Outbid at the very last second

[blacktopmagazine]

Has anyone else noticed, that right at the very last second you are out bid on an item. I was watching and my bid for $27 was about to win, I had another dollar on my high bid, then at the very last second someone came in at $29 and won it. I have heard of this happening before, just wanted to know if anyone else experiences it and how to get around it.

[alcoforever · Accepted solution]

Lots of people experience that.   Perfectly normal as ebay accepts bids up until the last second.  The way to get around it is to bid the absolute most you would pay for the item and then add a few cents as a tie breaker.  If you lose, the other fool paid too much.   If you win, great!

[eye_of_the_tiger]

That’s kinda what auctions are for..😉 

And how to get AROUND it is to get OVER it. 🙂

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0bhsXykXxfg

[woodland_gnome]

The winner bid at least $29, likely more,  Just like your maximum was hidden and showed at less than you had bid ($27 instead of $28--p.s. cents matter, bidding a few cents above the round number can make the difference between winning and losing) so his/her bid SHOWS at $29 because that is one bid increment more than your $28 bid.

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)

[releasethekraken_1]

The way to get around it is to bid your max before the auction ends.

People have been bidding at the last second since eBay was born 25 years ago.

[seersuckerandapanama]

Hidden insiders are making hidden bids before the last second.

[mybigsale]

Seems like it would be in eBays and sellers best interest if auctions used time extension - where if bids come in at the last minute of an auction a short period of time is added to the auction end time.  Sniping would be less of a problem. Imagine if live auctions (with auctioneers) would just end at a certain point of time without letting the auction play out. 

[alcoforever]

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@mybigsale wrote:

Seems like it would be in eBays and sellers best interest if auctions used time extension - where if bids come in at the last minute of an auction a short period of time is added to the auction end time.  Sniping would be less of a problem. Imagine if live auctions (with auctioneers) would just end at a certain point of time without letting the auction play out. 

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This is not an outcry auction.   Because it is a world-wide auction with bidders in many time zones, it has to end at a certain point.   Would you like to have to sit at your computer for 24 hours straight trying to win an auction?  That's what time extensions could do for you.

[downunder-61]

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@seersuckerandapanama wrote:

Hidden insiders are making hidden bids before the last second.

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There are no ''hidden insiders'', just other bidders who know how to work the system. Read here and you will be able to compete with them.

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/bidding/automatic-bidding?id=4014&st=12&pos=2&query=Automatic%20bid...

[downunder-61]

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@mybigsale wrote:

Seems like it would be in eBays and sellers best interest if auctions used time extension - where if bids come in at the last minute of an auction a short period of time is added to the auction end time.  Sniping would be less of a problem. Imagine if live auctions (with auctioneers) would just end at a certain point of time without letting the auction play out. 

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And when should this auction end ? Once you have placed the highest bid ?

[mudshark61369]

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@blacktopmagazine wrote:

Has anyone else noticed, that right at the very last second you are out bid on an item. I was watching and my bid for $27 was about to win, I had another dollar on my high bid, then at the very last second someone came in at $29 and won it. I have heard of this happening before, just wanted to know if anyone else experiences it and how to get around it.

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@blacktopmagazine,

We have all experienced that happening even when we have placed last second bids. Any bid placed before the end time of an auction down to the second, will be applied. You can click on the numbers of bids on the auction, if it is still saved, to see the exact time an auction ended on the bid history.  You can do the same thing while an auction is active even if there are (0) bids.

If your issue is that you would have bid more for the item, then you should have placed a bid for the most you were willing to pay, plus a few odd cents, when you bid the $28.  If you had done that you may have won the auction despite the last second bidder. 

It is the Highest bid received in an ebay auction, not necessarily the last one that wins.

People bid in the last seconds to prevent nibble bidders or shills from running up the price early on.

[maxine*j]

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@mybigsale wrote:

Seems like it would be in eBays and sellers best interest if auctions used time extension - where if bids come in at the last minute of an auction a short period of time is added to the auction end time.  Sniping would be less of a problem. Imagine if live auctions (with auctioneers) would just end at a certain point of time without letting the auction play out. 

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And it ends when you bid, right? 

eBay auctions are modified sealed-bid auctions, and you cannot compare them to oral auctions.

Sniping is not a problem.  It is a bidding technique some people use.  It is always the highest bid that wins the eBay auction, regadless of when it was placed.

=

[bimm_corp]

@blacktopmagazine 

>just wanted to know if anyone else experiences it and how to get around it.

Here are a few ideas I use in bidding on eBay auctions. They have worked well for me for over 20 years.

1) Never bid on an item until the last few seconds. This takes some planning and you must be awake and watching when the item closes. Never show your hand until the item has less than 15 seconds to go.

2} Because of eBay's proxy bidding system, bidding just a bit above the current high bid is useless. When you do bid, if you really want an item, bid at least twice the current high bid. Thrice would be better.

3) There are websites that will (always for a fee) do the last second bidding for you. I don't use them as I don't like giving my eBay login info to a third party.

HTH.

[justafemster]

Yup, it's called sniping.  You didn't bid enough to win.  Hence the person who bid more won.  Sniping has been around as long as ebay, well, longer.  Any fixed time auction has always had snipers.  

Simple way to get around it is to bid your max.  That way when someone else outbids you, you know you didn't want it as much as they did.  

[releasethekraken_1]

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@mybigsale wrote:

Seems like it would be in eBays and sellers best interest if auctions used time extension - where if bids come in at the last minute of an auction a short period of time is added to the auction end time.  Sniping would be less of a problem. Imagine if live auctions (with auctioneers) would just end at a certain point of time without letting the auction play out. 

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1) Sniping isn't a problem.

2) This isn't a live auction; this is an auction where a significant % of bidders can't be there to bid at the end.

3) If auctions were extended, the people who place a max bid (i.e. the people who are mainly responsible for pushing up the price) would be much less likely to do so, resulting in LOWER prices.

4) If eBay thought they could make more money with extensions, they would have done it decades ago.