Tuesday, August 23, 2005
eBay bidding
I've been doing a bit of buying and selling on eBay lately, and I've noticed that the bidding process is highly influenced by the nature of the auction, and also the way in which bids are placed. I've bought a few things now and I've picked up a few tricks. Firstly, don't bid until it's nearly the end of the auction. If you bid too early, you just show your interest and end up pushing up the price if other people want the item. So wait until there's only a few minutes left, and then get in there with a bid that's just under your top price. when you put your bid in, you then find out if anyone else has already bid with a higher maximum. if it looks like you might be able to win wihout going over your maximum by too much, put in a bid that's an odd figure, eg £25.01. with only minutes left for the other bidders to respond, you're likely to beat their maximum of £25, and not leave them enough time to bid against you. with a broadband connection and a bit of confidence, you can get in there literally at the last few seconds. I know, because I've been outbid with only seconds remaining.
so auctions online really are different. no-one wants to pay over the odds, and there are ways of exploiting the distributed nature of the bidding system to take advantage of time delays. thrilling stuff - when you win.
I've been doing a bit of buying and selling on eBay lately, and I've noticed that the bidding process is highly influenced by the nature of the auction, and also the way in which bids are placed. I've bought a few things now and I've picked up a few tricks. Firstly, don't bid until it's nearly the end of the auction. If you bid too early, you just show your interest and end up pushing up the price if other people want the item. So wait until there's only a few minutes left, and then get in there with a bid that's just under your top price. when you put your bid in, you then find out if anyone else has already bid with a higher maximum. if it looks like you might be able to win wihout going over your maximum by too much, put in a bid that's an odd figure, eg £25.01. with only minutes left for the other bidders to respond, you're likely to beat their maximum of £25, and not leave them enough time to bid against you. with a broadband connection and a bit of confidence, you can get in there literally at the last few seconds. I know, because I've been outbid with only seconds remaining.
so auctions online really are different. no-one wants to pay over the odds, and there are ways of exploiting the distributed nature of the bidding system to take advantage of time delays. thrilling stuff - when you win.
Comments:
I still believe what ebay says. For all the auctions you won, you had a max price you would pay for the item. Tell ebay that price at the beginning, and what could go wrong? You won't overpay, and you'll only lose to someone who is willing to pay more. I don't understand the meaning of "without going over your maximum by too much". That first number wasn't your maximum, then! Stop lying on your initial entry. Odd-figure bidding is now pointless, since your earlier bid will beat later equal ones.
Last-minute bidding is to take advantage of other users who lie on their initial maxima and change their max over time. If everyone starts last-minute bidding, then we've just added a bunch of noise into the bidding process- how lame.
-drewp
Last-minute bidding is to take advantage of other users who lie on their initial maxima and change their max over time. If everyone starts last-minute bidding, then we've just added a bunch of noise into the bidding process- how lame.
-drewp
well I think you've identified the problem: other bidders who enter an initial maximum that's lower than what they really will pay. but the process of bidding involves more psychology than is immediately obvious. I frequently see an item that I think I'm willing to pay say £20 for, but when I enter £20 as my max bid and I'm told that I've been outbid by £1, or even just 50p, I then think 'oh well, I can afford to pay a little bit more, if it means I get the thing I want'. so I enter £22. now I'm the high bidder, until 2 mins before the auction when someone else comes along and bids £22.50. if I *really* want the item, I might then bid a little bit more to get it. the problem is that your maximum bid isn't fixed - it will increase as more people bid against you and you realise you are actually willing to pay more. bidding becomes a competition, and people don't like to lose.
Everyone else does the same. if I entered £30 as my maximum, and someone else really wants it, I'm more likely to end up paying closer to £30. so this last minute incremental bidding is used by many people to try and keep final prices low.
Everyone else does the same. if I entered £30 as my maximum, and someone else really wants it, I'm more likely to end up paying closer to £30. so this last minute incremental bidding is used by many people to try and keep final prices low.
Similar to auctions in the real world.
If you've watched any of the property auctions on the TV you'll see someone set a maximium (prior to the auction) they are willing to bid, and then they will go over it.
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If you've watched any of the property auctions on the TV you'll see someone set a maximium (prior to the auction) they are willing to bid, and then they will go over it.
(c) 2003-2005 Russell Beale
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