Rarely do I purchase an auction on eBay these days. One thing I noticed from my two purchases in recent months both auctions closed at the exact price.
I always put an obscure amount for example $25.39 or $45.67. Both items bumped up the exact price at what seemed to be the last second.
5+ Years ago I purchased multiple items on eBay using auctions and rarely had this happen from memory, anyone else experiencing this?
Is eBay cheating? More seller fees for them?
Yep, what Spackbace said
you bit $25.39, someone has a snipe bid at say $50, and if there are no other bids, its going to win it at whatever the next 'increment' is that ebay bumps the bid up to, like $25.42 or something
Highest bid wins, but the bid only goes tot he $ value it needs to beat (ie yours)
What do you mean by they "closed at the exact price"?
Which exact price, the one you bid?
his max bid = closing price
might just be coincidence … 2 examples can't be consistent
I think he means they have the same product also on sale as a buy it now price - say $30 and an auction that gets bid up to that price.
That could happen - a buyer puts $30 buy it now and someone else matches him and then its sold for the same price as the auction.
he meant his max bid = closing price
"I always put an obscure amount for example $25.39 or $45.67. Both items bumped up the exact price at what seemed to be the last second."
If i bid $25 at last second, you'll auto-bid $25.39 as your max bid / winning bid
If i bid $45 at last second, you'll auto-bid $45.67 as your max bid / winning bid
Alternatively if I set my maximum bid at $26 or $46, eBay will auto-bid on my behalf up to $25.44 or $45.72 (assuming eBay increment auto-bids by 5c)
eBay's bidding rules aren't a true auction. As a result, it encourages sniping.
"Bid once, bid late" has been the eBay strategy forever.
As a result, it encourages sniping.
A true auction would close once there have been no bids for say 15 minutes.
Yeah, I think the Graysonline system is far better for sellers, it encourages bidding wars!
I learned pretty quickly that eBay was for sniping and have scored some amazing bargains as a result.
the REA started the bid himself
Graysonline system is far better for sellers
People have been curious as to why eBay don't for that since the site started. More bids knock the final price thus more FFV,
eBay was for sniping
There is a case for an early low-ball bid to knock out the 'Buy It Now' and thus hide the items true value from subsequent bidders thus keeping interest low. Of course you place that bid with your (very low feedback) secondary account to look like yet another noob or tyre-kicker.
eBay used to be fun, especially when you could look at @OP purchase history and figure out his bidding strategy. I once saw a craft buyer who always bid $xx.56, so… Outbid him by 1 cent, lol.
Cheers yeah me just being paranoid I guess. Just seemed a little odd that both times it happened. Thanks phunkydude for clearing it up, I was fully aware of how it worked just needed to be reasured. Yet still could be a conspiracy at foot, what would stop them from doing this, even randomly to swipe some more $$$?
Its possible the seller use multiple accounts to "high bid" his own auction to find your max bid.. withdraw the bid.. then use yet another account to max out your bid
mmmm yes shill bidding but can't bid and cancel at last second! So either just coincidence or eBay bot.
yeah but what you do is you have a second account and shill and if you win you cancel the order claiming the bidder hasnt paid or youve broken the item then you relist/2nd chance offer.
rinse and repeat
You can see if there's a bid thats been withdrawn in the bid history though I think.
eBay is a joke. has been for over a decade, you basically do not trust anything on there.. i forget when it was that they began obscuring bidder details, that practice should be illegal… shill bidding is rife and you should assume its going on in basically 110% of cases that matter.
No. Ridiculous assumption
Snipe bidding, been around for ages. Bid the maximum you want to pay, if someone wants to bid over that then they can, regardless of snipe bidding or not.