[usagi]

Originally posted by ax0n
All excellent points. here's more:

* On top of that... never ever ever ever bid on an item unless you will be there to see it close. And if you'll be there to see it close, why put your bid in 5 days before it's over? Let the fools bid early.

* Items that are "reserve not yet met" - let someone else try to bid past the reserve price. It's a psychological trick for sellers to use on unwary buyers. Just leave them alone and find an item with the reserve met or without a reserve.

* Look for shipping scammers. Anything more than $6 shipping and handling for priority mail is unreasonable in an item that weighs less than a pound like Tiny R/C Cars.

* Look at a lot of auctions for the same thing before you even think of bidding. Use "Watch this item" on ones that you think are going to be good (using the above criterea including some of lnx_authors excellent points, especially feedback of the seller and shipping cost)

* Jot down a price that you're willing to pay for the item you're looking at. you'll need it later.

* if it's still below your target price: about 1 minute before the auction ends, start bidding in small increments till you are the high bidder or till you hit your target price, whichever comes 1st. This is to test the waters.

* hit refresh till the timer says 15 seconds. Scroll to the bottom and type in your target price, hit "review bid" and then wait will there's about 5 seconds left (10 if you're on dialup) , and hit submit. I usually use a 1 minute countdown timer on my watch to help me with this.

The technique is called "Sniping", and you may have fallen victim to people who do this, and hated them, but it's simply the best way to get the best price on something. If you bid 30 minutes (or even 5 minutes) before the end, all you're going to do is incite a bid war and drive the price up. Getting your maximum bid in without time for a counter-bid is the key.

Since LOTS of people do this, it really comes down to who has a higher "target price". Don't let that affect your target price. Let the other people get hosed. There will always be more of these on fleabay.

This is the reason WHY I never buy stuff off ebay!