How to Win eBay Auctions?

Don't forget to factor in the sales tax * when formulating your max bids - that 6% or so is real money out of your pocket and an additional 'buyer's premium'.
Example: if your max price is $100, that's an actual bid of $95 (+ 6% = 100.70)
*The five states that don't have a sales tax:

• Alaska.
• Delaware.
• Montana.
• New Hampshire.
• Oregon.

 

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I've found that if you set an absolute maximum, then bid that with under 10 seconds will win most auctions unless there is another bidder using sniping services who wants to pay even more. Sometimes I've won bids that are far below my maximum, so I win the coin with a much lower final price. That is very satisfying. The bottom line, how badly do you want that particular coin? If someone is using an automatic sniping service to simply drive up the price, the last 10 seconds is a crazy way to do it.

 

As others have mentioned, bid sniping is my choice method. I have my highest bid in mind well before, and I set up to place that bid so that when it hits 3-5 seconds left, I pull the trigger (I find that to be the point of no return where after there could be not enough time for my internet to process). If I win, cool, but if I lose, it was overpriced. Bidding services are faster and less personally involved, but you are paying for the same effect...your highest bid at the last available moment. Unless I will be busy when the auction ends, I can't see paying to have a service that would do the same thing I would.

 

When people are searching ebay they may find something that interests them but they don't want to buy it or bid on it right now. So they will put it on their Watchlist which makes it easy to find and come back to later. I often use it when I am looking for a specific item (non numismatic) when I find one that looks interesting I put it on my watch list and then continue searching to see if I can find a better deal. After I have a half dozen to a dozen possibilities I can pull up my watchlist, make comparisons, and decide on the best deal.

At the top right of the ebay page you should see Sell ! Watchlist ! My Ebay
Click the down arrow just to the right of Watchlist and it will display everyling on your list. Or you can hover your cursor over My Ebay and a list will pop up. Fourth one down is Watchlist

 

I've used the Gixen Mirror sniping service before with no problems.

 

Very helpful, I found the watchlist.
Much Thanks.

 

I don't waste my time with any sniping tools. It's really simple. Figure out what the max amount is you want to spend. Wait until about 10s-20s are left in the auction. Place your max bid--if it goes over you didn't want it at that price anyway

 

Sniping programs are helpful when the coin ends at 3 a.m.

 

that's a good point

 

Hello Midas,
Is that a Leica IIIf on the shelf?
(It was my 1st camera & had an ultra sharp 50mm f3.5 Elmar)
J.T.

 

I watch every auction I'm interested in. When there is 7 seconds remaining I bid what I'm willing to pay. If I'm beaten immediately there will be preset amounts to increase my bid. Occasionally if I really want the item I'll increase my bid. I have "won" that way twice out of three times I used it. I win about fifty percent of the auctions that I bid on sometimes at a fraction of what I bid. If you bid your maximum early other bidders will keep trying until they reach their maximum and you will never get a bargain. You will only pay your maximum if other bidders go near your bid. good luck

 

I used to try that years ago. You know what? I never placed a bid on 90% of the lots. Life happens, and I simply do not have time to babysit Ebay. Regardless of auction closing time, if I didn't place a snipe, I would not get it done. Now, I leisurely set my last second bids whenever I want, and I live my life. If wins come in, great, but I am not hostage to Ebay.

 

At noon, too.

 

Same here. Sniping also allows the sniper to look mainly at the auction items then compare them to the Buy-It-Now ones which are usually overpriced. I check the Make-An-Offer listings before I compare the BIN listings, though. I make exceptions for certain ebay sellers who are members here. One of them has been especially helpful to me even when he did not have an item I was considering. And, I also agree with that seller that auctions at 3:00 in the morning demand a sniping tool.

 

Most info on this site is spot on. The key is not to get carried away with what you are willing to pay for that item. Mentally set a maximum price you are willing to pay, then wait until less than 10 seconds to go and enter that price. if someone has set a higher price, so be it, and move on.

 

Has anyone had problems with sniping eBay auctions recently. I use gavelsnipe and it can't get by the "captcha" feature installed by eBay. As a result, none of my snipes are being executed.

 

Besides coins, another phancy of mine is to collect vinyl recordings, especially Mobile Fidelity recordings. Little did I know that the license to sell Mobile Fidelity (MOFI) recordings has been purchased to re-produce those recordings. They are cheaper and better than what I paid years ago. Anyway, it was during those times that I learned to "snipe". It's not hard to do. There are great entries above that tell how to do it. You just have to have the patience of Job. (You have to read the Old Testament to find out who Job is.) I very seldom buy coins through bidding. Many sellers would rather sell through "Buy It Now."

 

Yeah, I was using gavelsnipe also and the bid was not executed with the explanation that it was prevented by eBay's "captcha." So ... I changed my sniping tool. I checked out various ones and have currently settled on using Bidslammer. It has been about 3 weeks now and the bids have all been executed.

 

I click my mouse at 5 seconds, release at 4 seconds.. Heavy use on internet can require changing the timing.

 

Very nice. Hate to be the one who had to dust them ...