eBay

tampatranslator · ‎06-07-2023

I have been trying for some time to purchase a particular item. There is another ebayer who has purchased multiple copies of the same item and always swoops in at the last minute. I know this is the same person because they have a very large and specific (ex: 187773) feedback score and the feedback number is identical.

This person is clearly willing to pay more for the item that I am and that's fine. What I'm wondering is that he/she always uses the same pattern and I was wondering if there was some kind of strategy involved.

They will always place a bid that is $1 higher than the current winning bidder (me), but then will stop and I remain the high bidder until the very end of the auction when I will be ultimately be outbid. Are they just placing an initial low bid low as a placeholder to remember the auction?

nobody*s_perfect · ‎06-07-2023

@tampatranslator wrote: ... They will always place a bid that is $1 higher than the current winning bidder (me), but then will stop and I remain the high bidder ...

I can't make sense of that sentence. Is there a typo? Are you being outbid or not?

If you are consistently outbid by $1, that's because the high bid showing will always show as just one bid increment above the second-highest bid, regardless of the high bider's full proxy bid amount.

redmodelt · ‎06-07-2023

All about bidding | eBay

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/bidding/automatic-bidding?id=4014&st=3&pos=2&query=Automatic%20bidd...

wes-4507 · ‎06-07-2023

If you point us in the direction of one of these items, we can probably give you a detailed breakdown.

tampatranslator · ‎06-07-2023

It's like this.

I bid $35.00. Current high bid is $14.00

He/she bids $15.00, but I remain the highest bidder with an automatic bid of $16.00.

Then nothing happens for 3-4 days and at the last second, this person bids $45.00 and wins the auction.

I understand when people bid $1 by $1 to determine the highest bid, but this person only bids once and then gives up until the end. The only purpose I can see is that they would get reminder notices when the auction is about to close.

tampatranslator · ‎06-07-2023

I understand that. But this person outbids by $1 only once (allowing me to remain the high bidder and they are not anywhere close to my highest bid) then waits until near the end of the auction to place a very large bid. The only logic I can think of is that this would have ebay send them a reminder notice as the auction is about to close and they don't want to disclose their highest bid until the end.

bonjourami · ‎06-07-2023

Well that makes sense and is probably exactly whats happening.

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“Never pick a fight with an ugly person. They don’t have anything to lose.” ~Robin Williams

house*of*paws · ‎06-07-2023

@tampatranslator wrote:
I understand that. But this person outbids by $1 only once (allowing me to remain the high bidder and they are not anywhere close to my highest bid) then waits until near the end of the auction to place a very large bid. The only logic I can think of is that this would have ebay send them a reminder notice as the auction is about to close and they don't want to disclose their highest bid until the end.

@tampatranslator

They aren't 'outbidding' you if 'remain the high bidder'. They are merely raising the Showing Bid.

[They might just be trying to see whether you made a proxy bid or just bid the minimum ... although that really doesn't provide much information if the auction has several days to run. OR they just could be making it easier to locate auctions they are interested in in their My eBay. Receiving a reminder is definitely a possibility as well.]

eburtonlab · ‎06-07-2023

Some users keep track of auctions by saving a listing to the Watch List.

Others may place a minimum "placeholder" bid as you have guessed. This allows the listing to appear on the Bids & Offers page where it can be kept track of easily.

Then when the auction is about to end, the user can place a bid for whatever amount the user chooses.

The other user is not "giving up" after the initial bid. The other user is just waiting until the end of the auction to submit a higher bid so that other users do not have a chance to bid up and discover what that bid amount is or to beat it.

lamber9347 · ‎06-07-2023

@tampatranslator I use this same technique. When I see an auction item that I really want and has a bid, I would place a small bid to see if the original bidder went higher. Many times, people only place the minimum bid and that is all. I have won many auctions simply by doing that.

If my first bid is outbid, then I know the first bidder placed a higher bid, so now I wait. Like a lioness waiting in the tall grass. I am very patient.

When the auction is about to end, I place a nuclear bid, meaning an extremely high bid. This way if others are also waiting to snipe, they will have to place several random bids and the timer will run out on them. I have a 99% success rate using this system and I'm certain others do as well. No, I am not the person you are referring to because I haven't purchased an auction item in many months but wanted you to know others use this tactic. Best of luck to you....

soh.maryl · ‎06-07-2023

Has that strategy of placing an extremely high bid ever come back to bite you, like, if, for instance, there is another bidder who operates the same way? For example, item is now at $100, you bid 1K, another bidder had bid $950, so you are the winner of that $100 prize?

ms.rodriguez* · ‎06-07-2023

That is possible. What you have to do is make sure that you don't overbid too much over what the item is worth. Why don't you try to bid the last 2 minutes of an auction and raise your bid by more than a dollar. Say 15.oo and change. NEVER bid a round number. Add some cents to your bid. I have won several auctions by cents and have lost some by cents too.

I am also guessing that the other bidder is a seller with alot of $$ so he will probably overbid for something if he really wants it. Can you tell me what types of items you both are bidding on? I 'm curious.

lamber9347 · ‎06-07-2023

@soh.maryl wrote:
Has that strategy of placing an extremely high bid ever come back to bite you, like, if, for instance, there is another bidder who operates the same way? For example, item is now at $100, you bid 1K, another bidder had bid $950, so you are the winner of that $100 prize?

No because my high bid is the actual amount, I am willing to pay. I only bid for things which I collect and am confident of their worth. Sometimes it is an item I need for my collection, so I am willing to pay higher in order to complete my collection. That said, I have still lost out on a few because someone still bid higher than I did, and I bid quite high those times. The items were well worth what was paid each time....

kathiec · ‎06-07-2023

There's one more possibility. For those of us who use sniping services there have been problems with eBay randomly inserting a captcha when bidding, keeping those automated snipes from going through. Since that verification step only happens with the first bid, I normally bid one bid increment early on to get that step out of the way, then let my snipe service snipe at the end.