We received an email from a self proclaimed "auction newbie" this week seeking information on how to bid on eBay. What was
surprising was not the email itself but the fact that no one at Auction Lotwatch had thought to put together
a basic guide to eBay Bidding. It is worth noting that there are folks out there who have either never
used eBay or are infrequent users who perhaps have only bought using a "Buy It Now".
Hopefully this basic guide will help steer you through some of the vagaries of bidding on eBay.
Let's start at the very beginning - to bid on eBay you must be a registered user. Registration is free and
only takes moments to complete. If you haven't registered yet you should do so on your local eBay site - you can
find a list of all the eBay International sites with links to registration pages here.
- PROXY BIDDING / AUTOMATIC BIDDING
Assuming that we are now all registered and have logged into eBay let's proceed. Using proxy bidding is a
common way to bid on eBay and has many advantages - but what exactly is proxy bidding? Probably the best way
to explain is to show some examples of how it would be used in practice.
Let's assume that we have found a box of red widgets that we wish to make a bid on.
The current price of the red widgets is £10 so we decide that we wish to place a bid before it closes.
So we place a bid of £11 and become the highest bidder. Along comes another bidder who places a £12 bid
and our bid is outbid. At this point we could bid again to try and regain the highest bidder spot but
we may well be outbid.
Now the difference with Proxy Bidding is that eBay will take a maximum bid from you and then automatically
bid on your behalf until you win or are outbid. It will not place any further bids once the maximum bid
that you have specified is reached.
So back to the example - the current price of the red widgets is £10 and we put in a maximum bid of £19.75 -
this is the maximum amount we are prepared to pay for this item. eBay will place the initial bid on our behalf
to make us the highest bidder. Then if another bidder places a £12 bid the system will automatically bid against
them to stay as the highest bidder. Another different bidder comes along and bids £15 and again the system
automatically bids on your behalf until you either win or another bidder bids more than your maximum of £19.75.
For many users bidding this way means that you don't have to keep watching an item, it takes away the
effort and leaves the system to bid on your behalf. It does mean that you have a better chance of winning
an item simply because it is completely automated and not reliant on you placing bids.
TIP: When entering your Maximum Bid try and avoid using round numbers as you will have a better chance
of success. People tend to bid in round numbers so by bidding smart you increase your chances of
winning the item.
Once you start bidding on items you may experience bidding for an item only to find that you get outbid in the
last seconds of an auction and subsequently miss out on the item you really wanted.
If the above happens to you then you will have probably been beaten by a sniping tool. Simply put sniping tools
place your bids with only seconds to go of an auction leaving others little time to react and bid. It is an important
tool for many an auction bidder and one worth considering using.
All the current sniping tools are third party tools i.e. not provided by eBay and the majority are online. With all
the services you will be required to enter your eBay username & password as the bidding robot software bids on your
behalf. Ensure that you review the sniping service and look for an established service before you sign up.
Some sniping services charge a monthly fee for the usage whilst others operate on a per bid fee.
We have been offering a free and paid online sniping service since 2002 with AuctionLotSnipe.com which has literally been
responsible for the successful outcome in hundreds of thousands of eBay auctions. Unique and innovative automated bidding
technologies are used to ensure a 99% successful bid rate. There is no software to download - in fact your machine doesn't
even have to be switched on for your bids to be placed. You can track and bid on several auctions in one go and schedule
your bid at your convenience either using the free or paid versions. So the next time you really want to bid and win an
auction item give AuctionLotSnipe a try.
Internet auction sites, such as eBay and others have provided a great platform for literally millions of users to buy or sell
virtually anything from unwanted household goods to high value items at the click of a button.
The vast majority of sales are concluded promptly and to the satisfaction of both parties.
However problems can occur with the end result being the buyer left out of pocket or at the very least left feeling disgruntled and
cheated. You can limit the likelihood of this happening by following five basic safety tips:
Check The Seller's Feedback
Check The Item(s) You Want To Bid On
Check The Small Print Inc Delivery Prices
Check How To Pay - Pay Safely With PayPal
Check Your Bid - Only Bid If You Want The Item
Click to find a fuller version of our Five Bidding Safety Tips
- HANDY EBAY BIDDING HELP PAGES
eBay Bidding Overview
Learn everything you need to know about bidding on eBay.
Automatic (Proxy) Bidding
Set your maximum bid and let eBay do the rest.
Reserve Price Auctions
Some auction-style listings have a hidden minimum price.
Bid Increments
The amount by which a bid will be raised each time the current bid is outbid.
Changing Your Maximum Bid
Find out how to raise or lower your maximum bid.
Retracting Your Bid?
There are only a few situations when it's possible to retract your bid.
Whether you are a seasoned and regular eBay buyer or completely new to the eBay marketplace you
can enhance your auction experience by utilising one or more of the free tools available. These tools
have been designed with the buyer in mind, are easy to use and will save you time and money!
eBay Hot Auction Search
Find all the Hot closing auctions with multiple bids by category.
AuctionFinal
Find the closing auctions with no bids & grab a bargain.
AuctionSpeller
Find eBay auctions that have been spelt incorrectly.
eBay Top Spelling Mistakes
Find lists of the most popular auction misspellings & typos.
AuctionLotSnipe
Bid Last & Win - eBay Snipe Tool - Free & Paid Versions.
Auction Lotwatch
Multi-Auction Search - Search the Top 3 UK Auction Sites.
Auction Remind
Never miss another bargain - automated eBay search results via email
Happy Bidding!
Posted: Fri March 15 11:30 GMT
