how to do well on EBAY

1 - dont bid until the last 15 seconds of any auction
2 - read rule number 1 again
3 - bid the max you are willing to pay for the item

any bidding before the last 15 seconds only drives up the price for all who are interested in buying the item - and accomplishes nothing

of course the sellers dont want you to know this - as bidding wars are all profit for them

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I fear I may lose some auctions because of this information leak you've just posted. You've described my eBay bidding method to a T. Good information, though. That's exactly what you should do if you want to win an auction (pending that the other bidder's top price isn't more than yours). Of course, if you have a slower connection (dial-up) you should bump up your bidding time to more than 15 seconds prior to close so your bid will be able to get in before the auction ends.

That's fine and dandy as long as you're going to be available to do your bidding at the exact closing moments of the auction. Otherwise, not so much.

I've found this to be true, unless you're using satelite based broadband like Hughesnet or WildBlue, then you might want to go ahead and bid with 1 to 1.5 minutes left, depending on the clearness of the sky. It stinks to live out in the country sometimes.

Yeah, nice strategy, however my issue is I'm never able to get on eBay when The auctions I'm interested in are ending.

My first time on EBAY a few years back, I learned the rules of the "game" as I like to call it very quickly

This was the best method back before ebay had the max bid feature and it was a real auction. This new system maximizes the profit for the seller it's less about the clock and more about establishing your $$ limit.

yeah - i just watch these guys driving up the price days before the end of the auction - and i am like - cmon man - no sense in that at all - not for us buyers anyway - anything that i REALLY want ? i will pay more just to make sure i get it - but yeah - you have to be available at the auctions end to play this game - win some / lose some - and where on earth is cedarfurnitureman finding his stuff ? i sure aint paying those prices

Ya'll need to check out this brilliant program called jBidwatcher.
Please, don't use it on anything I'm interested in purchasing on eBay, i think if people are jBidwatching against each other the internet collapses, and takes the east coast with it!!

I just bid exactly what it is worth to me. To me it doesn't make any difference if it's days early or mere seconds before close. And, it keeps emotions/adrenaline from having an undue influence on my bidding.

Only rule you need to follow:

Bid what you are willing to pay for an item in a sniping program like Gixen. Does all the work and you don't have to sit in front of a computer and wait for the auction to end.

If you read through all of the strategies, experienced buyers will say the same thing over and over. Snipe early at the highest price you are willing to pay and forget about it. If you win, fantastic, if you lose, move on to the next item.

None of this protects you from bad sellers which is often the case.

I fail to see any difference between a bidding war between two humans 3 days before auction end, and a bidding war between two sniping programs 30 seconds before auction end. I put in my max bid, and walk away.

BentonClay said:

I just bid exactly what it is worth to me. To me it doesn't make any difference if it's days early or mere seconds before close. And, it keeps emotions/adrenaline from having an undue influence on my bidding.

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Agree completely. If there is a herd watching something I want it will be there regardless of when I place my bid. The advantage of bidding early is that my time stamp supersedes that of someone bidding later. And if that someone beats my bid by one increment, so be it.

What never ceases top amaze me is that people will pay more for an item, sometimes considerably more, on Ebay than they could buy it from a widely accessible merchant like Amazon without the risk of getting ripped off.

Just bid what you are willing to pay and let it ride

BentonClay said:

I just bid exactly what it is worth to me. To me it doesn't make any difference if it's days early or mere seconds before close. And, it keeps emotions/adrenaline from having an undue influence on my bidding.

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the problem with that situation is not you, but the other guy teasing up your bid.

I bid when I want, for however much I want.

sid3000 said:

This was the best method back before ebay had the max bid feature and it was a real auction. This new system maximizes the profit for the seller it's less about the clock and more about establishing your $$ limit.

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Bingo. Max bids don't require sniping of auctions. In fact, establishing your max bid early is better in case someone max bids the same amount.

auk1124 said:

I fail to see any difference between a bidding war between two humans 3 days before auction end, and a bidding war between two sniping programs 30 seconds before auction end. I put in my max bid, and walk away.

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They're called nibblers, the guys who bid 12 times to try and top the early bidder two days in advance of the end, driving up the price for everyone. Just use a sniping program so the nibblers don't get a chance to do their thing in the last seven seconds. Play the game for awhile and you will learn the folly of your ways.