On eBay, when you want something, do you bid or do you wait till the last minute and bid?

Question

I find that you can get it a whole lot cheaper if you wait rather than fight with someone over it. What do you think?

Answer 1

wait till the last minute and bid

there will be more certainty that you get it

lol

Answer 2

I wait until the last 40 seconds of the auction and then bid the highest amount I'm willing to bid. (My computer is rather slow...if it weren't, I'd wait until the last 15 seconds to bid.) If someone comes along with 22 seconds remaining and outbids me, then obviously they didn't mind paying more.

I find that the sniper bid is better for getting things cheaper. I hadn't learned about that when I was a newbie and ended up paying $18 for something I should have only paid about $5 for. But then I learned how to snipe effectively. At first, I didn't want to because I felt it was rude. But after having a few things sniped out from under me, I stopped caring and sniped back:) Personally, I feel that since there is some skill involved with sniping, that it's rather gratifying to win an auction that way.

Answer 3

I almost always snipe the bid. Wait until the auction is just about to bid and then bid a little higher than the highest. You have to be quick though and know when to start bidding because you may have to enter a bid a few times since you don't know what the other bidders highest bid is. I usually start trying 3-4 minutes before the auction's end.

Answer 4

I wait. They want a fight, a bidding war, and that's not the way to go. I found the best buyers swooped down at the last minute and got the item, often coming out of nowhere.

Answer 5

I always wait til about the last 20 seconds.....
unless i'm not gonna be at the computer to bid then i'll go ahead and place a bid and hope i'll win.
however, sometimes that can be a not so good idea. i was tring to bid on something last week with only a min or so left, and my computer desided to slow down. so.... guess someone else enjoyed that item, lol.... but i wasn't lol'ing at the time.... :<(

Answer 6

I don't even bother bidding anymore. I only use "Buy It Now". But I used to be a last minute bidder so as to not get into a bidding war and jack up the price.

Answer 7

Usually, but you have to be careful. Waiting too late can result in being beaten by the other person's max bid and not having enough time for another bid.

Answer 8

Of course I wait till the last minute.

Answer 9

I wait till the last minute.

Answer 10

bid at the last moment, this way you wont hike up the price, you gotta be quick though cuz everyone does it

Answer 11

i go with my highest bid and leave it at that. of course, there are always #%&** snipers, but that seems to be part of the game, unfortunately.