Who are these eBay microbidders and do they ever win?

BUt you don't know that. If a bidder like Mike used a small bid to mark it, he might have set up a snipe. The snipe might have been too low, and you will never see on Ebay if he attempted to place a higher snipe or not.

 

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I occasionally bid .99 cents on dozens of auctions just to see if no one else bids. I've only won one of them. It was a 2005s Lincoln cent. Not really a big victory for .99 bid but a PCGS coin for .99 is pretty good.

 

There are literally thousands of people who bid on stuff. MOST people have no clue what they are bidding on, or what it is worth. I have idiots bidding $15 max bid on a $20 gold coin. I guess they think if they get it under face value they must be getting a good deal!

 

Ok but when you don't really see any microbidders win that much, or even have a failed snipe go through I really don't think the majority of microbidders are using the bid for their que list.

 

I don't think anybody is saying the majority of microbids are used for that purpose, I just gave an explanation for some of them. I don't have any idea was % it is, but at least two people on this thread do it, so it may be a bit higher than you think.

 

I am a micro bidder to a degree.

I track my coins differently on eBay than most. I watch log term and low interest coins. And bid on any interesting coins or high priorities.

The notifications are different for watching versus bidding and I like the more obnoxious reminders on the coins I am actually eye balling seriously.

I consider those 'insulting' bids as marker bids if I'm the one doing it, because that's what I use it for.

I also learned this trick from another collectible forum.

 

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Nice score on the Lincoln. I was bidding on it as well. Does it appear nicer in hand?

 

Is say as nice as the pic's + or - a tiny bit. I just liked it so I put bidnapper to work.

 

I use snipping software on my pc and on the phone. I, like someone else here said, microbid in order to move the coin from want to "very interested", then dependant upon bidding may or may not bid again. I have on a couple of occasions won things that I really didn't expect, but really only for a few dollars less than I expected the item to bring. Still, am usually quite happy when that occurs, except for saying "oh s*(%, now I gotta pay for it !"

 

I do this with some items. It's never an intent to buy it low. It serves as a different way of watching the item. My "watch list" is long with coins that I watch to attempt to track prices realized. The items I want to watch that I may buy later I throw a real low bid at. That way I can check them later via the "buying" tab.

 

I too use the bid list as a watch list. I also use it to track auctions of like items to see what they are currently selling for on eBay. These generally are bullion pieces though.

 

I just finished reading a story in Coin World about LaVere Redfield of the Redfield Hoard fame and his method of bidding was described as crazy.

Whatever the current bid was, he'd say "and a dollar" thereby bumping the bid by just a buck. He would continue this type of bidding until he'd won whatever it was he was bidding on.

 

Imagine the headache of acquiring 400,000+ silver dollars at auction bidding each up by a minimal amount over and over and over until each one is won. I know he probably acquired them different ways or in lots, not all this way. But just imagine...

 

But back then he simply got the bags from the bank. I very much doubt he acquired many of his silver dollars at auction at all, probably his other junk.

 

Very true. Different time.

Even still, he had plenty of other junk to make this a nightmarish task.

 

I bid low sometimes so I don't forget about the item or sometimes because I see something end and no one bid on it and I am like crap why didn't I bid.

 

Wrong.

 

I’m sure all of the above reasons are possible, but, let’s not forget some people have disorders that force them to bid. Sometimes they bid too much and over pay. Sometimes they satisfy the erg by bidding low, thus never suffering the repercussions of spending more money than they have. This must be the dynamic at work when I place an auction for an item with a BIN of $500 and an opening bid of $0.99 with a reserve and receive more than 10 bids, all under $100. If they’re sane, which may not be the case, they know they’re not going to win, yet they get something out of bidding.

 

Redfield had a "hoarding" disorder which was the subject of the Coin World editorial. Interesting read.