|
 |
| Lowballing |
|
| |
Lowballing
is at its most fundamental form in the strategy
of pure lowballing. Lowballers prefer to bid
the lowest that they can and still take the
lead. They will often bid the minimum over and
over again, or just over it, until they take
the lead or until they realize that they cannot
bid more. Lowballers hope to avoid paying a
high price for the item.
|
| Nibbling |
|
| |
Nibbling
is almost exactly like pure lowballing with one
important difference. A pure lowballer will often
exercise some judgement before bidding. A nibbler,
however, often gets caught up in the emotional
excitement of the bidding process itself. No longer
is it about the item itself, but about simply
taking the lead.
For many nibblers, the bidding no longer represents
real money, but instead is just a meaningless
number that is to be increased without consequences.
In the heat of battle, all caution is thrown to
the wind and the only thing that matters is to
enter a higher number than the other guy.
When seeking to take the lead for an item, a nibbler
will bid in the same way as a lowballer, but they
exercise no judgement. They do not take the time
to decide if they've bid too much. They will bid
in little bits, but will bid continuously, and
absolutely will not stop bidding up, no matter
the cost, until one of three things happen.
- The
nibbler takes the lead.
- The
clock runs out and the nibbler loses.
- Eventually,
the bid becomes so high that even the nibbler
realizes "Oh, my God. I can't believe I bid
that much", and stops. Often, this realization
comes after taking the lead or winning the
auction. Many retractions and NPBs have their
origins with this style of bidding.
|
| Halfballing |
|
| |
Halfballing
is very similar to pure lowballing with one
main difference. Instead of bidding the lowest
possible, or perhaps in small amounts of $5.00
or $10.00, a halfballer bids in large chunks.
They will look at the item, make a guess where
the lead bidder's proxy is, then bid an amount
comfortably over that.
The halfballer is confident that this bid will
give them the lead "for now". If outbid, they
will bid another big chunk over the estimated
proxy of the leader. Halfballing is almost a
bridge between basic lowballing and proxy bidding.
The bids approach a True Max, but not quite.
They're not bidding just enough to take the
lead, but enough that they hope it will give
them the lead for the rest of the auction. However,
their bids are not necessarily the highest they
will go.
I myself used to be a halfballer before I figured
out proxy bidding and sniping on my own.
|
| Auction
Stalking |
|
| |
This
has often been called a benevolent form of Enemy
Bidding. In this case, the Stalker becomes an
admirer of the victim. The victim may be known
as an intelligent buyer who only bids on high-quality
items after doing a great deal of research. The
stalker is interested in the same kind of items,
but has neither the desire to research nor the
ability to tell good items from bad. Rather than
take a chance, the Stalker simply follows the
victim around, bidding on everything he does,
figuring that any item the victim bids on MUST
be good.
While it may be flattering to have a Stalker,
the result is similar to Enemy Bidding. You will
either fail to get items that you want, or you
will be forced to pay more than you would under
normal conditions. Again, posting id's and sniping
are good tools to avoid this. |
| Proxy
Bidding |
|
| |
Pure Proxy Bidding is the
method most recommended by eBay, although they
tolerate the other 4. Proxy Bidding is simply
the act of bidding your Max Bid one time and
one time only. The key to Proxy Bidding is determing
your True Max Bid. This is an amount so high
that you will know for certain that you would
never, ever bid more for the item no matter
what.
I myself often proxy bid if I can't be at a
computer when an auction ends. |
| Sniping |
|
| |
Sniping
is so well-defined on my page and elsewhere that
I won't bother going into much detail. :-) Suffice
it to say that sniping is exactly like proxy bidding,
except that you enter your True Max Bid so close
to the end of the auction that nobody else can
react to your bid or enter another bid based on
your own. |
|
|
|
|
