It is frustrating trying to bid, as an automatic bidder can outbid you in the last few seconds and a

[michel8632]

It is frustrating trying to bid, as an automatic bidder can outbid you in the last few seconds of an auction only 2$US more than my maximum bid (200 $US and the bid was to 130$US). He bid without increment their bid one, two or three times (?????????). Can you explain me how this buyer have known my maximum bid ? That's non legal ? Where the privacy of the bid for all bidders ?

[xeposter]

If two people bid the same thing, the first person would win...let me give you an example:

Jim (seller) starts auction at $.99

Michel bids a max bid of $200

Alex bids $50 (and Michel's bid automatically goes up to $60)

Alex again bids $150 (and Michel's bid automatically goes up to $160)

Alex again bids $200

Michel wins the auction at $200

----

Because Michel was the first person to bid $200, Michel won the auction even though Alex bid the same amount.

Now, if Alex had bid $200.01, then he would have won.

I hope this helps.

Alex

[dmil8030]

Hello 'michel...', 

<<It is frustrating trying to bid, as an automatic bidder can outbid you in the last few seconds of an auction only

2$US more than my maximum bid (200 $US and the bid was to 130$US).>>  

Frustrating or not, the reason you lost the auction is because you did not bid high enough.  Ebay's online auctions

are different from real-life auctions.  When you lay down your bid, that is not the last of it, not on ebay.  

Have a look at this link that explains about automatic bidding.  

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/bidding-overview.html#auto

If you plan to use the site for auctions very much, it would be worth your time to click on some of the related links on

the page, like this one on bid increments:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/bid-increments.html#how

<<Can you explain me how this buyer have known my maximum bid ?>>

He did not know your bid, -- he simply outbid you.  As the above link explains, if he placed a higher bid than yours,

you come along and add a smaller bid, -- the system shows you have been outbid by a little bit.

What you are doing is often referred to as "nibble bidding".  If you want to win an auction, the best way to do it is enter

your absolute maximum bid (factoring in all costs, eg: shipping, taxes, import costs, etc)  and enter your max as late as

possible, preferably in the last few seconds of the auction before anyone else can quickly step in to out bid you.  

See here:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/outbid.html#avoiding

<<Where the privacy of the bid for all bidders ?>>

All bidder IDs are masked, - but you will always see your own ID in full wherever you are on the site when you are

logged in.   

You see your own ID but no one else's.   They see themselves too, but not you.  Complete privacy for all.  

It takes a bit of practice to get the hang of ebay auctions, but have a look through the above links because the ebay

Help pages will go a long way to assisting you in winning your next auction.  

Happy bidding. 

[femmefan1946]

He didn't know your maximum bid.

All that happened was that he bid more than you did, and it could have been much much more.

Look:

The opening bid is $10

You bid 10, the auction opens to you at $10.

I decide I like this item and put in a bid of $500, BUT, I do it though an online bidding service to be executed .0.5 seconds before the end of the auction .

The bidding stays at $10.

Another bidderA comes along and bids $150.

The bid rises to $11.

Another bidderB comes along and bids $135.

The bid rises to $136 - to Bidder A, who bid $150 maximum.

My $500 bid has still not been executed.

You come back and bid $200, the auction now shows you as winning at $151.

The last few seconds of the auction roll around, my service executes my $500 bid**.

I win at $201- one increment above your $200 bid.

When all the other bidding happened I was at work, sleeping, eating, sitting on the beach drinking a Cuba Libre, whatever.

I didn't know about Bidders A and B nor about your second bid.

The winning bid was only one increment above your underbid, not because the winner knew what your maximum was, but because he bid some undisclosed amount which was higher than yours.

**This is called sniping, by the way. I mention a service, but some snipers love the thrill of sniping manually.

[lady.stark]

---

@femmefan1946 wrote:

**This is called sniping, by the way. I mention a service, but some snipers love the thrill of sniping manually.

---

As a buyer, I love to snipe. I found out through my 15 years on eBay as a buyer that this is the BEST way to win an auction. And sometimes, since you avoid a bidding war (or a shill bidder), you win at a MUCH lower price than your max. Sometimes, you also win at your maximum if another buyer snipe at the same time. Or you can loose. By sniping though, I win 90% of the time.