How does eBay bidding work?

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by johnmilton, Dec 6, 2021.

  1. johnmilton

    johnmilton Well-Known Member

    I guess if you really want a lot offered on eBay, you bid $10,000 for an item that is worth $2,500 and hope for the best. I'll pass.

    I actually did that many years ago on a Lincoln campaign token. The piece was worth about $175, and I somehow bid $1,800. Fortunately no one else pushed me higher. :joyful:
     
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  3. wxcoin

    wxcoin Getting no respect since I was a baby

    I think there are those out there who want something so bad they will throw money at it. There's no point in bidding against them. Unless one is bidding on a really rare item which rarely comes up for sale, there's always another day. Although, those items most likely won't be sold on eBay.
     
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  4. gronnh20

    gronnh20 Well-Known Member

    I have won and lost auctions in many different types of venues. I don't see an advantage one way or the other from different formats of auctioneering. The auctions that reset when a bid is received withing 2-5 minutes of auction ending can be a little tiresome. On eBay I just put my max bid in at the last second. So far I have won every auction that I am the highest bidder.
     
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  5. johnmilton

    johnmilton Well-Known Member

    Perhaps they are, but it's a lot fairer.
     
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  6. YoloBagels

    YoloBagels Well-Known Member

    I prefer eBay's system over the systems used by Heritage or Stacks.

    With eBay you can bid on many lots at the same relative time and if you snipe you can sometimes miss out on the ridiculous retail prices that usually goes on Heritage and Stacks. (Although with all the new people flooding into eBay in the last year or so it's been hard to find good deals)

    My main quarrel with eBay is actually on the selling side. I have had several auctions where my coins sell for 60%-70% under wholesale prices (I mean true wholesale not greysheet). In some cases I've had coins sell for less than half of melt value, although 95% of the time that is not the case. I guess it is just because my account is new to the whole thing.
     
  7. baseball21

    baseball21 Well-Known Member

    No it's not. There's nothing unfair about eBays system. Someone was willing to pay more. You both had the chance to put in your maxes and someone wanted it more.
     
  8. Publius2

    Publius2 Well-Known Member

    In general, there is one fundamental difference between in-person auctions and on-line auctions. That difference is the lag time between information in from the bidder and information out to the bidder.

    I know I am not telling anyone anything they don't already know but I think it bears repeating:

    When you are bidding in person with a live auctioneer in front of you, the auctioneer recognizes your bid in real-time and you process that information in real-time (less the speeds of sound and light and your own reaction time).

    When you are bidding online, there is nothing happening in real-time. All information processing is incurring delays of greater or lesser degree. And those delays are not the same for all bidders due to many variables completely outside the control of the auction company.

    I like different aspects of both systems and I tailor my actions and strategies to the unique characteristics of each auction type and then to the unique characteristics of each auction company. It is incumbent upon all bidders to understand how these things work otherwise you're just swimming with sharks while bleeding.
     
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  9. spirityoda

    spirityoda Coin Junky

    It is all about your demand for the coin being bought. You can wait last minute to put your highest bid in or wait with your highest bid. I usually wait 30 seconds before the end of the auction to put my bid in. If I win great, but if I loose then someone wanted the coin more than me with way more money than me. Only you know how much more money you want to go. If it is a coin that you must have in your collection...then you will be willing to pay more money for. I have over bid on certain coins and did not regret it.
     
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  10. Vess1

    Vess1 CT SP VIP Supporter

    Ebay is set up for the last second on the clock to determine the final value. It always has been this way. I've been using it since 2000 and this is how I view it.

    Let's say there's a coin valued at $500. I want to win it for the least amount of money. If it has 3 days left on the auction and I just come in and put my max bid of $500 in, GUARANTEED, people in the last 24 hrs or so, will peck at it and enter in bids and keep bidding it up and up and up to just creep it up there and see what the max bid is. Eventually, they'll walk away or somebody will out bid it. Now, I have to bid again and it turns into a bidding war for the remainder. The sellers want this. You as a buyer do not.

    Alternatively, I look at that coin and say I want it no matter what. So I don't bid on it at all. Just watch.
    I wait for 15 minute warning on my phone or log in with 5 minutes left to watch what's happening. Maybe there's been some action on it and it's bid up to $335 currently. I watch the counter in the last minute ticking down. I might even enter in a max bid of $600 on it at this point if I want it enough. But I still don't submit it. I watch the counter tick down. 8,7,6,5, then at 4 seconds I submit the bid to try to clear out the high bid where ever it may be. It takes a couple seconds to go through. No software needed. Sometimes other people will do this too. Sometimes not. I may enter in 600 and it clears their last max bid of 350 from 2 days ago and I win it for $355 because people didn't have a chance to think about bidding more.

    What i've learned is if you put in a max bid and people have time to sit and contemplate it, they will justify bidding anything up ahead of time. If nobody's bidding there may or may not be a scramble at the end but that's the time to clear it out. Can't give people time to think about it because they will jack the price and make you pay much more. I've seen stuff bid up hundreds of dollars in the last 5 seconds. All the time.

    Now, I have seen other auction sites that re-set the clock to 15 minutes after you place a bid. If a bid comes in at the last second, the clock re-sets to 15 minutes to give everyone a chance. That's a true auction IMO, but it's not how ebay does it.

    This is how I use ebay. It can be frustrating or exciting. Your last second bid has to be big because you don't get a second chance. I prefer Make an offer.
     
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  11. serafino

    serafino Well-Known Member

    That's the problem with putting a Nuclear bid in at the last second, you might have a crooked seller shill bid you. Shill bidding by crooked sellers has been a problem for years on eBay.
    For me, "Private Listings" on eBay auctions are always suspicious. Don't know why eBay allows them.
     
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  12. serafino

    serafino Well-Known Member

    That's exactly how it works, most experienced eBay bidders snipe at the last second, either manually or with a program that does it for you. I never bid more than twice, the first bid is very low just to get in line and the last bid will be in the final 2 seconds of the auction. The last 3 seconds of an auction is when the fireworks start ;)
     
  13. cpm9ball

    cpm9ball CANNOT RE-MEMBER

    You can't blame eBay if people don't bid what you think is fair or adequate.
     
  14. Vertigo

    Vertigo Did someone say bust?

    Yep! I set the alarm for one minute before the end. I don't even put it on watch. I have it in recently viewed.
     
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  15. MIGuy

    MIGuy Supporter! Supporter

    100% agree, that's how I do it too, my bid is ready to go at 30 seconds left, and when the counter hits 5 seconds I hit the button. It's a lot of fun for me, I'm not buying fancy stuff / high end coins, but it's exhilarating and I enjoy it. Plus I frequently get good deals.
     
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  16. Vess1

    Vess1 CT SP VIP Supporter

    It's basically the ONLY way to get a good deal on there. If you put your high bid in with days to go, ebay will bid incrementally for you on your behalf to outbid other people's bids coming in until they meet and exceed your high bid. Now you have to bid more and still contend with the rush of bids at the end anyway, only people will now need to be bid higher at the last second. Better to keep cards close to the vest and not let them know you are there. Know and expect the mad rush at the end.

    Most of the stuff I look at the sellers don't deal with bidding. They just put an inflated price on with make an offer and then don't accept much off of their inflated price. Some nice coins sit on there for months or even years without selling.
     
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  17. serafino

    serafino Well-Known Member

    One last thing I would like to add for the new eBay bidders is, avoid placing counter bids way before the end time. Example, You see some bidders trying to outbid each other days before the end time of the auction. Usually two amateur's
     
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  18. Vertigo

    Vertigo Did someone say bust?

    Yes, bidding wars are good for the seller only.
     
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  19. ZoidMeister

    ZoidMeister Hamlet Squire of Tomfoolery . . . . .

    On something you REALLY want and need, bid triple your maximum. If you lose the bid, it makes "the other guy" pay for outbdding you and the sellers love it.

    Z
     
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  20. Vertigo

    Vertigo Did someone say bust?

    Likewise, if I see a coin that is worth 250. And I see the bidding at say, 24.00 6 days left or something. If it's something really hot I'll drop a 150 bid. That drives the bidding and can make a coin go higher than it would. Because now instead of increasing small change i went big enough no one knows where i am. It'll usually cause a bidding frenzy. And early on it'll be driven higher than nickel and dime bidding. I do it for fun. I've only won a few like that. So I make sure I don't set it higher than I'm willing to pay then either. And I never do that on something I want. I only bid on this items at 1 second.
     
  21. wxcoin

    wxcoin Getting no respect since I was a baby

    I find the comments interesting here about everyone's bidding strategy. I hope some of you don't take some of my comments personal since I'm not trying to insult anyone. In general, who cares if someone makes a reasonable bid days in advance rather than a low one. There is probably at least several people out there that's smart enough to know the coins real value and have a max number already in mind that they are willing to bid. I only collect US coinage so I mainly bid on slabbed coins; I've been burned too many times on raw details coins. So for those who collect foreign/ancient coins things may be different. Who cares if a couple "amateurs" go nuts and go on a bidding frenzy. It's their money and eventually will learn their lesson if they bid way over market price. It's human nature to want a bargain but I'm sure the seller also wants a fair price. For the most part, I think auction prices reflect the market. Usually, "make an offer" coins have prices that don't reflect the market and I usually stay away from them. Once in a while I'll make an offer based on recent auction prices. Almost always the seller rejects those offers.
     
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