How Best to Bid

[mustard-tree]

May seem an odd question coming from someone who has been a member for 15 years, but just curious.

Being rather an impatient person who wants everything yesterday, I tend to go for buy it now, but sometimes I do bid on auction style items.

I always thought it best to bid early with the highest I am prepared to pay and let it run.
But I have seen some people say that it is best to bid near the end of the auction.

Is there a right way or wrong way, or is it just personal preference.

[**bustysinclaire**]

Personal preference I think.

I always bid very late with only a few seconds to go then bid as high as I am prepared to go.

I have to admit though if I have been watching an item and others bid before me I tend to leave it till I find an item with no bids near the end. I do it as I want to get it as cheap as possible. That depends on how much I need the item though.

[al**bear]

Bid your highest with seconds to Go - you can play chicken and see how late you can do it

WARNING - Give a little extra time on weekends - Sundays especially - when there are more people bidding

Bidding early gives unscrupulous sellers time to shill You

[evoman3957]

I'm a bit like you, waiting a whole week for something I really want ( on one occasion having waited for 3 years for the item to come up ) doesn't do my stress levels any good, a bit like agony & ecstasy rolled into one. I'll do whatever I can to get it and that varies, depending on circumstances and gut feeling; but if I lose at the last moment ( and it happens ) I can't say I'm a happy Bunny ( especially if I've waited 3 years to find said item )

[astrologica]

I'm a last second bidder too! I don't think it's a good move to show your hand. And if it's something I really, really , really want, then I sometimes ask a friend to bid too, and then reimburse them including fees etc if I win. Bidding anxiety is dreadful...that fear that your connection is too slow, or that you will leave it too late....or that another bidder will come in at the last split second using an auto bid system. 😡😡  Losing out is a crushing disappointment!....but we get over it.

[Anonymous]

I'm a sniper too.

[littleme61_6]

I tend to hold on and go in as late as can be to an auction. I have it down to a fine art diving in with 5/6 seconds to go. 

When I am selling it is such fun - when an item is lucky to sell of course - for when the final few minutes and seconds go around. 

The best sale I had was when I was selling a 3 year old tumble dryer. Nothing wrong with it just I decided to buy a condenser dryer instead.  I started the auction off at £20.

When the bidding came to an end I was amazed at the price I got. £85   I think the bidders got too carried away trying to win it. 

[evoman3957]

I would have thought you would have got the old 44 out and blown them all to Hell.

[Anonymous]

Well I kind of do.

[vamo48]

It is a matter of personal preference, but then again it varies.  I will happily bid early as the first bidder, thinking that maybe seeing a bid on the item could put "Bidder 2" off if they think they'll have to go a lot higher;  on the other hand if someone outbids me, I wait till near the end to bid again, so as to give them a false sense of security, otherwise we could both get carried away!.

[evoman3957]

There's lots of little signs to give you an idea of what's going on. If there is an opening bidder, who has remained the high bidder after several subsequent bids, you can look up the bid history on the item. If the opening bidder has only placed one bid, then he/she could have bid any amount; including bidding higher than anybody else is likely to go, because they really want the item...........almost at any cost. If, however, they have put 2 or more bids in, then the last bidder who put a bid in, other than them, was obviously getting close to the opening bidders maximum......so they bumped up their bid. It gives you an idea what their limits are and how big the increases in their bids are likely to be, in order to stay in front. Also, If the bidder has a suspect history with the buyer; don't bother bidding, it normally signals dodgy practices are going on and if you carry on bidding.........you'll pay over the top.

[bankhaunter]

Don't leave until the very last second, just wait until there is not enough time for someone to put in a higher bid.

Remember that if two bidders bid the same, the one to bid first gets priority.

[jd.linklater]

I generally test the water with around ten minutes to go by making bids in small increments until I'm highest bidder, that gives a reasonable idea of what the final bid will be. Then I leave it as late as possible, around the last 2-3 seconds, to make my final bid by a bigger increment. I haven't missed many doing it that way.