Shoes

[cactusjack]

How do you prevent being outbid at the last second?? Any wise tips from veterans??

[Wildapple]

Determine what your top bid will be and get it in early because in the event of a tie the earliest bid wins. That way you never overpay or get caught up in a bidding frenzy. Hope that helps.

[Q4u]

You can't. But what I've been seeing lately are small incremental bids in order to keep the price down. And I've seen quite a few auctions not have bids at the last few minutes which has surprised me. I'm one of those last few second snipers (sorry) but that's what you have to do to win, and when you do snipe, put in the most you're willing to pay. If it's at $25 and it's holding in the last few minutes, and you're willing to pay $150 because the item is really worth it.... wait until the last 10 seconds and put in $150. Chances are the people waiting till the last few seconds won't be willing to go that high and you'll win it. Don't put in what they call a nuclear bid... bidding $5,000 to be sure you'll win. You never know what someone else might do and you'll be responsible for the cost of the item should you win at any amount.

Also, stagger the amount, instead of a flat $150, try putting in $151.76. This will beat out the sniper who puts in a flat even number... will even beat the sniper that puts in $151.00.

Also, if last second sniping causes your hands to shake (I get really anxious) but I still snipe manually. There are some sniping programs out there. I've never had one, but if you research it I'm sure you'll find one. It'll get you set up and it'll automatically get that bid in there with a second to spare....!

Bidding has changed over the years (been on eBay since around 2000) and the bidders seem to want to keep the item insanely low. So if you bid reasonable prices regarding the worth of the item at the last minute you have a good shot at winning.

Good luck~!

[champagnepoodle]

Snipe at 3 seconds

[Clover29]

Esnipe costs a few cents, but you can have lots of snipes running at the same time. Vrane is free but you can only have one at a time. I've never had one fail, other than as a result of me not bidding high enough. Technically, they always work as promised. Once you've sniped, you will never go back to bidding the old fashioned way.

[cactusjack]

OMG, this sounds so serious! This sounds scary for a newbie like me :0 Thanks so very much for the responses, especially Q4U. That was a very detailed response and helped me so much!! Happy shopping!!

[VaBelle35]

If you use the eBay app, you can see the seconds counting down and you can hit it at the 3 second mark.

That seems to be the key. I watch my end of auctions on my app and watch what people do. It's kinda fun to watch.

[Nana5]

ITA with Q4U.

I bid manually at the last five seconds with the highest amount I'm willing to pay for the item. I don't always get my item but more than 75% of the time I do get it. Usually for a lot less than the highest bid I would have been willing to pay.

Bidding on Ebay and winning is a learning experience.

[cactusjack]

Yes it sounds like its a learning with experience. I have never been a gambler with my money and I think it takes that willingness to be bold to win something you really want.

[Kachina624]

Join a sniping service if you seriously want to win auctions. They bid for you in the last split second. I use Bidnapper.