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Author
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Topic: Bidding 8mm in Ebay
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Winbert Hutahaean
Film God
Posts: 5468
From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted May 26, 2005 01:23 AM
Being in a small country like Fiji is hard to increase my collection. I just realised that buying from Ebay is one of the alternative (shame on me!). However, as a newbies in Ebay, I could not understand the basic rules. I have tried to ask to the Ebay site, but did not get a satisfaction answer. So somebody here could probably help me.
This is my question:
If I place a Max Bid then no one can beat me unless his/her max bid is above me, right? If no one beat me, then I will win the auction with the least minimum bid that I have.
So, for example, someone put his 200" 8mm Disney in Auction with a small starting price, say $1 and I am interested with this particular item To avoid someone bid against me then I place a Max Bid for $100. It means, if other people want to place $20 or $30 or $40 he/she will be outbid by the system, right?
To my understanding, no one in this world will dare to buy this item for more than $100, therefore, it means until the end of auction the price will stay at $1. Does it mean, I am the winner of this auction and will only pay $1 to the seller?
If this correct, it means better to be the first bidder and place the highest unreasonable price for an auction. Or I miss something in the Ebay system, please Help me.
I know many in this forum are good Ebayer.
Thanks.
Winbert
[ May 26, 2005, 02:37 AM: Message edited by: Winbert Hutahaean ]
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Winbert
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Alan Rik
Film God
Posts: 2211
From: New York City, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted May 26, 2005 01:51 AM
Hi Winbert,
Well the best way to win an auction is to bid the highest amount you are willing to pay seconds before an auction ends.
For example:
If you want to bid $100 max on an item 2 days before the auction ends then literally seconds before the auction someone may bid a maximum bid of $150 and they win for $101! Then you have lost the item by one dollar. Yes, it is crazy that someone bid a max of $150 for an item that is only worth say, $50. But it happens all the time because sometimes WINNING is more important than the price they have to pay.
So to stop from paying too much for an item you sit and wait and with say 5-10 seconds to go, you can throw your highest bid in and if the highest bid from the other party is $2.00, then you win at $3.00! By waiting till the last moment to bid you conceal the fact that you are watching the item and the previous high bidder feels that he/she are the only one watching the item so they place their bid at $2.00 max. By bidding too early on you become the one to beat and your intentions are known.Sound a little like playing Poker huh?
And someone, even the seller himself may bid against you to see if they can raise the price! Not a good practice but I am sure it happens all the time.
As always never bid past a price you are willing to pay. Then if you win, great! And if you dont..then remember that no matter how good the item looked..soon enough there will be another one on Ebay that is Cleaner, in the original box with all the accessorites, etc!
Best of luck to you.
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Winbert Hutahaean
Film God
Posts: 5468
From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted May 26, 2005 03:17 AM
Dear Alan,
Thanks for your explanation and that's also what people in Ebay has explained to me. But at that time I pretended to understand to avoid being seen as stupid. But here I dare to ask because all members respect each others.
My question in previous case was, is it true that if I'm trying to avoid someone bid against me then placing the highest max bid is the best way?. (note: my understanding of max bid, i.e. an amount of money which we are not going to pay, but more to be the limit of other people to be allowed bidding against me)
Yes, you are right that the last seconds are the most important time to bid. But if I have placed a Max bid $100, no one will bid against me and the bid will stay at $1. Say, eventually in the last second, there is someone bid above me for
$101, it's still OK for me because I am nothing to lose. Since my intention placing $100 was actually to close other people bid against me. Was in my mind when placing the $100 max bid: "if someone got the item above $100, I could find it somewhere else. However if no one dares, I'm lucky because I only pay $1"
Or I still miss something.
thanks,
Winbert
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Winbert
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