you can beat out the other guy in the last few seconds
although he bid more then you. You win because yours was the
highest first proxy and they did not jump by enough of a raise.
Example - You decide that you will bid max. 800.00 on an item that
has bids going up by (let us just say) 50.00. You get in with a
proxy with 10 sec left and bid 759.01. the other guy sees it jump
but it only shows 750.00 as it came up in 50.00 incriments. He was
ready and enters with 2 sec left 805.00 / you win with bid or
759.01 that now shows because he entered higher bid but did not bid
809.01 or 50.00 more then your high proxy. You save 40.99 and win
the item for less then he bid. This is the reason you see many
auctions with wierd amounts ( and 16 cents, 93 cent, 42 cents, etc)
Snipping programs aside - For the best chance get in at the last,
have your max set, split your proxy.
Hi Kim,
As an ex-eBay employee, I can tell you that this is not how it
works... The buyer you mention would have won at 805.00 if your
maximum proxy bid was 759.01.
There is also no need to say "let's say 50.00" as a bid increment
because the bid increments are not arbitrary, they are
predetermined and are available to the world (see later links in
this message).
The thing to note about bid increments is that they do not apply
directly to another bidder's maximum proxy bid because you, as a
competing bidder, are not allowed to know what that maximum is
until you exceed it. Therefore, the bid increment applies only to
the
current bid (not the high bidder's maximum).
The reason therefore that you see odd amounts on eBay is because
people are bidding (purely by coincidence) "just over" a competing
bidder's maximum proxy bid. For example, suppose a competitor has
made a maximum proxy bid of 760.00 on an item that is currently at
750.00. At this price range, the bid increment is $10.00 (never
$50.00!)
You come in and want to bid. You
must bid at least $760.00
because the increment is $10.00. However, just to give yourself a
little extra chance, you bid at $761.61. You will outbid the
competing seller at $760.00 (his maximum bid) and because your bid
is less than one increment above his (i.e. you didn't agree to bid
$770.00, only $761.61), eBay will then list you as the current
winning bidder at $761.61. The bid increment is still $10 and if
someone else comes and bids $771.61 (next minimum), you will be
outbid.
All of these details (including the fixed table of bid increments
by price range) can be found on eBay's Web site. See these links,
among others:
Bid Increments:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-increments.html
"Why was I outbid by less than one increment?":
http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/e_items_closed2.html
Hope this helps a few people out there.
-Aron
