first ebay bid...

[mr Mag00]

now what?

 

[Speicher]

What have you bid on? a water bottle?



IGMC

 

[mr Mag00]

oh i get it!

 

[Maz]

now what?

Wait until the auction ends...and pay up promptly, if you win!

Are you after any specific advice?

 

[mr Mag00]

no i guess not, maybe some hand holding

 

[Maz]

no i guess not, maybe some hand holding

How long to go until the auction ends? What are you hoping to buy? Yes, I'm nosey.

 

[mr Mag00]

every time i put in a bid it goes up yet, its not listed at that price when i look, am ibidding against an automated script?

 

[Maz]

every time i put in a bid it goes up yet, its not listed at that price when i look, am ibidding against an automated script?

If somebody has placed an earlier bid than yours, theirs will be displayed as the highest bid up to their maximum bid.
If you place a bid which exceeds that person's maximum bid, you'll become the highest bidder.

 

[mr Mag00]

little confused, 1 item says current bid£7 i have highest bid £10, why does it not show my bid as highest?

 

[Maz]

little confused, 1 item says current bid£7 i have highest bid £10, why does it not show my bid as highest?

I'm confused, too.

If the current highest bid is £7, and your maximum is £10, then there are 2 options:

1. You become the highest bidder
or
2. You are outbid by someone whose maximum bid is > £10.

 

[swee'pea99]

Are you sure the current highest bidder isn't you?

Even if you've bid £10, you've only bid *up to* £10. If no-one else bids more than £5, you'll end up winning for £5.50, even if you would have been prepared to pay £10.

 

[mr Mag00]

oh i see thank you, it has been going up in 50 increments. new to this

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Yes Swee'pea is correct, your highest bid is £10, but nobody else seemingly has bid higher than £7, therefore meaning that although you are the highest bidder, you will pay the lower price listed (unless anyone else starts bidding also, then you will pay their highest amount unless they outbid you).

The other bidders do not know (shouldn't know) what your highest bid is however until they put in a higher bid themselves, say, £10.50.
After being on ebay for quite while and looking at bid histories, you can begin to second guess what the highest amount might be, and that's half the fun - trying to predict what people are doing and outbid them without placing about 300 bids just to get there.

Clear as mud, right??
The best thing is just to sit and watch what happens.

Now show me the link so I can show you how it all works ....

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Further more, you have already discovered that you can put in an upper bid amount, but might not necessarily have to pay it.

This acts as a way of protecting your own highest bid if you cannot get to the computer as often as you like, as others might come along, try to bid against you but give up after a while if they see they are not getting anywhere/ see the price rocketing.

You might see an item that you want more than anything else, and the starting price/ highest bid amount might be, for sake of argument, £100. So you bid the £100 but then also bid for a higher amount, say £200.

If £200 was the highest you were prepared to pay and you still get outbid, then good luck to the other bidder, but at the same time, the other bidder might only bid £199.99, so it is a ploy that can (and does) occasionally backfire!

So ONLY bid if you actually have the money, or faff about with low bids and hope that nobody else notices the auction.

 

[mr Mag00]

thanks all