People's Bidding Habits

Noriko · Post by **Noriko** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 4:15 am

I have been bidding and selling on eBay from almost the beginning and have watched people's bidding habits change over the years, so I am just curious here about how you bid...

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 5:28 am

hmmm - I change from time to time. I used to whak down my maximum straight away... but soon found that people would just push it up for no other reason other than to see how high I would go...

Now I would most likely leave it towards the end... and even have a bidding war right at the end... It would have to be really great cel to get me in the snipey mood...

graymouser · Post by **graymouser** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 11:15 am

Most of the time I place a maximum bid fairly early. I work a lot of hours (70+/week) especially during the summer. I have no internet access at work and often so often I will not be able to visit the auction again until its over. I know that this usually means I pay a lot more as others bump it up, but I really have little choice. Occasionally, I know I will be available to be online at the auction's close. In that case, I only put in a modest initial bid and then watch the ending in order to counter-snipe any last minute bidders.

Noriko · Post by **Noriko** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 1:02 pm

Please note that this is the eBay catagory and your answers only apply to your eBay bidding habits.
I found that it's impossible to bid the same way on YJ auctions and on Mandarake auctions as I do on eBay.
On eBay I can snipe if I want (not that I do it, mind you).
But on YJ, anyone trying to bid in the last 10 minutes just adds another 10 frustrating minutes to the auction.
I think that Mandarake is the same way as YJ, but it's in the last 5, rather than 10.

KT · Post by KT » Thu Jul 31, 2003 1:14 pm

when i first started bidding i would bid right away, but now i bid within the last hour and watch till the auction ends. thats the way i have been doing it for awhile

Wolfette · Post by **Wolfette** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 2:59 pm

I snipe. Occasionally I'll place a bare bones minimum bid to show "I'm here"

But most of the time I just enter it into the sniper tool and leave it at that.

BleedingOrange · Post by **BleedingOrange** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 4:02 pm

I hate just putting a max. bid down right away. I think it's best to snipe 'em at the last moment. Putting down a max right away, unless you have no other choice, usually does lead to people just jack'n the price up and up to see where it might go. It has happened to me before.

pastatdude · Post by **pastatdude** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 4:42 pm

S.Wolfie wrote:Occasionally I'll place a bare bones minimum bid to show "I'm here" )

I do that on any auction that I really want to go for, and then snipe it at the end.

glorff · Post by **glorff** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 5:30 pm

Since I rarely find any "MUST HAVE" cels on ebay, I usually check in a few hours before an auction ends and decide if it will go at a reasonable price, then place a bid for my max. Occasionally I will be there for the end and have had some mighty battles in the last two minutes. Something about the thrill of the moment makes you keep bidding till the end though

Echo · Post by **Echo** » Fri Aug 01, 2003 6:02 pm

My bidding style depends on what it is I'm bidding on. If it's for manga, figures, DVDs, UFO's, and misc items I usually will put a bid in during the last couple days of an auction-- unless the particular auction has several bids or is being bid on by a shiller, then I'll snipe it.

Through several years of bidding on ebay, I've learned the hard way that the only way to bid on (and win) the cel you want you need to snipe, especially when it comes to DBZ. All too often I've had the person I outbid on the cel immediately come back and outbid me in the few minutes afterwards (bidding in small amounts so they had to bid 20 times before they outbid me). I swear some cel bidders sit at their computer ALL DAY LONG constantly refreshing the auction page, even when there's still 5 days before the auction ends.

Jason · Post by **Jason** » Fri Aug 01, 2003 6:11 pm

I put on a whim because I really do bid on a whim. Sometimes I wait to the end of an auction but most times I place an auction in my watchlist and then maybe a few days later place a bid if I still want the item.

Fever's Break · Post by **Fever's Break** » Fri Aug 01, 2003 9:27 pm

I think that I could probably be categorized as the guilty sniper. When possible, I watch the auction until the last moments and place my final bids then. But I usually put in a modest first bid at least an hour earlier so that I can pretend that I'm not REALLY a sniper

Bevhippy · Post by **Bevhippy** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 2:55 am

If its a cel I really really want I will snipe it

. But I think we are all guilty of that at some point.

Otherwise I will usually stick a few quid on it and see how its going in the last couple of hours.
Unless I crash out in front of the PC waiting till 4:45am for it to finish...... again

.

ogr81vegeta · Post by **ogr81vegeta** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 9:07 am

I do the sniping sometimes. Sometimes I'll just try to keep an eye on it and bid at the end, then I end up busy and totally missing it when it ends. Cuz everytime I start to bid at the beginning I always end up outbid

Elfstalker · Post by **Elfstalker** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 10:20 am

Next to 'Cels Anonymous' we have 'Snipers Anonymous.'

Anime-Beta TNG

People's Bidding Habits

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People's Bidding Habits