This may be the wrong forum but I have an ebay bidding question.

coincop

I apologize if this is the wrong forum, but I know a lot of you guys use buy and sell on ebay. If I put in my max bid and the proxy takes over from there, is there anyone, either seller or other potential buyers, that can possibly find out what my max is and then run the bid up to that amount? As in maximizing the bid for the seller if noone else is bidding on the item. I know some computer guru out there somewhere can probably hack into the ebay system somehow but how simple is it really? I bid on a low grade coin for a buck with a max of 5 bucks. It stayed that way until right up to the end and then another buyer, dinkydow, bid 5 bucks. Of course I won because I had 5 in first, but it just seems odd that it happened that way. Either that or I'm just a conspiracy theorist and dinkydow wasn't going to pay more than 5 bucks for it either.

AbesNeighbor

I don't think anyone can see your bid until the bidding is over. It's probably just a coincidence as you suggested.

Dan

Barry

Coincidence.
There's no way someone can find out your proxy bid, without bidding it up themselves.

sinin1

Not on eBay - alot of people bid round numbers because it is easier to type in - and say there was $5 shipping - and the other guy was willing to go $10 delivered, that is what he bid - which is the same as you. What really gets me sometimes is the snipers - yesterday I had one that was at $90 with my max bid at $320 - in the last 3 seconds someone bid more and won at $325 - go figure.

If you said Teletrade, I would say yes

Louis

Probably just coincidence...I hope so anyway.

MadMonk

A lot of bidders wait until the end of the auction to bid. Some call it a "snipe".

gemtone65

Although no one can see your max bid, they can determine it by bidding incrementally in sufficiently small amounts. Once the next higher bid requiremnt is posted that is smaller than the minimum bid increment, you know you've reached that person's max bid. That's why bidding a lot too early is a sure way to minimize your bidding efficiency.

bigtonydallas

The seller can put a shill bid in under another name and cancel that person's bid just to see yours. I do not know if there is a record of the canceled bid anywhere??

lordmarcovan

Yes, bid retractions will show at the bottom of the bid history page.

RNCHSN

Sniping is what it's called.
Just like last night, some guy in GA bid a nicely toned German pattern up to TWICE what I was going to bid!
LOL!
Just kidding Rob, I never even placed a bid!