Some Ebay bidders?

Question

Why do some ebay bidders raise their bids well before the auction ends? You see them outbidding each other well in advance and sending up the prices sky high which means they have to pay far more than they would if they waited patiently till the last few minutes before the auction closes.

Answer 1

i think its scandalous sellers that try to get the most money for their product..........

if you are bidding on a jacket (lets say) that at the mall/store is 185. and the starting bid is 25. you place a bid for 25. or decide to "watch the item" you can see all the activity that is going on for that item......and if the seller at the last minute or an hour or two before feels that the jacket is only going to sell for 35. he/she can place a bid with someones elses credit card (mother, father, friend, spouse etc) for 50. so the honest buying bidder cant pay that price and if they really want that jacket they will pretty much be FORCED to pay 51.(etc)

that is just my opinion.......and you can tell who does this cause if you are the second or third highest bidder but not the winning bidder you will usually get "a second chance offer" SOON AFTER (as in a minute or two) the auction closes.---~~~{this type of behavior is illegal but i think its somewhat hard for e-bay to find this out if a credit card is assigned to someone else with a different address and so forth}---~~~


THAT IS JUST MY OPINION

some others have said that it is usually IN-experienced bidders that bid so high WAAAAY before the auction closes and i COMPLETELY agree with that theory too!!!


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Answer 2

Sometimes I think they are trying to "knock each other out" early. But I agree that a lot of time it's just inexperienced bidders. In fact, if there is something I really want but at a limited price, I've found that my worst nightmare is to be bidding against someone who has five or fewer successful previous buys. One time I watched in amazement as two new eBayers went after each other over a used VHS movie entitled Steppenwolf (based on the novel by Hesse). Granted, it was somewhat rare, but the winner actually ended up paying over $60 for a video I had bought locally for less than a buck the week before. I've also seen inexperienced bidders actually ending up paying more for a used book, CD, or movie than they would have if they had bought it new at Amazon. Who knows?

Answer 3

I don't know, even though it sounds like a really good question. I guess some people are just stupid, and want to make sure that they get the item; so they bid higher so that other bidders will drop out of the auction. Again some people are just stupid!

I Hope This Answers Your Question!

Answer 4

I usually wait until the last minute that I can before bidding. sometimes that is in the last few minutes of the auction, other times it is a day before. It depends on what time the auction ends, and for auctions that end in the middle of day, I will make my final bid at the end of the previous day.

Answer 5

Sounds pretty reasonable so far. I have bought a few things that people thought were weird. Chewing gum from Luis Gonzalez for $10,000, Tim Hudson's goatee trimmings for $75 (what a bargain) and a Potato chip shaped like my home state of Illinois for about $1400 or so.

Answer 6

I know exactly what you're saying and I've wondered the same thing myself. I used to think they were newbies, but not all of them are. I hate to say that the answer to your question is that such people are stupid, but the kindest thing I can say is that they are auction-challenged. It's annoying though, isn't it?

Answer 7

most do wait til the last minute. its the inexperienced ones that bid before. Most people actually use software to bid snipe in the last few seconds.

Answer 8

Because we can't always be there when the auction is ending!