Outbid on eBay by less than minimum bidding increment! How?

[SubWolfer]

I'm not exactly new to eBay. I've both bought and sold (have separate selling ID). But I thought in order to outbid someone, you must enter a a bid that's at least one increment above the current high bidder. Yet I was recently outbid by less than $5 and that was the minimum increment. How is this possible?

Click Here (http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=110242502585) and look at the bidding. Winner won in the final seconds but only beat my high bid by $1.45 when the minimum increment was $5. (and yeah, i did a lil pinging earlier but I was genuinely interested in buying these so no foul there). Still, I'd like to know how this guy was able to win by only $1.45 when minimum increment was $5.

[Njord Noatun]

Still, I'd like to know how this guy was able to win by only $1.45 when minimum increment was $5. Probably because his proxy bid was $1.45 higher than yours: If he submitted a proxy of, say $61.45, and yours was $60, he will win the auction at $61.45 regardless of bidding increment - eBay doesn't force him to pay $65 even if your bid is $60.

[dew042]

At the time of his bid, your high bid was US $336.00, the next bid only required US $341.00 or higher and his bid trumped yours overall. Not complicated.

dew.

[BajaGringo]

It's a weird quirk in the algorithm eBay uses when bidding just over the max bid by the previous holder of the max bid. If you are at his max bid you will have to bid the min increment. If you are under it you can just make it over with any bid if his max bid was not known. I am probably not explaining this correctly. Today is not a good day and I am three sheets to the wind right about now.

Ask me again tomorrow and I will be more coherent...

[SubWolfer]

At the time of his bid, your high bid was US $336.00, the next bid only required US $341.00 or higher and his bid trumped yours overall. Not complicated.

dew.

No, my high bid was $358.55. His bid of $360 beat mine by $1.45, (which I know, still trumps my bid). So even if he outbid me by a penny he would have won? What if he had bid $500? Would that have raised his winning bid to the full $5 increment above my bid of $358.55?

[sweetlaraine]

I'm not exactly new to eBay. I've both bought and sold (have separate selling ID). But I thought in order to outbid someone, you must enter a a bid that's at least one increment above the current high bidder. Yet I was recently outbid by less than $5 and that was the minimum increment. How is this possible?

Click Here (http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=110242502585) and look at the bidding. Winner won in the final seconds but only beat my high bid by $1.45 when the minimum increment was $5. (and yeah, i did a lil pinging earlier but I was genuinely interested in buying these so no foul there). Still, I'd like to know how this guy was able to win by only $1.45 when minimum increment was $5.


The 3rd place bidder was 331.00. Your actual bid amount was 358.45. Because you only need to win by 5.00 at this dollar amount, your winning bid would have been 336.00. The winnner bid 360.00 in the last seconds. This bumped your bid at max 358.45, and winner at 360.00

[SubWolfer]

OK, I get it. Damn it, I almost had a pair of Energy Veritas V2.1 Piano Black Bookshelf Speakers for $336. Friggin jerk last second sniper. :tears:

[ccheath]

Don't feel bad. I lost bid as a second highest bidder for a Pioneer Spec 2 and Yamaha MX-1000. Both times second highest.

[markthefixer]

Don't feel bad, on dovebid the auction extends (or used to, it's been a while) if within a certain period of time from the end of an auction, there is a higher bid and a new front runner, the auction is extended 10 minutes longer for the other guy (or everybody?) to make a counter- raise. If they do, another 10 minutes is tacked on, and so on, and so on..

One time I had to stay online another two hours to get something....

[bowtie427ss]

Friggin jerk last second sniper. LMAO

I love tactical bidding.:yes:

Join em or lose to em, that's how ebay works.:D

[Mark W.]

Friggin jerk last second sniper. :tears:


Well, no that's a grown up way to look at it. The guy did nothing wrong nothing outside the rules or the norm on eBay. You say your not a newbie on eBay yet you don't use the the best tactic's.

Auctions weather on line or in an auction house are tactical business events. You should avail yourself of these methods. then you to can be the Jerk last second sniper, and own the pair of speakers you want.

Of course in this case you still would have LOST cause weather or no his bid came in a couple seconds before the end or not he was willing to pay more then you for the speakers. And that is what determines the winner.

[SubWolfer]

Yeah, yeah... I know he did nothing wrong, and I know about sniping tactics, and I know it's not an adult way to look at things, and I know.... bla bla bla.

I guess I shouldn't feel bad, either. But at the time I was pissed. But such is life and the way things go on eBay. Just sucks when you get that close and then loose. I woulda rather be way out bid by a large sum rather than loose by less than 2 lousy bucks. Still it irks me to know that if there was just one less bidder, if it wasn't for him, them babies woulda been mine. I got something for that sniper. :rant: :twak: :uzi:

[WilCruiser]

Yeah, I lose 2 that way for every one I win. I really have my late bid / or snipe set at my true max. If I get beat even at the last minute it's because someone was willing to pay more than I thought it was worth (or could afford). If I won 'em all I'd be broke! :D Such is life. The next opportunity will probably be even better anyway - happens that way a lot too. :thmbsp:

[toxcrusadr]

You know, there is no way to know what the guy was really willing to go up to. I always tell myself in these situations that I could have actually lost by way more than that. If you had bid $5 more in the first place...well, maybe the guy had another $100 in him, if you or someone had pushed it. I missed a local SX-1080 the other day by $10, but I tell myself my max bid is what it is and that's why I have one.

[Njord Noatun]

Sniping's got nothing to do with it - he was willing to pay more for the item than you, plain and simple.

[thisOne]

OK, I get it. Damn it, I almost had a pair of Energy Veritas V2.1 Piano Black Bookshelf Speakers for $336. Friggin jerk last second sniper. :tears:

Hey, If you REALLY want somenting you need to go nuclear with your bid. Your oponent won the auction by a measly $1.45 with his highest snipe of $360. Had you gone nuclear with a snipe of (say) $900, you would have won the auction by the next bid increment over the highest bid (in this instance you would have won it for $365).

So you got clever and tactical with your bid amount and another guy took it. Guess you did not want it bad enough. If you want it bad enough you just gotta go nuclear. I NEVER lost an auction for an item I REALLY had to have, and I ALWAYS paid only the next highest bid increment.

Of course, If you go nuclear and you go against another nuclear bid, then the highest stupid bid amount wins. :D

Gotta love flea-pay for the way it works...:banana::banana::banana:

[Mark B]

There's no difference between a snipe bid and a non-snipe bid. The highest bid wins.

As for extending auctions if there's a late bid, that's better for sellers (and worse for buyers) as late bidding can drive the price up. As a buyer I'd prefer a closed bid auction with all bids revealed only at the close of the auction.