The accepted lag is 7 seconds and works well. I use it so that I'm not
tempted to get into bidding wars - and because for me here, many
interesting auctions end at inconvenient times.
However a friend just missed out on a nice Widelux because he bid a
whole number - he put in $1200 and so did someone else - the other guy
got it because his bid got in first. People tend to set their limit at
a clear threshold so I never bid a whole number but go one increment
above it - $101.50 or something like that. I've won a number of
auctions by that 50¢ - I've also lost when I had a higher bid but not
higher by one increment point.
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
On 08/12/2009, at 3:00 AM, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
> Paul gave a good answer but I use (IIRC) 7 seconds. You tell esnipe
> the
> maximum amount you're willing to bid. It waits until the last few
> seconds (a time period you specify) to place your bid. A very short
> time period does not give someone else a chance to see your bid and
> then
> outbid you by just a small amount.
>
> Let's say you are willing to pay $200 and set that bid on esnipe and
> tell esnipe to place the bid 10 seconds before the end of the auction.
> You also tell esnipe your ebay ID and password. Shortly before the
> auction ends esnipe logs on to ebay as you using your ID and password
> and places a bid for $200 10 seconds before the end of the auction.
> If
> the next highest bid at the end of the auction (excluding yours) is
> $150
> and the minimum bid increment is $5 you will win the auction at
> $155. A
> short time period before the end of the auction is good to prevent
> someone else from bidding in response to your bid but, if the time is
> too short and the network is busy, esnipe may not be able to get
> logged
> on fast enough and your bid may not get placed. I've been using
> esnipe
> for 5 years or more and I have only lost one auction because esnipe
> did
> not get logged on in time.
>
> It prevents bidding wars and buying on emotion rather than logic. You
> also don't have to be logged on to ebay. If the auction ends in the
> middle of the night you can go to sleep and check in the morning to
> see
> if you won.
>
> Chuck Norcutt
>
>
> Paul Braun wrote:
>> Michael Wong wrote:
>>> Chuck,
>>> Why? What benefit will you get to bid on eBay by using esnipe?
>>>
>>
>> It's psychology. It's a game of poker - never show your hand too
>> early.
>>
>> If you put your max bid into the proxy system, you give the guys
>> bidding
>> against you time to bid, get outbid, and then think about whether
>> or not
>> they're just going to keep outbidding you just to irritate you.
>>
>> By not putting your max bid in until 10 seconds to go, the other
>> bidders
>> don't have time to re-think their max bid.
>>
>> Ultimately, they may be doing the same thing, and they may have a
>> higher
>> max bid right off the top. In that case, you lose simply because
>> someone else outplayed you and was willing to spend more.
>>
>> It still boils down to who is willing to pay more, but by not bidding
>> until the end you eliminate a variable. I use esnipe all the time.
>>
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