eBay Business All-in-One For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Chapter 6: Bidding to Win

In This Chapter

• Placing bids
• Timing your bid
• Bidding strategies you don't want to miss
• Becoming an expert at sniping!
• Retracting a bid in an emergency

Quite a few years ago, on the day after Christmas, I was on The Today Show with Matt Lauer talking about post-holiday bargains on eBay. This wasn't the first time I'd been on the show with him; but this time Matt seemed very interested in getting a deal on a child's lamp that I happened to be selling. He and his wife had just had a baby, and everyone likes a bargain.

If everyone likes a bargain, then I'm not like everyone — because I love bargains! When I was teaching classes at eBay's own eBay University (yes, there really was one), my favorite class to teach was Buying and Browsing, because I love the thrill of the chase and the acquisition of a good deal without all the haggling.

Often, the first thing that people ask me is how they can stop getting outbid at the last minute of an auction. I always say the same thing — become an expert sniper and bid higher than the other guy!

Okay, but how? In this chapter, I give you my tips and a few I picked up from other wise shoppers along the way.

eBay treats every bid — other than bids on some real estate sales or incorrectly placed bids — as binding. If you win an auction or buy an item and do not go through with your commitment by purchasing, the seller will ...