Auto bids confusing

[gary123gary]

Hi , I placed a bid on an item. I was th only bidder. Right at the end I was out bid. I didnt get any notification that I was outbid, just that the aution had ended. Was my mistake that I should have placed a maximum bid and then let auto bidding take it from there ? I have attached the screen shot of the bids showing the auto bids in grey. It looks confusing in the the times seem to happen all at the end of the auction. I was suprised that this happened as I was the only bidder. If someone else put in a auto bid shouldnt it have shown up sooner ? Thanks in advance for any help. This has happened a few times and is very frustration as I think I would have paid more than the final aution winners price. I have attached a screenshot of the bids. Thanks Gary

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

Let me break it down for you.

I placed a bid on an item. I was th only bidder.

You were the only bidder with minutes to go

Right at the end I was out bid.

In the last 13 seconds there were two other bidders, one of them bid the same amount three times, another bid once with an unknown amount as they were the high bidder.

I didnt get any notification that I was outbid, just that the aution had ended.

With bids being placed in the last 13 seconds there is simply no time for the eBay system to notify you in sufficient time for you to bid again.

Was my mistake that I should have placed a maximum bid and then let auto bidding take it from there ?

YES, you should have bid your maximum and not sat back thinking you were not going to be outbid having placed a bid equal to the opening bid amount.

I have attached the screen shot of the bids showing the auto bids in grey. It looks confusing in the the times seem to happen all at the end of the auction.

The other bidders placed snipe bids.  Based on the image you have provided I would say that one bidder used three snipe services to place identical bids of $31.50 four seconds before the end of the auction.  They would have done this to avoid missing out if the snipe service malfunctioned.  It is unlikely that all three snipes would fail.  The other bidder placed their bid with 13 seconds to go which would indicate to me that it was probably a manual snipe bid.  In other words, they waited until 13 seconds before the end to place their one and only high bid in the normal way without using a snipe service.

I was suprised that this happened as I was the only bidder. If someone else put in a auto bid shouldn't it have shown up sooner ?

Again, you were the only bidder until 13 seconds before the designated end of auction.  If you have a fast enough internet connection the other bids would have shown up shortly after they were placed, which in the case of the three-bidder would have shown up after the end of the auction because even the fastest connections can't reload when a bid is placed so close to the end.

Thanks in advance for any help. This has happened a few times and is very frustration as I think I would have paid more than the final aution winners price.

You can't know how much the high bidder had bid.  They may have bid $100, or $400. or even $1000 . . . . you'll never know that your higher bid amount would have won the auction in this auction shown in the image.  You almost certainly would not have won it with a bid of $33.50.  The high bidder, based solely on their feedback score, has more experience than you and was probably outbid by snipers when they were inexperienced . . . . . but they have learned to place just one bid, at the maximum they are prepared to pay, as close to the end of the auction as possible.

If you ever think to yourself "If I had known the other bidder would outbid me at the end I would have bid again" then you are not bidding your maximum, and you will lose more auctions in the final seconds until you wake up and start bidding your maximum.

Let me sum it all up with this . . . . you are bidding for a bargain and hoping to win, the sniper is bidding to win and hoping for a bargain.

Good luck Gary and start bidding your maximum.