[78-L] Bitty bids, big bids, and batty bids

Mon Jan 18 15:41:05 PST 2010

Mike B asks some good questions,  and I think this is an enjoyable topic to 
chat about,  so here are my replies to some of his thoughts:

1.  I'm not always around at the last minute to place a bid.  And for some 
reason,  I'm just not comfortable with setting up snipes...not sure why, 
that's just me!
2.  On occasion,  I change my mind and raise my bid...esp. if I get a chance 
to hear the record after I placed my first bid and I decide I want it more 
than I'd thought before.  ON Sunday,  I had the chance to play the other 
Burtnett Blue Wax,  and the more I listened,  the more I figured I wanted 
the one being auctioned on Sunday.
3.  When I raise my bid,  I don't do so in teeny-weenie amounts,  but 
usually by a pretty good whack.
4.  The people I'm curious about are the ones who site at the computer and, 
in ten steps,  raise their bid from $4.99 to $15.99.
5.  As far as paying "too much" that doesn't happen to me.  If I say I'm 
willing to pay a hundred bucks for something,  I'm happy to do so.  If I 
don't win the record,  I don't really care.  I'd say I'm either the winning 
bidder or the first underbidder on most of the auctions I bid on...that fact 
has helped me develop very good relations with several auctioneers from whom 
I also buy wonderful bargains off-list.  So if I pay "too much" on one day 
for something,  the next week I may very well get something very nice at a 
give-away price...which evens things out nicely.

So,  by my measure,  my technique pays off in spades!

Taylor

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Biel" <mbiel at mbiel.com>
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Monday, January 18, 2010 3:23 PM
Subject: Re: [78-L] Little bitty bids and bidders

> 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
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 78-L mailing list
> 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
> http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l
> 