[78-L] Little bitty bids and bidders

[Michael Biel]

From: neechevoneeznayou at gmail.com
> I typically bid at the last minnit so that I don't
> drive something up.

I ALWAYS bid in the last seconds.  Always.  Never in any other fashion. 
I have done it hundreds and hundreds of times and win 90% of the time.

> ..and if someone wants an item for many more times than I am willing 
> to pay, they can have it. Or I adjust my expectation.  joe salerno

I only lose if someone puts in a higher bid, but in my successful
technique they never go back to put in a second higher bid if I top
them.  In Taylor's technique, they do because you have forced them to
step bid because you topped them early.
 
> Taylor Bowie wrote:
> > As a frequent bidder on eBay, I am often amazed at seeing what I call step 
> > bidding. Say for example that I see a record I really want which starts at 
> > $4.99 and I bid $102. So for the time being I "have" it at the starting 
> > amount of $4.99 A second bidder comes along and wants it...and many times 
> > I'll watch these people first bid $8 and then $10 and then $11 and then 
> > $13.50...on and on and on, many times within an hour...finally they get up 
> > to $35 and give up, but they've made a dozen or more separate bids!!


Which means that now you have paid $36 for a record you could have
gotten for $8.50. You have established that you are willing to pay $102
for it, but have put your bid in early.  Along comes a step-bidder who
puts in a bid of $8 but your early bid tops him and he keeps going.  If
you had waited, his $8.00 bid would not have been topped and he would
have been satisfied and not bid again.  Then you sweep in at the last
second and put in your $102 bid and get it for $8.50.  Sure, if he had
bid $35 the first time you would get it at $36 like before, but he
didn't and YOU FORCED him to make YOU PAY MORE!  That's dumb!!!  If he
had bid $100 it would have cost you $101, but you were willing to chance
it.  

I agree that step bidding is dumb.  I agree that two other bidders
stepping each other up is dumber.  Which is why I don't do it.  But what
is the dumbest technique of all is putting in a high bid early and
forcing the step bidding!!!!!!!!!  If there is only one step bidder, you
get it for the increment above his first bid.  If there are two or more
step bidders you still get it when they give up.  But they might give up
sooner.  

> > I mean...do they really want the record? And if so, don't
> > they start out with some concept of what they want to pay for it?

Which brings up another point, Taylor.  Do you ever go back and up your
early bid when you are outbid?  If so, YOU are a step bidder!!!       
 
> > Yesterday I was able to score the Earl Burtnett Blue Wax Columbia I was 
> > missing. Early in the day I put a fat bid on it...and a couple hours later 
> > I put one more extra-fat bid on it.

Ah ha!!!
 
> > During the last two minutes a couple of bidders drove my bid up
> > about eight times in these short amounts. Why not just decide
> > what you want to pay, bid, and leave it at that?

DID YOU?????  After all, YOU put in "one more extra-fat bid on it"!!!
(Actually, I see two you did.)  Maybe they would have kept going anyway,
but your high bid added an extra amount every time they bid.  That made
the steps bigger and bigger and bigger.  Surely you ended up paying more
this way than you had to.  Click on "Show Automatic Bids" and you will
see every extra amount that you added to the total that YOU paid!  If it
is the record I am seeing (Columbia 2922-D) the winner caused eleven
automatic bids of $2.50 which potentially added $27.50 to the steps! 
The number two bidder started out at $19.99.  Of course there were two
other bidders, but if it were just the two of you, wouldn't it have been
nice to have gotten that record at $20.49 instead of $214.50? 

> > If any of you use that step bidding technique, I'd just like
> > to know why,  as it rarely works.   Taylor

Gee, Taylor, if you look at the automatic bids, YOU are the step
bidder!!!  Automatic topping bids are step bids.

Mike (successful sniper and proud of it) Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com