Outbid in final second

[cmhmul_74]

Hi all new to eBay,

I keep getting Outbid in final second and there is no way to place my next bid. The timer just ends and the other person wins the auction.

I will no doubt be hit with set your max bid higher next time. Well this a flawed approach because they just add £1 no matter what you bid. 

As far as I’m aware auctions should go on until the bidders stop bidding, and I assumed eBay was the same in that regard. 

Anyway my question is why do auctions work this way? How does one make sure they avoid this practice of last second outbidding and win the item? 

[nobody*s_perfect]

Yes, that happens all the time: the winner of the auction is somebody who placed just one bid, during the final few seconds of the auction. Did you have a particular reason for posting about that?

[albertabrightalberta]

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@allig602012 wrote:

Here is an auction where the winner had no earlier bids but won at the last few seconds. Item number  305468778812 

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Your example proves the point so many of us have been trying to make. It's the HIGH bid that wins. 

That winning bidder wanted the item and probably placed a bid that was well over the $61 winning bid. 

I recently did the same thing and won an item (395238941653) in the last few seconds. Although there were bids prior to and after my bid, my 1 and only ($110) proxy bid won the item. 

There's nothing flawed about the system. It works if you know how to use it.

[buyselljack2016]

Yup, perfect example of how one should bid as explained upthread.

Nibble bidder approach loses.😢

Bid max as late in the auction (sealed bid style) as possible and come out the winner.😂

[eburtonlab]

Nibble bidder approach loses.

The way I have heard it explained:

Nibble bidders bid for a bargain, hoping to win.

Snipers bid to win, hoping for a bargain.

When you bid the minimum increment, you are betting that the current high bidder has not bid any higher, and will not bid any higher, and that no one else will either. If you are wrong about any of that, you lose, unless you can bid again higher -- and you may not get the chance.

If you bid less that the maximum amount you would be willing to pay, you risk losing the auction if anyone in the final seconds bids an amount within the gap between what you have actually bid and what you are willing to pay. For no apparent gain.

Once again: You risk losing for no apparent gain when you bid less than your maximum amount.

[cw3200]

Something else is going on on with Ebay auto bids, see I know better than to place a bid that I really want early. But today, I clocked it, never placed a bid, bid was $14.50, I was willing to go to $27.00, 9 seconds left, outbid, hit $29 , outbid. Its not auto bidding, anyone can put say $150 on that same item, but it would only make more bidders pick and bid until the price got more than the item is actually worth. 
We can always, as smart ebay bidders see what we want to bid to whatever, enter maximum bid, get outbid, then alright. 
Happened twice to me lately, had one item, with in 10 seconds of close, bids poured in, paid $20.00 more for item, happened today, $14.00 item, hit it with 9 seconds to go with, $25 bid, auto outbid, somehow, with that short time frame, lost auction from my second bid after the 9 seconds had expired?? Not mad or nothing about losing the item, but the other bidders bids had never showed up in the previous bids list after the auction had ended. Liberal politics from EBay I suspect.

[campanaelia]

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@cw3200 wrote:

Liberal politics from EBay I suspect.

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ok, so just because you don't understand how bidding on ebay works, drag politics into it. You should prolly add it to your woke list while you're at it.

[steady2304]

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@cw3200 wrote:

Something else is going on on with Ebay auto bids, see I know better than to place a bid that I really want early. But today, I clocked it, never placed a bid, bid was $14.50, I was willing to go to $27.00, 9 seconds left, outbid, hit $29 , outbid. Its not auto bidding, anyone can put say $150 on that same item, but it would only make more bidders pick and bid until the price got more than the item is actually worth. 
We can always, as smart ebay bidders see what we want to bid to whatever, enter maximum bid, get outbid, then alright. 
Happened twice to me lately, had one item, with in 10 seconds of close, bids poured in, paid $20.00 more for item, happened today, $14.00 item, hit it with 9 seconds to go with, $25 bid, auto outbid, somehow, with that short time frame, lost auction from my second bid after the 9 seconds had expired?? Not mad or nothing about losing the item, but the other bidders bids had never showed up in the previous bids list after the auction had ended. Liberal politics from EBay I suspect.

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@cw3200 

Bidding your max with 9 seconds left is an eternity on an auction listing compared to someone using a sniping service. When I bid on auctions, I know what my max bid will be, and I set my sniping program to place my bid with 1 second left on the auction. I either win or someone else wins due to a higher maximum than me. I never place a bid on an auction until the very end. I keep it in my watchlist and strike right at the end. I either win or lose but I never pay more than I am willing to spend. Most times it is less than my maximum.

[doc-holmes]

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@campanaelia wrote:

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@cw3200 wrote:

Liberal politics from EBay I suspect.

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ok, so just because you don't understand how bidding on ebay works, drag politics into it. You should prolly add it to your woke list while you're at it.

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What a woke, liberal, virtue-signalling communist website! 

[rustydalmatian]

It depends on how much you want the item.  Somebody wanted it more than you, so they won.  Never click on "Place your bid" with more than 8 seconds left.

[stevescho]

A couple things to know about sniping, well a lot but I'll mention basics...foremost, there has to be a bid or else the seller can cancel a no bid auction if he senses you are all snipers. There's some particulars about the last hour or two that I don't quite remember. Can't do that if it has bids. So a good sniper will enter that initial bid, then another near the end of auction.  Second, don't overbid. There are shills out there that will snipe and retract. Third, don't worry about losing auctions...everyone except the winner lost. There's always something else to bid on.