Being outbid on ebay

wiz

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Hi
I find I'm constantly being out bid on a particular item, a couple of times by the same person to the same value. Is this right?
How can I prove that this not playing by the rules?
It feels as though a mate or the same person using a differne ident is biddind this item up untill he / she gets the price they want

Thx
Ossie
:lease:
 
From Mrs Signs,
some people have specific software that will automatically outbid others in the last few seconds for you, also it is common practice to boost price up of a friends item, you can usually tell these bids as they will be for round numbers, eg. £10.00 as serious bidders put in odd amounts to gazum eg. £12.22 therefore the fakes don't outbid the others just boost sale price up.
I still play ebay as fate, you put in your low bid straight away (getting on the ladder at the bottom), then watch the last few minutes and then put in your maximum price you are prepared to pay, if 2 bidders put same max price in and you were before them on the ladder then you go on top, if you are pipped over your maximum price then it wasn't meant to be, you can easily keep going up and up and end up paying more for the item than you intended to by getting caught up in the adrenalin rush of the auction.
Hope this helps and was advice you were after :)
 
or beat them at their own game and use a sniping tool yourself ;)
 
I love being an ebay sniper, I don't use any tools though, I just wait to last few seconds and bid the highest I'm willing to go with a few pennies on the end.

...only with auto bids
 
In my experience it doesnt seem sensible for people to bid to early. If people just placed there bid right at the end of the auction they'll avoid the inevitable bidding war & temptation to go just that little bit higher. Yes, i know you might not win, but just bid as hi as you'ld be prepared to spend.. just do it at the end rather than days before.

I frequently see actions on ebay with 5-7 days to go that have a couple of bids on them already, why?? when you can just 'watch' it till its about to close and save raising the cost with a mini bidding tussle.
 
PmSonic said:
I frequently see actions on ebay with 5-7 days to go that have a couple of bids on them already, why?? when you can just 'watch' it till its about to close and save raising the cost with a mini bidding tussle.



If there is a "Buy-it-Now" price and no reserve, by bidding low you remove the B.I.N. option, thereby preventing anyone nicking it before the auction closes.
 
PmSonic said:
In my experience it doesnt seem sensible for people to bid to early. If people just placed there bid right at the end of the auction they'll avoid the inevitable bidding war & temptation to go just that little bit higher. Yes, i know you might not win, but just bid as hi as you'ld be prepared to spend.. just do it at the end rather than days before.

I frequently see actions on ebay with 5-7 days to go that have a couple of bids on them already, why?? when you can just 'watch' it till its about to close and save raising the cost with a mini bidding tussle.

Exactly, any other tactic is plain stupid in my opinion. This OP sounds like someone has already put in a large bid & ebay automatically award the highest bid back to them after Wiz has entered his. That's normal, nothing weird.
 
I find it useful to put in an initial low bid on something I'm interested in to gauge interest. If I feel I'm up against someone who is going to push the bidding up to crazy levels I'll leave it. If I feel I'm being shilled I'll alos leave it . Especially if there is the same item available in a different auction

If the bidding seems nominal I'll leave it until the last 20 secs and If I really want the thing I'll put in my max bid.

Buy it now is useful for the little bits and bobs that arent worth the energy to bid on either for price ar availability...but mind you don't get ripped on the postage and packing, and always factor it in on you maximum bid price.

I tend to favour paypal capable sellers as its always been hassle free for me , sending cheques and all that malarkey just spoils it for me.

These days if I'm after something I'll usually check ebay first. I've generally had excellent service when buying new goods from ebay shops.
 
To be honest I've no sympathy at all for people who complain about being outbid. Bid at the last minute is usually best, but if you bid the maximum amount you were prepared to pay and you were outbid then the other person was prepared to pay more than you for the item, this is the nature of auctions...

The trouble with eBay (from a buyers POV) is the number of idiots prepared to pay more than an item is worth :rolleyes:
 
Jammyb said:
The trouble with eBay (from a buyers POV) is the number of idiots prepared to pay more than an item is worth :rolleyes:
Hear hear.
1. If you are really interested and done all the checks (read the sellers feedback, PAYPAL only, added in the postage etc) then don't put in an early bid - you are just telling other people that it's worth a look.
2. Get your absolute maximum bid (remembering postage) ready and put in at the very last minute - I do it with <15 secs left
3. If you win great, if not, as someone else says, you weren't meant to and you've made some other poor b****r pay more :D
Since adopting this method, I have been unsuccesful only a couple of times but not regretted it. ;)
 
Don't use whole pounds, always add a few extra pence and stick to your limit.
That's what I do. Never get caught up in the bidding frenzy.

Plenty of sellers use aliases to bump up their own auctions, all you need to do is use the Advanced search feature and see what auctions that username has been bidding on etc.
 
Not what the highest bid is but the highest bid with reference to the person they out bid.

ie if a person puts a bid in of £10 and the next person puts in £15 a percentage or amount will be added to the first bid say it comes to £11. Thats what the bidder of £15 will pay but it will not show £15 as the highest bid but the affoementioned percentage or amount on top of the £11.
 

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