When looking for a certain product or service to buy on Ebay, I am always amazed to find auctions that have recently started and already have bids. These auctions are typicaly going to run for either seven or ten days and having a bid placed with seven days to go on the auction helps you no more than having your bid placed in the last couple of minutes (or moments) before the close of the auction. By placing a bid early you are doing little more than signifying to other prospective bidders that this is a product worth having. Drawing attention to this auction by placing an early bid tends to bring other bidders into the picture and therefore drive up the final cost of the item. This is a great deal from the standpoint of the person auctioning the item , but is not the prudent course of action if keeping as much of your money and procuring your new prize is your real plan.
There is a name used in Ebay circles for the method I am going to describe. It is called sniping. There is probably a Latin or French definition of the word snipe which I am not educated enough to know. I relate this guerilla warfare style bidding tactic to the action of a military sniper. After much searching you have found your target but the time to strike is not upon us. Now is the time to lay still, to silently observe. If conditions change in a way to not make this a desirable target , such as other bidders raising the price too much, then you move on. If the auction price does not soar to high you just wait it out. You need to be signed into your Ebay account and with about two minutes to go in the auction , place as high of a bid as you are willing to pay for this auction.
As an example. If the current bid is $10.00 , the minimum bid you could place would be $10.50. A $10.50 bid may be enough to win the item but in most cases the leading bidder has told ebay through their bid that they are willing to pay more than this if necessary to win the auction. This bidder may have placed a $10.00 bid on an item currently at $9.50 , or they may have bid $20.00 and since $.50 was all it took for this to be the high bid, the auction is only at $10.00. At this point if you were to bid $15.00 as your maximum bid, the current high bidder's price just went up $5.00 and you still have not won the item. If the item was not worth more than $15.00 to you then not winning the auction is ok because there are thousands of other auctions out there. The key is to take your one shot with the maximum you will be happy to pay.
Happy Bidding.
Larry Buttram is an integrator of custom electronic systems in Houston Texas. Larry can be reached through his main business website http://www.easyremotecontrol.com . This article may be republished or reprinted if link is included to Larry's new website http://www.cheaperhouston.com currently under development.
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