New eBay feature shows bid amounts during auction

AustinCoin

This is a new feature that they just turned on for auctions still in progress. The bid amounts were always visible once the auction had ended. Keep in mind that it does not usually show the leading or winning bidders MAX bid. It only shows the current or winning bid.

However, this could backfire. If the leading bidder's bid amount is less than the normal next bid increment, other bidders know that's his max bid. This makes it easier to outbid him/her. For example the 2nd highest bidder's bid is $535 and the leading bidders amount is $542.55 instead of the normal $535 you know he's maxed out. So you can now bid $552.55 ($10 increment) and you'll be in the lead. Under the old system you'd just know the high bid was $542.55, but not that it's the max. So under the old system you might not have bid. Here's a real example Live Example of what I'm describing.

Don't know that this makes a material difference but it could lead to a little more bidding and higher revenue for sellers and eBay.

nederveit

Thanks for pointing that out, I didn't know about that new feature.

I could see it backfiring for a while, but bidders will figure it out sooner than later....

tgilliams

it does not give high bidder's actual limit, just the next price over #2 bidder. Before you could figure this out easily, too with 2 or more bidders. It just shows highest bid that covers the spread in that price range. ex. #1 Bids 10.99, #2 bids $6.99, #1 bidder now shows $7.49 as his high bid, even though he may have bid $25.

AustinCoin

Actually it does show the highest bidders max bid IF that bid is less than the next bid increment.

Check the eBay link that I posted. The 2nd highest bidder's bid was $535 and the leading bidders amount is $542.55 instead of the normal $535 you know that was his max. In the past, you did not know that till after the auction. Now you know during.

CarlWohlforth

That is a good point about discovering some max bids.