E-Bay question
 

OK. I know nothing about e-Bay. But there's a car on Ebay that I'm very keen to buy. It's not overly expensive, is very unique, and has about 4 interested bidders as far as I can tell.

There's a couple of days left on the auction.

What tricks/suggestions are there for getting in at the end with a winning bid?

(There's no "buy it now" price.)

Put in the most you are willing to pay for the car, and not a cent more. See if you have won it when the auction closes.

The trick is to know when to walk away when the bidding gets ridiculous.

Since you're not an eBay veteran, be sure to see if the auction requires you to have a certain feedback number before bidding. Or just email the seller to ask about grabbing it. Or snipe it at the last second.

I'd do what Legion said (put in my "best" offer), and let the chips fall where they may (as do many I suppose), but I always did it in the last few minutes. No need to trigger a "bidding war" early in the process. I no longer use ebay after being scammed on a $500 amp (I did get my money back however) as I find it's a cesspool full of scammers (but obviously not everyone). No way, no how would I bid on a car unless I considered my $ a total loss up front :)

OK. But I suspect—I could be wrong—that it will sell for significantly less than I might be willing to pay for it. (It has a unique value to me—and possibly not to other bidders.)

If this is correct, is there some way of timing the bids at the end of the auction, to make sure I have the time to get the highest bid—without necessarily bidding far above what others are willing to pay.

I know (or rather I have heard) there is some art to this—but I don't know more than that.

I'm not the expert by any means, but here are some of my ebay observances.

There are snipe programs(that bid in the last possible seconds) and all that stuff, but it really boils down to just one thing. Whoever bids the highest wins. You can wait until the last second and try to steal it, but there is usually a flury of bids in the waning seconds of a remarkable buy. There could be 10 guys thinking just like you are about how to win this auction.

You could try unethical means like emailing the seller and cutting a deal. There's huge risk there on many different fronts.

If you googled "how to win an ebay auction" you may get suggestions, but again it all boils down to who wants to pay more than the rest.

In the long run, you're most often better off simply bidding the highest amount you're willing to spend for the item. If you try to spend the least amount to win, most often it will sell for amount you would have beat if given the chance.

Care to explain?

Assume I know something about the car and am satisfied that it is what the seller says it is.

I'd put in your bid with your best offer with five minutes to go.

There's no need to invite possible shill bidders to test your limit.

If you try to cut it any closer, you risk network delays causing your bid to be submitted after the auction closes. I've had that happen to me before.

I thought thought that if the current bid was $1, and you bid $100 the 'current bid' only goes to $2. Then if someone else bids $3, your bid automatically goes to $4. Isn't that the case?

I was making an "ASSumption" that you were bidding on a car based upon the ebay ad and nothing more, sorry 'bout that. If you do "know" the car, that's different. Put in your "best" offer near the end of the auction (knowing that many others do the same)...good luck!

Thanks for the replies thus far.

Any other tips for an e-Bay newbie? (I do have a paypal account.)

I'll report back if I win this thing.

There's nothing unethical about emailing the seller and asking about the reserve or cutting a deal. Lots of eBay items are also listed on Craigslist or other places at the same time and, while the seller usually discloses that in the eBay listing, they don't have to and they can end the auction at any time. If you really want it, I'd contact the seller. How are you gonna feel if you see someone snag it for a great deal and then it reappears on eBay a few weeks later when the deadbeat bidder doesn't pay? Or worse, what if someone snags it for a great price and then flips it on eBay for far more than you could have gotten it for?

Assuming the auction ends at a reasonable time (that you're online), just put your VERY best offer in with say one minute left to go. I've never used the sniping tools, but that's certainly an option too. Don't be surprised when someone already has a higher "maximum" bid in place irregardless of when you bid thus overtaking you as the high bidder. That's why you decide up front the max you're willing to pay, and not go any higher in some stupid bidding war.

Shill bidders don't need 5 minutes either. That's why you only bid what you're willing to pay. Shill bidders or not, you can't be screwed if you get the item for what you're willing to spend. Oh, the item may be misrepresented, but again, homework on the value is done before bidding. Ask the seller for more pictures or history. I do agree bidding near the end whenever possible to limit the competition.

Personally, I can't bid on a car I can't touch unless it is from a very very well documented seller.

Dottore, since you're not a regular Ebay user, keep in mind that the current highest bidder may have put in his/her "maximum" that could be many times higher than what is currently showing and will immediately surpass whatever you bid no matter when you place your bid. There's no way to tell in advance...

Let's say that you put your maximum bid in and it was higher than anyone elses. The price would not jump all the way up to your maximum, but would only go as high as necessary to be the highest. (ie. price is $25, you bid a max of $100, the previous high bid was $30, you will now be winning the auction at $31. If someone comes back and bids over that $31 price, ebay automatically re-bids for you to keep you in the lead up until your $100 max bid price is reached)

Let me know if you followed that somewhat confusing example.

Use a bidding service.

www.esnipe.com

The eBay system is refereed to as a proxy bid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_bid

Like the others said, think of your max price and bid it to that point when you are ready. Waiting until the end of the auction can be an advantage because other people may not have much time to consider the new price and if they want to bid again.

IMO, there's no need to if you decide what the max is you're willing to pay and place that as your maximum bid, then let the chips fall where they may. Too many folks get into egotistical "stupid bidding wars", and bid FAR more than an item is worth, and there are plenty of idiots out there...I "try" not to be one :)

If the car has no reserve or has met reserve, simply put your highest bid in during the last 20 seconds of the auction.

You automatically are assured you won't be bidding far above what others are willing to pay. It doesn't work that way. Example:

You put in a max bid of $1,000. The second highest bid is $200. You will win the item at around $201.

As far as buying a car on eBay, it is really no different than buying one out of the paper. eBay is just a selling source, it does not alter the car, the deal or the transaction. The exact same risks and rules of common sense apply, regardless of what advertising medium brought the buyer and seller together.