Automatic bidding

[deborahe217]

I placed a maximum bid & it said WINNING as it counted down for 12 minutes but when I went back to the item to pay for it someone had outbid me by $2. I am so mad! I would have increased my bid if it had said I’d lost the bid!

[mr_lincoln]

Hi @deborahe217 

Really sorry that happened to you but Buyers can bid with virtually no time remaining as long as the bids are placed before the auction ends. 

[inceptions · Accepted solution]

@deborahe217 

The winner is determined at the end of the auction (not 12 minutes before the end of the auction). Since most bidding occurs are the VERY end of the auction, you usually wouldn't have time to enter another bid.

Nibble bidding is not a winning strategy. You'll win more bids if you bid one time, bid towards the end of the auction if you can, and bid the very most you are willing to pay. eBay will keep you in the lead unless/until someone bids more than your max.

Read here:

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/bidding/automatic-bidding?id=4014&st=3&pos=1&query=Automatic%20bidd...

[woodland_gnome]

If you would have bid more if you had the chance you SHOULD have bid more WHILE you had the chance.

Bid your TRUE maximum that you are willing and able to pay for that particular item as listed (don't forget to back out shipping etc.) WITHOUT REGARD to what others appear or don't appear to have bid. There is absolutely no need to figure out what others have or haven't bid or might bid* in determining your bid amount, since it ALREADY will have been figured into the price if you win. While some claim tactical reasons to place a lower bid early in the auction and then wait until near the end to bid your full TRUE maximum, I advise bidding only 1 time (can't repeat it enough: at your TRUE maximum) because you are never guaranteed a rebid (and there are circumstances where the prior bid prevents a rebid on that same auction). For several reasons later bidding is better than early bidding (doesn't use up your Limits, keeps your options open, doesn't leave your hidden maximum available for others, including dishonest sellers, to probe by "nibbling" at it) and I recommend using a third party "snipe service" (do a websearch, there are reliable and secure ones that are free for limited use or there are different fee schedules that best suit your bidding quantity and ratio of wins) to place your bid during the last few seconds using eBay's API rather than the not especially reliable web interface or, worse, mobile app.


*(other than to assume someone else will value the item about the same as you, so bid a bit ABOVE any round or roundish number you come up with to increase your chances of being on the winning side of what might have been a tie or a loss to someone else who knows this tip)