Arrrgghhh!
http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 1435.l2765

And that's why I hate auctions with a passion. First thing I'd make a felony if I were president!

Yeah, I can see how that would be frustrating! I won an auction a while back by a few pennies and had a good chuckle.

It's frustrating, but it helps to think of the alternative - just HOW LONG would you keep slinging bids if you could keep trumping the other guy by 15, 10 or even 5 cents? You'd be at $1,000 before you knew it.

Yep has happened to me too.

Of course then I think of all the auctions I won for $.50 or less.

If you really want it, bid more!

Yep, I've won and lost a couple of auctions in the $500 to $1000 range by only a few pennies. I think my personal record is 2 cents, but I don't remember if I won or lost.

I'm philosophical about it -- at least it means that I was probably fairly accurate in my assessment of what the item was worth.

Bob

So why does it show the bid ended at:
Jul-18-12 09:10:38 PDT, and the last two bids show as:
US $43.00 Jul-18-12 05:54:25 PDT
US $42.67 Jul-18-12 01:50:47 PDT
This confuses me and makes my head hurt.

He beat you by 33 cents. You dont know what his max bix was. It may have been $45 or $50.

Hope this makes you feel better......

Actually you do know that the winner's final bid was for $43.00, since 33 cents is less than the bid increment at that point. If he'd bid significantly higher then the difference between the top two bids would have equaled the bid increment, and you wouldn't know the amount of the high bid.

It doesn't look like anyone sniped this auction, so anyone who would have made an additional bid equal to or greater than the minimum amount would have won.

Bob

The bidding ended at 09:10:38 PDT, but the winning bid was put in at 05:54:25 PDT. At that point the winner didn't know what the second-highest bidders amount was, but the $42.67 would have become visible when he made his $43.00 bid. At that point, anyone could have determined that $43.00 was actually the maximum amount bid by the high bidder, since 33 cents was less than the bid increment for that price range.

The winner made two bids around the same time. He first bid $38, and eBay placed a $39 proxy bid for the eventual second-highest bidder. Then he bid $43, which became the high (and winning) bid, at which point the second-highest bidder's $42.67 maximum bid was revealed.


Bob

Sofaslug's explanation of things is exactly correct.

I normally do snipe, but knew I wouldn't be near the PC at the time the auction was going to end, hence the early bid.

In over 14 years on the bay, however, this wasn't my closest call; I've both won -and lost- auctions by one cent.

Bummer. I have to look into some sort of sniping software. Every time I try to "manually snipe" I get tense, jittery, my heart starts racing, I start sweating, my vision becomes blurred...............................LOL

Well sometimes when I get outbid, I will bump the bidding up incrementally just to make sure the other guy does not get a steal deal. Meanness I guess. And then sometimes a third comes in and blows us both out of the water.

Fifties, sorry to hear about that!! I feel and know your pain!! I lost out on an item on ebay by 50 cents, I could have cried! Keep trying like I do, we will get it right soon!!

Lynn

Sniping is the only way.

I never have to worry anymore and never have to keep checking on it.

I simply decide the MAX I'm willing to pay... then I set the snipe for that.

My bid NEVER shows anything until the last 5 seconds.

So no one even knows that I'm interested at all.

At the last 5 secs either I will get it for almost nothing.. or it drives up to all or most of my max amount.

If that isn't enough.. who cares..
I made my mind up at the beginning of exactly what I was willing to pay.. no more.

Since I started sniping... I win more bids than not.
It's the best decision I ever made.

Sniping also gives you the option to change your mind. More than once I've seen a better
bargain for the same item pop up. Being able to cancel a swipe bid is a lot better than cancelling
an eBay bid and getting a possible mark on your record.

Pete

What site did you get it from, or what S/W do you use?

I enjoy sniping at the last few seconds, but in a case like this one, I could use an automatic device.

Whatever I determine my top bid should be on an item, I always add anoth $1 or $2 to my final bid.
For example, if I will pay no more than $50 for a radio I will enter $52.+ or $53.+.

I have been using eSnipe.com for quite a while now. It's worked perfectly over the years. I bid once and am done. If I change my mind (up until 5 minutes before the auction ends) I only have to delete my bid. It's entirely web based so there is no hardware/software to install or maintain.

I set my bids to occur 3 seconds before the end of the auction.

I have no affiliation with eSnipe other than being a customer.