I read the guide as a novice eBay user. I bought a few out-of-production PDAs and haven't bought anything since then.

You mentioned that bids escalate towards the end of the bidding but I saw no mention of the "incremental bidding procedure". I lost my first auction and when the "final high" was lower than my limit, I thought to myself, "you dumbass".

If I remember correctly, incremental bidding is when a bid is increased in increments of e.g. $1. If the current high is $20 and You bid $40, the high will be increased to $21. If someone else bids $22, Your bid will automatically be raised to $23 and so on up to Your limit of $40.

The next auction, during the last minute, I increased my bid to my limit. I don't remember exactly but I think the current high was ~$50 and I my bid was $150.

I watched the bid-race and was satisfied to have won at ~$125.

Other auctions were taken above my limit long before the last minute and I didn't even bother.

My personal recommendation, based on participation in five auctions but watching a few more is to;

- decide on Your limit and stick to Your decision,
- follow the auction and if it still is below Your limit, make a last minute bid (as late as possible) up to Your limit,
- if the two above are adhered to, You should not get drawn in to a bid-race, risking to pay more than You really want to.

Christer

I also found the eBay Guide interesting reading, and look forward to the additional pages still to come.  (I'm also a relative neophyte on eBay--I've made a couple dozen purchases over the last 5 years.)

Christer, the "incremental bidding procedure" you describe is what eBay calls "proxy bidding".  It's an important concept and I hope "Wizard" will cover it in his still-unfinished "Odds & Sods" section.

Proxy bidding works basically like you describe.  I'd further point out that if you and another bidder set identical limits ($40, in your example), the one who placed a bid earliest wins.  Not the one who placed a $40 bid first, but the one who placed a bid *of any amount*.  I think that's why you see so many items with 1-cent bids as soon as they hit the auction--some bidder is just reserving his place as first bidder, in case he wants to use it later.

The way around this "earliest bid" issue is to set your limit at an off number--say, $40.01.  When the proxy bidding jumps both of you to your limits, your $40.01 trumps his $40.00, even though the difference is less than the increments specified for the auction!  That's why you see a lot of items with odd high-bids, that you wouldn't think possible with $1 or $5 minimum increments.  (Of course, the other bidder may be thinking the same thing, and set his limit at $40.10 or $40.07, so there's a bit of poker-playing there.)

Anyway, I look forward to upcoming pages of his Guide.  Since Wizard is also a seller, I am especially interested in what he has to say about sniping, a buyer's technique I have used successfully.

Gentlemen... I am gratified and moved that you liked the guide, such as it is.

Dan, your suspicions are confirmed... I had put in some information about proxy bidding as part of the "Sniping" section (yes, there is one!). However, having seen the comments I will probably break that part out and drop it in near the bottom of the bidding page, since it really belongs there.

Thank you, gentlemen, for your comments. Keep 'em coming...

PRANG