by
sir_snipes_alot
Welcome! I am pleased you have found my page on Advanced
Auction Management. If you are here, it is most likely
because you have found my other help pages to be useful,
or another eBay user has referred you here.
My
Pre
Bidding Tips Page
has many of the basics already covered - please feel
free to review it as necessary. This page will take
my basic tips page one-step further.
Determine
an effective bidding strategy
You
have already learned how to place a bid, as well as
some very crucial pre bidding routines that will help
you towards a successful conclusion of auctions you
may win. Now, we will discuss how to win MORE auctions!
There
are several basic bidding styles that have been identified
on eBay - you can find a very good explanation of
all of them on,user
Cru's Bidding Strategies Page.
He does a very good job of describing the strategy
as well as the various benefits and risks associated
with each.
I
recommend the 'time conscious proxy bidding' strategy
personally - I find this to be the most effective
for myself. Some refer to this bidding style as 'sniping'.
I
often tell people that there is no advantage to bidding
early in the auction process. There are however, many
reasons for not bidding early in the auction process.
-
You
don't have to worry about bid stalkers
-
You
don't have to worry about shilling sellers
-
You
don't have to worry about nibble bidders running
up your early proxy
-
You
don't have to commit to an auction item, only
to find a cheaper or better one later
-
You
will know immediately the results of your bid
- if you lose you can quickly move on to another
auction
Follow the auction using your 'my eBay page'
Every
eBay user has a "my eBay Page" - you can find yours
by clicking on the 'my eBay' link at the top of every
eBay page. On this page, you will find various options
- one of the most important for this discussion is
the "Items I'm Watching" section. You may search out
auction items that interest you, and once you have
found one, add it to your 'items I'm watching section'.
Using
the 'items I'm watching section' will allow you to
follow the course of the auction without having to
make a commitment to a single auction item. If you
watch it to the end of the auction without bidding
- you can determine in the last few minutes whether
it still represents a good value for you. If it does,
just place your 'time conscious proxy bid'. If it
no longer interests you due to the going price - just
delete if from your watching list, and move on to
the next item on your list.
Don't
rely on your 'my eBay page' to display the most current
auction prices - instead visit the actual auction
page and refresh it, for the most up to date bid price.
Your 'my eBay page' does not update as quickly as
the main auction page - and may often give you a false
impression of the auction's true status.
Consider
alternative Auction Management Software
Your
my eBay page is a free and useful auction management
tool - there are others, that you may find even more
useful.
I
highly recommend Auction Tamer. This is a free software
package developed for both Buyers and Sellers - the
software is free for buyers, and has a reasonable
pricing for users who wish to purchase the selling
portion of the software.
I
have found Auction Tamer to have many advantages over
using your 'my eBay page'.
-
There
is no restriction on the number of items you can
watch ('my eBay page' limits you to 20 items).
-
You
may watch auctions on many auction sites - not
just eBay.
-
Auction
Tamer has a clock which synchronizes to the actual
eBay clock.
-
Auction
Tamer has a split screen with a browser in the
top frame, and your watch list in the bottom frame
- this is very useful for the bidder using a 'time
conscious proxy bidding' strategy. You can watch
the seconds tick down in the bottom window, while
your 'time conscious proxy bid' is all set up
in the top window - just waiting for the confirmation
of bid click.
-
Auction
Tamer has multiple areas on each auction item
for entering either comments - or a note of what
your maximum bid for this item will be.
-
Auction
Tamer will work with one of the more popular 'sniping'
services - eSnipe.com.
-
Auction
Tamer is updated very frequently, and updates
are free.
After
winning an auction item - Auction Tamer will move
the auction item to a new section of your database,
labeled 'won' - where you can continue to keep track
of the important components of the auction item such
as: item number, seller, bid price, and whether feedback
has been left or not.
Can't
be there at auction closing? - Consider a Bidding
Service
There
are always times when a user may not be able to be
online for the closing minutes of an auction - this
does not need to restrict your bidding strategy, if
you have settled on 'time conscious proxy bidding'.
There
are two very good 'time conscious proxy bidding' services
available on line.
eSnipe.com
is a service that will place your bid at a predetermined
time frame just prior to the auction closing. You
simply give eSnipe your eBay user information, tell
them what your maximum proxy bid is, and instruct
them when to place your bid. They will connect within
a second or two of your instructions with your bid.
eSnipe will notify you when they have placed your
bid, and the results of your bid.
As
with any online service, eSnipe, can be affected by
eBay outages and internet congestion. eSnipe has a
small charge for use of their service - charges are
based on your winning bid amount.
A
second online bidding service is
vrane.com.
Vrane.com will place your proxy bid for you just prior
to the end of auction as well. You can not configure
bidding times when using Vrane.com. Just as eSnipe
can be affected by eBay outages and internet congestion,
so can Vrane.com. There is currently no charge for
using Vrane.com services.
Sir
Snipe's Tip: Bid only once - Bid your maximum
- Bid late, and use an auction management tool.
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