How to bid

[Steven11788]

This is probably been done before, but I have noticed lately that the way I bid on emovie always gets me loosing ebay auctions. On emovie at first of auction I put in top dollar and usually don't have to go up past it if ever to win. On the other hand, ebay I put in top bid and seems people chip away at it and the excitement as you see minutes roll down, gets people to overbid and go mad. No I am not complaining cause I cant win lately but seems a lot of descent priced items; or what I feel is, get down to wire and explode. I know posters are truly worth what the buyer wants to pay... but still. so what's your opinion on this and well if you want to share your buying styles, unless it is a secret

[Bruce]

Your optimum strategy is to wait until exactly five minutes are left, and then bid the minimum. If you are outbid, keep bidding until you reach your limit, always making the minimum bid you can each time.

But there are two big potential problems with this:

1) You may well forget to be at your computer at the needed time.
2) This can take a LONG time for each auction, if the other bidder follows the exact same strategy, especially if either of you waits through most of each five minute extension. And if you are trying to bid on lots of auctions, then you will be in a really hectic situation.

It absolutely IS true that if you bid your max right at first, other bidders will likely chip away at your bid until it is beaten, so you might instead place your bids whenever it is convenient for you on the LAST day instead of the FIRST day.

Of course, there are far more bidders on our site than on eBay auctions, so that means you face lots more competition.

[CSM]

On eBay you simply have to be prepared to get your "best shot max bid" in within the last 10 seconds.  Entering your max earlier only opens you up to your aforementioned scenario of having the bid slowly chipped away at by another interested party.  In the worst case scenario it also leaves you extremely vulnerable to shill bidding...

Use a sniping program like esnipe (or many of the others that have been mentioned on the forum)

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

On EBay make a decent early bid (about 2/3 of your maximum) so the seller won't cancel the auction or sell it off EBay due to lack of bidders. Set a snipe bid for your true maximum. Then don't think about it again because there's no point in monitoring interim bids.

[crowzilla]

Do auctions still get ended early on ebay?
I don't think I've made a NON-snipe bid on ebay in probably 5 years.

[oldposterho]

Yeah Sean, they do.  Annoying as hell, especially if you've got a snipe locked and loaded.

If it's an auction with a "Buy it now" price, I will sometimes place a minimum bid just to dispose of the BIN and will very occasionally do the same for a regular auction if it's a good item with no bids late in the game.  Probably a futile gesture but it might give the seller pause.

Agree with others though, having a full bid out there to get pounded is not to the buyers advantage.

--Peter

[MoviePosterBid.com]

let me synopsize

"we are great and you shouldn't trust anyone else because nobody else is trustworthy other than the dealer who says they're the best and no one else is trustworthy. Believe me because I'm THAT dealer who is so much better than everyone else that no one else is any good. You should always believe me, because I'm the only one that's believable and because I said so"

by the way .. when I poop.. it smells like Chanel #5

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Steven, on the reality side..

the best way to bid on eBay is by using a bid sniper.

there are lots of options including Gavelsnipe and AuctionSentry both of which I use
Gavelsnipe is very easy to use and you can install a Bookmarks link that makes it that much easier.
I'd say that I have won 3/4 of what I have used Gavelsnipe to bid on.

[Steven11788]

ok thank you for all your imput, yall are the masters, I was always weary of snipes but I think I will use it, and thank you Bruce on your sites hints, makes since, I guess I could retract some bay bids and do a snipe

[CSM]

ok thank you for all your imput, yall are the masters, I was always weary of snipes but I think I will use it, and thank you Bruce on your sites hints, makes since, I guess I could retract some bay bids and do a snipe

I am pretty sure you are unable to bid again if you retract a bid on eBay?  I could be wrong but should look into it before you lock yourself out...

[Steven11788]

ive did it before. last year I didn't put a decimal and bid 750.00 instead of 75 on a zombie onesheet, and it let me retract and fix as long as there isn't less than 24 hours I believe

[MoviePosterBid.com]

I am pretty sure you are unable to bid again if you retract a bid on eBay?  I could be wrong but should look into it before you lock yourself out...

the seller has to lock you out Chris, by banning you from their auctions

and by the way Steven, Gavelsnipe works on Heritage and MoviePosterExchange as well as eBay, though it does not work on MoviePosterBid.com because I also have extended bidding, but in the case of MoviePosterBid.com it is only a 2 minute setting.

[Movie Poster Exchange]

Buyers do many times chip away at proxy bids. At Movie Poster Exchange we offer a free snipe service in the form of Gavelsnipe. Other than Heritage and ebay, Movie Poster Exchange is the only other company that offers Gavelsnipe. A large number of our customers take advantage of this and as other have pointed out, this allows you to set it and forget it. Gavelsnipe automatically fires bids at an average of about 30 seconds to 1 minute before auction ends.

Please check out our current auction ending Wednesday night at 10pm EST. Over 400 great items including some killer six sheets.

Thanks-Peter

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Buyers do many times chip away at proxy bids. At Movie Poster Exchange we offer a free snipe service in the form of Gavelsnipe. Other than Heritage and ebay, Movie Poster Exchange is the only other company that offers Gavelsnipe. A large number of our customers take advantage of this and as other have pointed out, this allows you to set it and forget it. Gavelsnipe automatically fires bids at an average of about 30 seconds to 1 minute before auction ends.

Please check out our current auction ending Wednesday night at 10pm EST. Over 400 great items including some killer six sheets.

Thanks-Peter

Peter is correct, he has some killer 6 sheets in his current auction

I 100% recommend MoviePosterExchange

note: MoviePosterBid.com auctions begin closing at 8:10 pm Eastern Time on Weds
MoviePosterExchange.com auctions begin closing at 10:00 pm Eastern Time on Weds

so you can bid at MPB and then bid at MPE and have a rockin Weds!!!

[Bruce]

ok thank you for all your imput, yall are the masters, I was always weary of snipes but I think I will use it, and thank you Bruce on your sites hints, makes since, I guess I could retract some bay bids and do a snipe

I misread what you were asking! I thought you were asking for the best bidding method on eMoviePoster.com

Would a mod please delete this post and that one? I wouldn't want anyone to think I was shilling for my site on an informational thread!

Thanks.

Bruce

[MoviePosterBid.com]

why not... we're all shilling now

[Steven11788]

do not delete nothing it is all good and I am learning, plus with my current ebay and Bruce's Halloween auction I am in a grand, I don't even wanna think about 6 sheets... no I am lying but gonna be broke,

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

[AdamCarterJones]

On EBay make a decent early bid (about 2/3 of your maximum) so the seller won't cancel the auction or sell it off EBay due to lack of bidders. Set a snipe bid for your true maximum. Then don't think about it again because there's no point in monitoring interim bids.

Sellers will sell off eBay even if a bid has been made on an item.
Many sellers of posters, cars or whatever else often advertise elsewhere so don't be surprised if you place a bid and then the item is taken off eBay.
It's happened with myself and others many times and whilst it is annoying, you have to respect the seller - eBay is not the only avenue of sale.
Take the majority of auctions (especially property auctions!) - a seller can remove a lot right up to the point it is about to be sold!

When I last spoke with eBay, they told me that you can remove items with bids up to no later than 24 hours before auction end (although this could have changed now?).

I don't get the bidding comment.
Why bother placing a bid for 2/3 of your maximum bid, then have a snipe set for your maximum bid?
Wouldn't it be so simpler to have a snipe set at your maximum from the start saving you a little time?
Then if you win for any price below and including your maximum bid, great! If not, then it wasn't meant to be!

[CSM]

I don't get the bidding comment.
Why bother placing a bid for 2/3 of your maximum bid, then have a snipe set for your maximum bid?
Wouldn't it be so simpler to have a snipe set at your maximum from the start saving you a little time?
Then if you win for any price below and including your maximum bid, great! If not, then it wasn't meant to be!

I don't practise this method but I understand the reasoning.  Mel's point is that putting a 2/3 of max bid in will show the seller that there IS legitimate interest in the item (so long as that 2/3 bid is nearly reached by other lower bids (i.e. displayed to the seller).  The thought is that the seller is less likely to pull the auction if the current bid is somewhat reasonable.  Seems a lot of sellers are still unawares the majority of meaningful bids do not come in until the last 6 seconds...but then again it's a gamble those bids will even come of course.  That's why the # of watchers displaying for sellers could give a hint to let it ride...

[AdamCarterJones]

I don't practise this method but I understand the reasoning.  Mel's point is that putting a 2/3 of max bid in will show the seller that there IS legitimate interest in the item (so long as that 2/3 bid is nearly reached by other lower bids (i.e. displayed to the seller).  The thought is that the seller is less likely to pull the auction if the current bid is somewhat reasonable.  Seems a lot of sellers are still unawares the majority of meaningful bids do not come in until the last 6 seconds...but then again it's a gamble those bids will even come of course.  That's why the # of watchers displaying for sellers could give a hint to let it ride...

Oh, I understand the reasoning Chris, but with eBay most poster sellers know what they have these days and therefore know there will be legitimate interest in their items.
Putting a bid of 2/3 of your maximum doesn't mean much if the seller is ready to sell in other avenues and so I just don't see the point.

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

If you bid early, you ain't doing nothing but building a ladder for others to climb over.  I had to bid early on these tonight, let's see what happens:

[Charlie]

$59 to $79
$205 to $205
$703 to $703

Not bad Mel...

The one I won started at $88 or $105 around the same time as your post; I waited until the end and finally overcame the other bidder at $365...  Ouch!

Now to reveal what you would have paid!

[Bruce]

$59 to $79
$205 to $205
$703 to $703

Not bad Mel...

The one I won started at $88 or $105 around the same time as your post; I waited until the end and finally overcame the other bidder at $365...  Ouch!

Now to reveal what you would have paid!

I would call that more of a stepstool than a ladder.

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

I was out swing dancing, so wasn't around for the end. Fortunately, nobody ran up the price at the end for the stuff I was after.