I am doomed. Utterly doomed.

[gerisullivan]

I just became a registered eBay user. It's my first time. Yes, of course I did so to bid on something. It's a very low-cost item. Yeah, right.

I am doomed.

I am not, however, going to increase my bid. Either I'll get it or I won't.

It's not even what I went looking for.

Of course it isn't.

Doomed. Doomed. Doomed.

I am suspiciously cheerful and confident for someone who has successfully avoided this fate for the last decade and more.

Film at 11. In the meantime, advice for an eBay neo would be very welcome. What mistakes should I endeavor to avoid? Well, beside the mistake of registering in the first place?

Comments

[smofbabe.livejournal.com]

But if you bid $25, and the second highest bidder bid $15, then the sniper only sees $16 as your current bid. Does he have time to bump it to $26? (Or, if he offers $30, you'll see $26 and your $27 bid will only make him pay $28.)

Not sure I can explain this psychological game but I'll try: Your scenario is that you bid $25 originally as your max. Other people who bid less are always going to be outbid until someone reaches slightly beyond that, and so the auction runs up to $25 before the end. Then, at the end, people who come in last minute start bidding even higher.

However, what if you don't put in a max of $25, but of $15, even though you're willing to pay $25. The bar at which bidding over the maximum bid starts might then be $15, not $25. (It might also be $25 from someone else but maybe not.) The last-minute "outdo each other" bids then start at a lower rate. Possibly if the wrangling starts at $15 at the last minute, time runs out before it can even get to $25, your original max, so someone (hopefully you) gets the item for less.

Think of it as poker, and not showing your best hand too early and thus running up the bets too quickly. I'm not saying this is fair, but it does seem to be how Ebay mostly works.