uying in any auction little poorer.
either on or offline can be
an exciting experience. You There is absolutely no reason why
see an item that you are this should happen to you.
interested in and you make a bid. Bidding in the last few minutes
But then someone else bids and of an auction can become frenzied
you are no longer the high bid. and it is not the place for value
Well, your bid was a bit low for money seekers like us to be.
anyway so you might as well raise And the good news is that we do
it a little and get control not have to be.
because there are only a few
minutes to the end of the These days I make all my bids by
auction. Proxy. It is very simple and
straightforward and you will
And so up and up go the bids often pick up a bargain. What you
until the end of the auction do is decide what is the maximum
arrives. One of two things will price you are prepared to pay for
have happened, you will either any item. And this is a decision
have won the item and paid way you make ideally a few hours
over the odds or you will breath before the end of the auction
a sigh of relief as someone else although you can bid as soon as
has the winning bid. the item is listed if you wish.
Personally I do not like to
As sellers we love two or three attract too much attention to an
people to be interested in our auction by bidding early if I can
item and bid against each other. avoid it. But sometimes it can be
That is how items reach two or necessary if I am going to be
three times the amount we away from a computer for a while.
expected but as a buyer it can
leave us a bit flat and not a Once you have decided on the
amount you are prepared to pay maximum bid a round number. For
enter that as your bid. instance if you think $10 is
about right bid $10.11 or even
Now do not worry all that will $10.51 because a lot of people
happen is that your bid will be will quit bidding when the item
recorded at the level of the next reaches a significant amount such
bid increment. For example if the as $10, $50 or $100 and those few
current bid was 99c and you were extra can swing the auction in
prepared to pay "£3 the actual your favour.
bid would be for just $1.04 a 5c
increase on the previous bid. If Once you have placed your proxy
someone else then bid yours would bid you can just forget about it
increase until someone bids more until the auction is over and
than your maximum bid. then just check your e-mail for
the congratulations or "the you
In my experience I find that by have been outbid" message. Either
using proxy bids I get about 50% way you can be sure that you have
of the items I bid on and often not paid over the odds for an
for much less than my maximum eBay purchase.
amount. One useful tip that I can
give you is to never make your
About the Author:
Dave Bromley is the webmaster and Editor for http://www.ukauctionline.co.uk and the monthly newsletter UK AuctionLine. http://www.ukauctionline.co.uk
Read more articles by:
Dave Bromley
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
