P3D Re: eBay bidding

[Ronald Beck <ronald-beck@xxxxxx>]

I just had a clarifying moment regarding eBay bidding versus live
auction bidding.  In a live auction, everyone bids until a top price has
been reached, indicated by no further bids.  The auctioneer then says
going, going, gone and the item is sold.

On eBay, the bidding continues until a set date and time.  There is no
chance to keep bidding until the "no further bids" point you see in a
live auction.  Enter the "proxy" bid option.

Now, if you bid on eBay as you would in a regular auction, that is
bidding one increment above the last bidder, you set yourself up for a
"snipe" bid to out bid you at the last second and you'll lose what you
were after regardless of whether you were willing to go higher or not. 
If you properly use the proxy or maximum bid feature, you'll either get
the item at or below the amount you wanted to pay, or someone else will
"pay too much".

About whether it's strategically better to bid early or late on an item
is another matter and one I don't wish to analyze.  I personally prefer
to bid on items close to the closing simply so I don't have to wait an
extra few days before knowing if I'm the winner or not.

Which reminds me... did you see what the VM camera went for...... :-)
:-) :-)

Ron


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