There is a guitar that I really want on Ebay! How do I win the bid?

[iconoclastic cat]

I have heard that people use eSnipe.com to bid during the last four seconds. Since it was my first time on Ebay, I had no idea that I wasn't supposed to bid three days before the closing date. In addition, I bid ten bucks over the asking price; will I still potentially lose it, even though my bid is invisible to other bidder?

Anyone have any advice?

[matcom]

1. wait until the last MINUTE of the bidding time

decide what you are willing to pay and SLAM IT DOWN 10 seconds before closing

good luck!

[iconoclastic cat]

2. Yeah, but I already bid. Should I log on with my wife's account

and bid at the last minute with her? What if someone outbids that bid?

[matcom]

4. you can bid as many times as you like

you can keep upping it

[CatWoman]

that's how I do it

but I give myself a minute at least.

[billybob537]

3. You can use proxy bid

Simply put E-bay bids for you up to the maximum you set. For example your guitar is bid at $134.00 If your proxy is higher E-bay would bid $135.00 for you and so on up to your max.

[iconoclastic cat]

6. So, the asking price was $25. I already bid $35. Should I raise it?

Or should I leave it?
Very, very few people have ever even heard of this kind of guitar. This is the exact model that I have been trying to find for about 8 years. I absolutely must have it.

[billybob537]

8. Decide how much you would be willing to pay

Then with proxy bid they will only go $1 over other bids up to the max. you set.

[Gothic Sponge]

5. I'm going to sell a guitar on Ebay soon

It's a 1956 Fender Stratocaster i found it in my uncle's house. I guess i'll ask $50 dollars for it.

[Wickerman]

7. tell ya what, I'll make it easy for you - 'll give you 60$ today and even

postage. Its no big deal, you don't need to thank me. Why? I guess its jsut cuz my uncle Harry was born in 1956 and he was in a band. I always liked uncle Harry. I'm not familar with that brand, but heck, I'll take a chance... :evilgrin:

[Bonhomme Richard]

10. I feel bad for you so I'll...............

give you $75.00 + shipping to get it off your hands. What can I say? I'm just a good guy.

[Wickerman]

14. Hey, that would be a quick 15$ profit

:think: what a deal!

[ProfessorGAC]

31. I'll Pay $100, Easy!

Assuming the year is documented before i pay.
The Professor

[Gothic Sponge]

12. Hehe!

I wish i had a 56 strat! I'm happy with my 94 strat.

[iconoclastic cat]

21. Ah, yes--Fenders! Maybe it's a goth/punk thing.

At the moment, I have a '91 fretless Fender Jazz bass. That thing won't die!

[billybob537]

11. Doese the low E still buzz?

[Speck Tater]

9. Don't wait till the last minute.

It doesn't do any good. And you risk losing it to Internet lag that slows down your packet traffic causing your bid to arrive late.

Best way is to decide ahead of time on your ABSOLUTE maximum that you are willing to pay for it and place that as your proxy bid amount.

If it stays under that, you win for less than your max.

If it goes over that, then it went for more than you were willing to pay, so you got exactly what you wanted by being bailed out before you got taken for too much.

[iconoclastic cat]

13. Gotcha. I just hope nobody else wants it.

It's just too damn cool.

[Pithlet]

15. That's the best way.

You avoid paying more than you were willing to pay in the first place. The only time I do the last minute thing is on popular smaller items that I really like, and know they probably won't go higher than I can afford. I haven't bought anything from eBay in a long time, though.

[lolly]

16. Hmm--I disagree

I wouldn't wait until the last minute, but I would NOT proxy bid up to my maximum until about 30-45 minutes before the end of bidding.

You're right about the internet delay; if you wait until the last 2 minutes, your bid might not get in.

But if you put your max on the table now, you might just get into a bidding war--even by proxy--with another bidder which will boost the price. The price will go way up fast if this happens early in the bidding.

Make sure you put the item on your "Watch List" (see the ebay website for directions). Make a mental note of the auction ending time and start checking regularly a few hours before closing time.

If you've already bid, Ebay can also notify you when/if other bidders outbid you.

[iconoclastic cat]

17. Okay, that makes the most sense. So, is the "proxy bid" that amount

which I already set (my $35 initial bid yesterday)? I need to re-read the instructions. I don't remember all of the info on the proxy bids. I thought that if I put my initial bid in, the proxy would simply bid up to that amount--is that incorrect?

[lolly]

18. That's Correct

So, if the asking price is 25.00, and you put down 35, e-bay will submit up to 10 bids for 26,27, 28 . . . dollars--up to 35.

If a competitor proxies up to 30, and there are no more bids, you will get the guitar for 31.

If a competitor does 36, he will get it for 36.

When is the closing date? I would leave it at 35 for now and see what happens.

[iconoclastic cat]

19. Thursday at 1pm! You know, the odd thing is that if I had found a job

already, I would never have found this guitar.
To be perfectly honest, I don't know which I want more...

Thanks for the advice, lolly! You rock! If I get the guitar, I'll cut some tracks for the DU soundtrack!

[lolly]

20. Sounds good!

Keep us posted.

[VOX]

22. Go into the auction late, and go in boldly.

If you **really** want this axe, put a modest bid down on it to begin with, but DO NOT fall into the trap of escalating a bidding war with another bidder (or bidders) -- you know: you bid, he bids, you top that, so does he, etc. Next thing you know, the auction item is priced several times above its market value. It's a seller's dream, and a buyer's nightmare.

I don't particularly care for putting down a maximum bid early -- it allows other bidders to pound away at you, sometimes just out of frustration or curiosity, to see what you actually bid. I have rarely won an auction this way, sitting helplessly by and watching my max bid being eroded and eventually overrun. Even if you win, you will probably pay much more for the item than if you had come in just before the auction's end.

Also -- and this is very important -- DO NOT draw attention to an auction item by bidding multiple times on it. Lay low, and plan on coming in with a flourish just before the close of the auction.

Use one of the many reliable free sniping software tools -- no downloads, just register. I use HammerTap:
http://www.hammertap.com/HammerSnipe.html

Enter and save your final bid -- make it bold, and high, to cut down any high bidders who might be between you and the guitar. The bid will be automatically placed approximately 10 seconds before the end of the auction. It may not seem "cricket," but when it happens often enough to you (and right before your very eyes), you'll lose your shyness about it pretty quickly.

The free software hasn't let me down yet. Just make sure that your bid is bold. As the auction progresses, and if it seems like you haven't put enough $$$ in queue, you can change your bid amount in the software up to two minutes before the close of the auction.

Good luck!

[soothsayer]

23. I was waiting to bid later in the day on an auction that ended tonight

and totally forgot to ever bid!! Slept on it. Ugh. Kicking myself.

So....sometimes it doesn't hurt to bid early, cuz if I had, yeah, I might haver started a bidding war, but at least I would have been in the mix.

sniff sniff

It still hurts.

[iconoclastic cat]

25. Good idea! Thanks!

I'm signed up on eSnipe, and I'll just go ahead and bid high in the last few minutes.
Thanks to all!

[No2W2004]

26. Bidding at the last minute is the way to go.

I out bid someone for a car by one cent that way....

I usually have 2 browsers open. One set with a bid ready to send, and the other to constantly update. If I see that someone is sneaking in to outbid me in the last 30 seconds, I switch to the first browser and slam 'em. Also, use cents as in $35.52 or something like that. People usually don't add cents to their bids. That's how I got the car...their last bid was $1200.00, my maximum proxy was set at $1200.01. :)

[iconoclastic cat]

27. Nice! Also a good idea.

I have a wickedfast DSL connection (1.5 gigs up and downstream). I should be able to pull that off.

[Bake]

24. About that '56 Strat ...

I'll go $10 higher than anybody so far, and I'll pay shipping too...

Bake

[ProfessorGAC]

32. Add $5 to dbaker's Bid and I'll Buy It

So there, dbaker. Again, assuming it's year is authenticated first and i can tell him how to do it!
The Professor

[chaska]

28. I always...

snipe and I always win. I use esnipe a lot, sometimes I just tune in at the last minute.

Bidding early only bids the price higher. I never bid till the end.

Decide how much you're willing to pay. Tell esnipe and walk away. You'll very likely win. And you can tell esnipe at any time. Unless they've made a change lately (a stupid change) you can tell them ten days in advance for a ten day auction, for example.

[iconoclastic cat]

29. Okay, sounds good.

I'm all set at eSnipe, and I'm ready to go. Thanks!

[iconoclastic cat]

30. Thanks for all of your suggestions, DUers!

Cross your fingers for me!

[iconoclastic cat]

33. Okay, I'm going to set up eSnipe today.

Any suggestions?

[MissMillie]

34. Success depends

not on winning the bid, but on winning the auction without spending more than you are prepared to spend.

Determine your walk-away price, then set up an E-bay proxy-bid so that it bids no higher than your walk-away price.

If the bidding gets higher than your walk-away price, walk away.


(I work for people who teach this stuff on the MBA level.)

[iconoclastic cat]

35. Got it! All right--I'm going to eSnipe right now.