Why does E-Bay have a system which automatically outbids you when you put in a bid.

[yabbado60]

Why does E-Bay have a system which automatically outbids you when you place a bid. I find this highly unethical. I was the only real person bidding on an item. I made 3 bids and within 2 second of placing each bid, I was outbidded. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth. 

[sandypas]

Say an item is sitting on $20 and goes up in $1 increments.

Joe Blow comes along and puts the highest amount he is prepared to pay - say $45 which takes the current price to $21 (the next increment).

The next bidder comes along and bids $22.  Because Joe Blow has already bid $45, the price jumps to the next increment of $23.

Along comes another bidder and bids $35.  Joe Blow is still ahead so the price jumps to the next increment which would be $36. 

This will keep happening until Joe Blows maximum bid is passed.

It is not eBay bidding - it is Joe Blow's bid that is automatically bidding each time.

[repentatleisure1952 · Accepted solution]

Good morning Fred! How's Wilma? eBay does not outbid you & all bidders are "real". Savy bidders place a bid for the MAXIMUM AMOUNT they are prepared to pay & therefore you will be constantly out bid. By placing multiple bids in small increments all you are doing is increasing the price & showing your hand way too early. Suggest you read about bidding & buying on eBay rather than placing "nibble bids".

A very experienced member has in the past posted something along the lines of the following-

"Smart bidders bid to win & hope for a bargain"

"Inexperienced bidders bid for a bargain & hope to win"

Also suggest you bid as late as possible(ie. 4-12 seconds before the end of an auction) or use a snipe service.

Works for me !!!

[yabbado60]

Thanks for the info Sandy. But shouldn't E-bay put up [The 45 Dollar bid] so you actually know what you are up against]. Because you can get cheesed off with it very quickly.

David.

[kennedia_nigricans]

not all bidders are real (shill bidding) but that is a different matter.

it comes down to "what do i want to pay for it?"

put in a bid that if you win would make you not think "OMG that was expensive" but a bid that makes you think (if you win) "that's alright" and (if you lose) "gee, i am glad i didn't get it for that price"

[cosmosgrove]

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@yabbado60 wrote:

Thanks for the info Sandy. But shouldn't E-bay put up [The 45 Dollar bid] so you actually know what you are up against]. Because you can get cheesed off with it very quickly.

David.

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In an auction house environment you would never know what someone is prepared to pay for an item unless you outbid them, same on ebay.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@yabbado60 wrote:

Thanks for the info Sandy. But shouldn't E-bay put up [The 45 Dollar bid] so you actually know what you are up against]. Because you can get cheesed off with it very quickly.

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Are you saying that the amount that you bid is the amount you should pay if you win?  i.e. If you are the only bidder for a 99 cent start auction that you bid $25 on then you should pay $25?  That would be fun!!!!!!  The winning bid amount is one increment above the highest underbidder amount.

If the final amount paid by a buyer remains one increment above the underbidder in the system you propose then imagine this scenario:

I really wanted an item that normally sells for say $45 and I put in a bid of $2,000 even though I am not prepared to pay $2000.  If everyone can see "what they are up against"  then they would know that I really want the item and they would not bid.  That $2000 bid would be placed to scare off other bidders, a 'bluff bid' if you like.  Sellers would hate it and not list their items.

If bid amounts were revealed for all to see then there would be so much 'nibble bidding' as bidders would not be prepared to declare their hand by bidding their maximum.  That it wouldn't be in the interests of sellers getting a fair price or buyers having an easy bidding process.

Put in your maximum bid and if it is higher than all others you will win at either that amount or a lower amount (unless someone bids the same amount before you).  The system is fair for all as everyone has the opportunity to place their maximum bid before the auction end time.

We often get members coming to the boards here complaining about last second snipe bidders and saying things like "I didn't get the chance to bid one more time because time ran out".  These bidders just don't get it that you need to bid your maximum, not a little less to allow for for one more bid!

[springyzone]

Is that actually what was being asked though? That the highest amount a person was prepared to bid was showing?

I thought he might mean that if someone typed in $45, then the bidding would in fact go up to $45, so that whatever was showing, that would be what the real price was at.

Under that scenario, no one would bid $2000 as thta is what they would have to pay.

Mind you, I don't mind the auto bid by ebay as it means i don't have to be there. In a real auction, for example, for a house, I would be there and the bidding would be all over and done in 5 or 10 minutes. On ebay it drags on for at least a week usually, so the auto bid feature means I can make a bid and walk away and ebay will bid on my behalf up to my max.

[digital*ghost]

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@yabbado60 wrote:

Thanks for the info Sandy. But shouldn't E-bay put up [The 45 Dollar bid] so you actually know what you are up against]. 

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What you're up against is irrelevant unless all you're doing is trying to beat someone else's bid.

If you're trying to win the item, then all that is relevant is the maximum you're prepared to pay for it. 

If you bid your true maximum amount as close to the end of the auction as possible, you don't need to worry about what anyone else is or isn't bidding. If you win, great, if you lose, it went for more than you were prepared to pay and still would have if you'd placed that maximum after 20 bids. 

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@springyzone wrote:

Is that actually what was being asked though? That the highest amount a person was prepared to bid was showing?

I thought he might mean that if someone typed in $45, then the bidding would in fact go up to $45, so that whatever was showing, that would be what the real price was at.

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Yep springy, that is what was suggested in post #4, that the actual amount a bidder bids is shown so that others "know what you are up against" i.e. the high bid NOT be just one bid increment above the highest underbidder, and that all others would know what they needed to bid to become the high bidder.

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@springyzone wrote:

Under that scenario, no one would bid $2000 as thta is what they would have to pay.

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which is why I prefaced my $2000 scenario with "If the final amount paid by a buyer remains one increment above the underbidder" to highlight that revealling a bidder's bid amount under these conditions would not work and would prevent competitive bidding.

The idea of revealing the bid amount is just plain unworkable.  If you really want an item your best chance of getting it is to bid your maximum.