Bidding early

[thunder14062]

Could someone please tell me the methodology of bidding on the first day an item is presented for sale. It seems that bidding on an item with lets say 7 days to go only escalates the price of everything! Why not wait until the last day to bid so that way it keeps the price down for everybody.  What am I missing here?

[nobody*s_perfect]

Early bidding lets the seller know that there are potential buyers out there.  Sellers often get messages from potential buyers who want to make deals, sometimes to sell the item through eBay and sometimes not. I recently saw an auction that originally didn't have a 'Buy it now" option when I put it on my watch list, but then somebody had persuaded the seller to revise the listing to add a BIN option and sell it within the first 24 hours after the auction went up.  But that BIN price was far lower than what the auction would have brought. That buyer took advantage of the seller.

Early bidding also blocks the seller from revising the listing. Not only does it block them from adding a "Buy it now" option as in the above example, but it also blocks them from changing the original title, description, shipping terms, etc.  Then if you go back later to place  a bid for your true max, you don't have to scrutinize everything to make sure that some important information had been changed.

Also, early vs late bidding doesn't affect the final selling price if everybody is sensible and bids their true maximum (whenever they choose to bid).

[soh.maryl]

You are missing the fact that every bidder is free to  choose for himself the time frame for his bids, early or late.

And his reasoning for whatever way he  chooses is equally his to use as he wants.

In the end, as you know, the highest bidder is the winner.

[eburtonlab]

Bidding early does not necessarily affect the ending price of an auction, unless multiple bidders decide to bid more than what they were willing to bid independently.

It is usually in a bidder's interest not to get sucked in to emotional bidding, but not all bidders can resist. Some bidders, usually new bidders, feel that spending an amount of time with the leading bid entitles them to ownership of the item, and that anyone bidding late is swooping in and taking the item away from them. This emotional attachment to an item under bid can cause some bidders to bid more than the item is worth to them to win the auction that they have "invested" in.

Some bidders do not use the Watch List to keep track of auctions; they apparently prefer to bid on auctions instead to keep track of them that way.

In some cases, an early bid is placed strategically to prevent a Buy-It-Now option from being exercised if the bidder thinks the auction ending price might be less than that amount, but is still concerned that someone else in a hurry may buy the item outright.

An early bid may be used to prevent a listing from being edited by the seller, as when a bidder finds an item with a spelling mistake in the title or listed in an incorrect category that might limit the number of other bidders otherwise finding the item and bidding themselves.

[daad_841494]

Bidding is allowed whenever the buyer wants to bid.

[therogue-trader]

Sometimes I bid early to block the buy-it-now option in the hopes that the auction will end at a lower price than that.

[7606dennis]

Since eBay auctions have a finite bidding period know to all potential bidders, it really doesn't matter when during that bidding period one places their bid.  This is different than the outcry bidding process many people are familiar with.  Of course, in the end it is the highest bidder that wins.

Being that eBay's bidding system doesn't divulge the entire amount of one's bid immediately, it is usually a wise bidding strategy to place a single bid for the maximum one is willing to pay for the item as close to the end of the bidding period as possible.  This however is not the only valid bidding strategy. 

Because the winning bidder will be the high bidder at the end of the bidding period and not necessarily the last bidder to place a bid, bidding early is a way to avoid getting into bidding wars.  If the bidder places a bid for no more than the amount they are willing to pay, even if someone is bidding reactively at the end, the early bidder can't get caught up in a bidding war.  Another advantage is that because in the case of a tie, the bid that was placed first wins.

[iart]

Ever hear of some animals 'marking their territory'?

It's like that with less odor.

[mudshark61369]

@thunder14062,

  "Why not wait until the last day to bid so that way it keeps the price down for everybody. What am I missing here?"

What you are missing is that it is the bargain hunters who bid early hoping for a lower price. They nibble away at each other until the price is no longer a bargain In their minds. Informed bidders, know what an item is worth and wait until the near the end, or the last seconds to place their one bid, which is usually the most they are willing to pay for the item.  Sometimes at the very end it takes several seconds for the computers to actually declare the winner and a few people may get a you won this item notice only to find out that they lost.  This is especially true of vintage and/or collectible items. 

If an item is desirable enough, a seller may list it with a .99cent starting price to get bidders excited. Often the bidding stalls within 48 hours of the auction's end.  It may pick up again in the last couple of hours, then the snipers move in. That's when the fun really begins.

If auctions actually kept item prices low, sellers would have stopped using that format years ago.  Some items do sell better with Buy It Now prices, while others consistently sell for more than the BIN priced items. A lot depends on the item, its condition, and other factors.  Sellers want the best price they can get for their items, not to let them go for lower prices to bargain hunters who will likely turn them around to sell it for more anyway. 

Which is more exciting bidding one increment at a time against other bidders over and over, or taking your best one time shot and getting a kill?

[ra_201044]

Then if you go back later to place  a bid for your true max, you don't have to scrutinize everything to make sure that some important information had been changed.

But you still should look for revisions to see if that changes anything before you bid your true max, especially with antique/vintage items. Many knowledgeable buyers will let the seller know that there is a small crack, or a missing piece, or something like that which shows in the photos but not mentioned when it was listed.

[nobody*s_perfect]

But the seller cannot do that. The early bid freezes the description, title, etc. As soon as a bid is placed on an auction, it is not possible for the seller to change it.  

He can add a section below the original description, but cannot change the original text, title, etc.  The bidder can be confident that the description hasn't changed since they bid.  The bidder just needs to check on whether a new section has been added.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/revising-listing?id=4356

[1tuna]

thats exactly why I do it.its just as fast as adding it to my watch list almost.

I like to think my 25000 feedback lets other bidders know I mean buisness or at least let the seller know there is a contender.

I bid many auctions the 1st day they are listed.I buy plenty of good watches on ebay and anyone thats bids the 1st day knows it does not get serious till the last 60 seconds.

just marking my turf is all it is..................gives those underbidders something to think about

[southern*sweet*tea]

I rarely bid on auctions, but when I do, I often bid early on.  I bid one time, bid my max and walk away.  I'm not a cheapskate, I know what an item is worth to me and I am willing to pay for it. I don't care if I get a lower price than my max, but that's always a good thing when it happens.

I bid whenever I come across an item I want to try for, mainly because I don't know if I'll be around in the closing minutes of the auction. If I don't bid early, I won't get to bid at all in most cases.

An early bid is just as good as a bid in the closing seconds, because it's not the last bid that wins, it's the highest, no matter when that bid was placed.  For sellers, that's a good thing. For buyers, it means that if you lose - no matter when you placed your bid - it means someone else out there valued the item more than you did.

[janet9988]

Maybe the bidder is going to be busy on the last day.

How or when someone else bids should be of no concern to anyone but that bidder.

[shoegazer86]

Early bidding makes zero sense to me, but to each his own. Sure, ad nauseam, repeat after me:
"Highest bidder wins the auction."

Duh, we all know this. But the early bidder misses out on another fact:
"Earliest bidder doesn't usually get the best price."

Staking means nothing when people are rabid for the win. I see early bids and it never dissuades me, other than the idea that if I bid it's going to start an ego fueled bidding war a week before the auction ends.

I can't count on enough fingers and toes the amount of times I've saved two items in my watch list: one at auction and one at a BIN for an average/above avg price. Somehow the early bidders end up pumping the price up well past the BIN of the other identical item, and I just sigh and click BIN while everyone is still bidding early on the auction item.

This literally happened an hour ago. I was looking at records, I saved two in my watch list. One started at $10 auction price. The other, $45 BIN. The 10 day auction item sat untouched for a day or two until someone pinged it with an early bid, which caused people to keep chipping at it until the last two days, where the price stayed at $48. I bought the BIN. Same pressing, no special provenance, no pomp or circumstance, just price inflation based on fever dreams and measuring contests.

Every time I have bid early I have lost the auction. Every time. And it's always a realistic max bid.
Every time I snipe, I win at a good price. Every time.
Do any of these early bidders ever win anything? From my experience and the experience of my friends, I'm not too sure.

Your mileage may vary

It's not about what someone is "willing to pay". It's about winning period. If you waltz in with your early bid, people aren't looking at bottom line. They're looking at paying a dollar past what the auction is at. People will want to win no matter what "your price" is.