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Anyone place their maximum bid a week early and win? Theory?

This is a serious question which I still don't understand the answers. For those who place their maximum bid a week or several days prior to the end time, why? I don't see how this results in saving money once its all said and done.
Has anyone won doing this? I just see large bids getting beat or pushed to their maximum bid by small incremental bids. And this leaves you open to shilling or bid retractions and you left holding the bag. So what is the strategy?
I can't remember seeing a large bid placed early and not get any more bids for several days and win.
Its just lose lose for everyone but the seller.

Comments

  • LarkinCollectorLarkinCollector Posts: 8,975 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The only occasions I've seen it work regularly is when the opening bid for an 'auction' is at/near current market, someone places the opening bid and no one bumps it up. Basically a BIN you have to wait a few days to see if you 'won'.

    There are several threads on 'Why snipe?' where this has been brought up and none of the arguments against sniping or pro-another bid strategy have shown any benefit to placing your max bid early (though there are several valid reasons for placing a min bid early).

    ETA: Strictly speaking of eBay auctions, I don't mess around with the AHs.
  • travis ttravis t Posts: 1,185 ✭✭✭
    Used to happen a lot, not so much now. A high opening bid, as mentioned, can sometimes intimidate other buyers into moving on. I've bypassed plenty of auctions where I noticed one large opening bid and that was it. I've strong armed a few over the years. You just need to know when to take that risk. When an item sells off for that high opening bid, it typically works out better for buyer than seller. I have a few Mantles, amongst others, which were purchased raw and then graded out nicely after having been acquired this way.
  • jmmiller777jmmiller777 Posts: 1,324 ✭✭✭
    I have placed hundreds and hundreds of bids over the last couple of decades that you could call early. I would say most of them (85-90%) have been lost. The reason would be going on vacation, I anticipate a busy week, boredom on a Sunday night (just browsing), or if I am looking for a particular card, I will bid on 7-8 of them at several ranges, hoping to win one. I find myself settling on a given price range and will use the BIN if it is close. To me, $5 more on a $100 card is not a big deal for something I want. When I was younger, I would spend hours and hours each week looking for the great deals. I have found many, but it is more a prospective than a black/white judgment of what something was worth. When Collecting Baseball banks, I would always use the BIN for the older milk glass. They were hard to find and I was not wanting the "one of a kind" on ebay to be lost, so BIN or bid high.
    CURRENT PROJECTS IN WORK:
    To be honest, no direction, but...
    1966-69 Topps EX+
    1975 minis NrMt Kelloggs PSA 9
    All Topps Heritage-Master Sets
    image
  • mlbfan2mlbfan2 Posts: 3,115 ✭✭✭
    Originally posted by: travis t

    A high opening bid, as mentioned, can sometimes intimidate other buyers into moving on. I've bypassed plenty of auctions where I noticed one large opening bid and that was it.




    One large opening bid? Isn't that impossible, or are there auction sites where the "max bid" is shown?
  • craig44craig44 Posts: 10,393 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Some people use early bids as a placeholder or reminder of an item they don't want to forget about later in the week

    George Brett, Bobby Orr and Terry Bradshaw.

  • travis ttravis t Posts: 1,185 ✭✭✭
    Originally posted by: mlbfan2

    Originally posted by: travis t

    A high opening bid, as mentioned, can sometimes intimidate other buyers into moving on. I've bypassed plenty of auctions where I noticed one large opening bid and that was it.




    One large opening bid? Isn't that impossible, or are there auction sites where the "max bid" is shown?




    I refer only to the appearance of a bid, i.e. someone opens an item that requires a minimum bid of $500 and that single bid sits there until completion. I don't know what the "max" bid is unless it's mine.
  • steel75steel75 Posts: 1,589 ✭✭✭✭
    Usually ends up costing you money. Some buyers will bid & bid & bid till they give up or pass you. They act like it matters to be 'leading" with days to go. Much better to be laying in the weeds to avoid all of that.
    1970's Steelers, Vintage Indians
  • I place a min bid to discourage the seller from ending the auction early. And then I set a snipe.
  • travis ttravis t Posts: 1,185 ✭✭✭
    Originally posted by: DanBessette

    I place a min bid to discourage the seller from ending the auction early. And then I set a snipe.




    Another wise and useful tactic. Regrettably, too many sellers are ending auctions early whether they have bids or not and gobs of good items are trading hands off site. As if you didn't already know that. image
  • Originally posted by: travis t

    Originally posted by: DanBessette

    I place a min bid to discourage the seller from ending the auction early. And then I set a snipe.




    Another wise and useful tactic. Regrettably, too many sellers are ending auctions early whether they have bids or not and gobs of good items are trading hands off site. As if you didn't already know that. image




    Jeff, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think I've bought from you, either on or off eBay.
  • mlbfan2mlbfan2 Posts: 3,115 ✭✭✭
    Originally posted by: travis t

    Originally posted by: mlbfan2

    Originally posted by: travis t

    A high opening bid, as mentioned, can sometimes intimidate other buyers into moving on. I've bypassed plenty of auctions where I noticed one large opening bid and that was it.




    One large opening bid? Isn't that impossible, or are there auction sites where the "max bid" is shown?




    I refer only to the appearance of a bid, i.e. someone opens an item that requires a minimum bid of $500 and that single bid sits there until completion.




    I'm surprised that one bid on an item would scare someone away. A certain percentage of the time, the max bid is going to be only a little higher (or even the same) as the minimum bid. It just happened to me yesterday.
  • MrNearMintMrNearMint Posts: 1,209 ✭✭✭
    I've never placed a large bid early in an auction. I always manually snipe with seconds until the auction end and I believe I've gotten some items for a cheaper price this way but no way to know for sure.

  • steel75steel75 Posts: 1,589 ✭✭✭✭
    Basically why tip your hand.
    1970's Steelers, Vintage Indians
  • Originally posted by: craig44
    Some people use early bids as a placeholder or reminder of an item they don't want to forget about later in the week


    I'll do that with a small bid early in the auction to keep it on my "bid placed" page. And its usually 10% of its value or some small amount when placed that early.
    So far I havent heard a good argument for it. So is such a large early bid shady or a newbie? Its just frustrating when theres no good legitimate reason.
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I don't bid early.



    I don't really bid at all anymore.



    I found if I manually bid? I tend to bid with my emotion - hate to lose an item.



    So, I decide right on the spot - how much I'm willing to pay - set a snipe and walk away.



    It takes my personal emotion out of it and either I get the item or I don't.



    My take on eBay e.g.?



    If one passes you by? Another will come along to take its place and who knows? Maybe cheaper?
    Mike
  • bouncebounce Posts: 1,094 ✭✭✭
    it all depends on what you're bidding on. i collect all kinds of cards and autographs, on the card side i'm working currently on about 7 sets all fully graded. because of that i bid on hundreds of items every week, and probably 85% of those bids i bid early (as soon as I see it) and put my first best bid in and forget about it.

    the strategy is i don't want to have to keep tracking all those auctions, and i don't use snipes because i don't believe that actually saves me any money particularly on the commons.

    i used to use snipe programs, and my win percentage wasn't really any different than it is now and the average "under market" of ones i did win was negligible. however, there were also plenty of times where the sniping didn't work because of some glitch or another. honestly, at the end of the day the win percentage changes most directly with the "strength" of my bids, not when they're placed.

    on higher priced or star singles, i generally do wait until late in the auction to place my bid mostly because i don't want to get pecked on as people search for my max bid. on commons, i honestly really don't care that much and most of the time my competition is other set builders anyway so they're going to bid what they bid regardless of the method.
  • detroitfan2detroitfan2 Posts: 3,311 ✭✭✭✭
    I just looked at my feedback. I have received 2747 feedbacks since joining ebay. 115 of them are as a seller, which means I have over 2600 feedbacks as a buyer. Given that not everyone leaves feedback, it's probably more than 3000 auctions won. I have been on ebay since April of 2000. I will often watch something and bid on the last day if it's still within my range, but I have never used a snipe service and the only time I have ever even manually sniped is if I happened to be hanging around the computer at the time the auction ended. So there are still cavemen out there.

    As a side note, dang I've spent a lot of money on ebay.
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
    more than 3000 auctions won.




    Amazing!
    Mike
  • detroitfan2detroitfan2 Posts: 3,311 ✭✭✭✭
    Originally posted by: Stone193
    more than 3000 auctions won.


    Amazing!


    Hey Mike,

    That's over 16 years, so roughly 200 per year or 15 per month. A LARGE majority of these are for PSA singles where I would win 10-15 at a time for my registry sets. Also won a lot of auctions back in the early 2000s trying to finish Topps Heritage sets.

    That being said, I was surprised by the number. I can guarantee you the average cost per auction won is probably in the $5-$6 range, my card budget is not that much annually.

    -Tom
  • detroitfan2detroitfan2 Posts: 3,311 ✭✭✭✭
    Originally posted by: Stone193
    more than 3000 auctions won.


    Amazing!


    Hey Mike,

    That's over 16 years, so roughly 200 per year or 15 per month. A LARGE majority of these are for PSA singles where I would win 10-15 at a time for my registry sets. Also won a lot of auctions back in the early 2000s trying to finish Topps Heritage sets.

    That being said, I was surprised by the number. I can guarantee you the average cost per auction won is probably in the $5-$6 range, my card budget is not that much annually.

    -Tom
  • LarkinCollectorLarkinCollector Posts: 8,975 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Tom, your actual # of items won is likely much higher than the 3K you estimated. It only counts as one feedback per Mon-Sun calendar week from a given seller, so if you won 10-15 items at once it's only one feedback (that counts) for that order.

    How Feedback Works
    What if I buy multiple items from the same seller?
    We raise the buyer's Feedback score by a total of 1 point, regardless of the number of positive ratings received within the week.
  • MULLINS5MULLINS5 Posts: 4,517 ✭✭✭
    I'm likely at the 3k to 5k mark myself. I use a snipe service now to save time. Sometimes I place an opening bid, but it's the minimum and I rarely win the item with it.
  • detroitfan2detroitfan2 Posts: 3,311 ✭✭✭✭
    Originally posted by: LarkinCollector
    Tom, your actual # of items won is likely much higher than the 3K you estimated. It only counts as one feedback per Mon-Sun calendar week from a given seller, so if you won 10-15 items at once it's only one feedback (that counts) for that order.

    How Feedback Works
    What if I buy multiple items from the same seller?
    We raise the buyer's Feedback score by a total of 1 point, regardless of the number of positive ratings received within the week.


    Yikes!
  • 70ToppsFanatic70ToppsFanatic Posts: 2,103 ✭✭✭✭
    I have used a strategic early straight bid on several occasions successfully with hard-to-come-by low pop cards that I wanted.

    The main benefit in doing it is to eliminate competition during extended bidding. By immediately bidding the card to what I think is full market value at worst I had only 1 competitor when extended bidding time came around. In a few cases, no competitor showed up and I won the card at what I felt was fair market price. In a few cases there was just 1 competitor who topped my early bid and then I won a few and lost a few.


    Dave
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