Damn EBAY

[Deleted member 35268]

Was watching some crappy old TT frame on EBAY last night. No bids until about 2 minutes before (well, just mine of 99p). Anyway, then all hell breaks loose and I lose the frame at just £26, all in the last minute.

I know the strategy but I just thought maybe, just maybe, it was only me in the running.

Would have made a great spare road bike. Darn it!

 

[ColinJ]

Doesn't that mean that you were not willing to pay the going rate for it?

If you were prepared to bid (say) £40, then why didn't you do that a few minutes earlier? It wouldn't have gone that high unless other people bid it up to that.

 

[ColinJ]

I have made the same mistake myself!

I usually just search eBay for a decent Buy it Now price these days but if I am going to bid in an auction, I usually do it with my highest price about 5 minutes before the close. I then stop watching, in case I get tempted to make a foolish last minute bid over my limit to defeat opposing bids.

The wait-and-bid strategy can backfire on you though ... I was going to bid on something and waited until the last minute to make my bid, only for my router to go down. I reset the connection but it did not come back in time. What gutted me was that the item went for half what I would have been happy to pay ...

 

[Milkfloat]

Justsnipe.com

 

[Deleted member 35268]

I might have gone to £30, and I was setting this up went time got the better of me.
I've won loads of actions before and at a good price, but this time I let it go to easily. Grrr

 

[midlife]

Just out of curiosity have you got a link, just wondered what you could buy for £26 ?

Shaun

 

[swee'pea99]

I have auctionstealer on my pc and myibidder on my phone and use both all the time.

 

[Dirk]

I use Joy Bidder - it's an add on for Firefox - works very well.

 

[Lonestar]

I've got a sniping program as I never take anything for granted.Bought yet another Dell Mini 9 (at a good price) to play my footee management program on.

 

[biggs682]

Justsnipe.com

but that takes the fun out of it old bean

 

[screenman]

It is nice when things change hands for a good price for both buyer and seller.

 

[alicat]

At 99p it wouldn't probably have met the reserve so you wouldn't have got it anyway.

 

[vernon]

but that takes the fun out of it old bean

There's no fun to be had by being caught in a bidding war and paying more than you really intended.

I used a sniping tool set at a maximum of £300 when bidding for a brand new Dave Yates Reynolds 525 Randonneur frame.

I got it for £140. There was no need for me to sit poised by the computer at an unearthly hour, fingers ready to enter a bid. Set the snipe and forget about it.

Simple and stress free.

Sniping is no different from bidding live - you only get the goods if you have the highest bid.

 

[swee'pea99]

At 99p it wouldn't probably have met the reserve so you wouldn't have got it anyway.

People mostly don't have reserves, not least because they carry quite a significant additional fee.

 

[guitarpete247]

I like the buzz of putting in my max bid with seconds to go. Never used a sniping tool. What happens if 2 or 3 of the bidders are using one?