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Watch
Like setting a bookmark in your eBay summary (My eBay), Watch allows you to see the current high bid, keeps track of the auction's closing time and, with the eBay toolbar, will display a reminder in the corner of your screen 15 minutes before the auction closes for that item.
The link to watch a particular item is in the upper right corner of the screen as you are viewing a listing. No one knows which items you are watching except you. The seller only sees a total count of how many people are watching an item. It helps you to keep track of auctions where you might be hesitant to place a bid.
But I cannot tell you how many times I see that 4-6 people have an auction in the watch list, but no one ever bids against a single early bidder. The early bidder wins the auction. |
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Buy It Now
This is like buying an item in an online store. The moment you confirm your purchase, the item is removed from the seller's inventory and payment is due.
Buy It Now is a wonderful tool for those times when you need something NOW. You don't want to wait for an auction to close. You need that item to ship yesterday!
Buy It Now, like all eBay transactions between buyers and sellers, is a binding contract to purchase an item.
Not all listings have Buy It Now options. Some sellers, like Libby & Co., use B-I-N in our eBay store because eBay requires it (much lower maintenance for eBay than auctions).
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The real excitement... auctions!
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Bid
This, of course, is when you offer the seller up to a certain amount for the item. Avoid the last-minute emotions (which frequently causes people to bid too much) and the possibility of missing the chance to bid at all by bidding early! I don't even want to think of how many auctions I planned to bid on at the last minute but was away from my computer.
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eBay uses a proxy bidding system. That means that, if you have placed a bid, the eBay system keeps track of the auction and bids for you, up to the maximum amount you bid. The system will never bid more than absolutely necessary and will never bid more than your maximum. |
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Why bid early? So you don't get caught up in the competitive nature of auctions and bid too much AND so you don't have to worry about missing the end of the auction.
AND because if two bidders bid the same amount, the earlier bidder will prevail!
The second bidder will have to bid more to become high bidder!
TIP: Many bidders don't like to compete. If they aren't high bidder with their first bid, they give up. The earlier bidder is still high bidder and has a better chance of winning the auction.
BUT many bidders make the fatal mistake of only bidding the next bidding increment!
Here's how it works:
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That doggy in the window is up for auction.
The starting bid is $3.00.
You click on the BID NOW button. You're the first bidder. You bid $3.00.
The screen says you're the
CURRENT HIGH BIDDER!
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BUT WAIT! |
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Tomorrow, bidder #2 sees and wants that doggy in the window!
They click on the BID NOW button.
The screen says they must bid $3.25 (the next bidding increment).
But they're a savvy, seasoned veteran...
They bid $15.00.
The screen says THEY are the
CURRENT HIGH BIDDER and
the current bid is $3.25.
(The eBay proxy won't bid more than absolutely necessary.) |
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When you check your summary the next day,
you see that someone has outbid you!
You go back to the listing and place another bid.
The screen says minimum bid increment is $3.50.
You bid $3.50....
The screen says you've been outbid!
As soon as you placed your $3.50 bid,
eBay proxy bid $3.75 on behalf of
bidder #2. |
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Since bidder #2 bid $15.00,
you can continue bidding increasingly higher amounts, in $.25 increments (actually, the increments get bigger as the current bid gets bigger)
until you get to $15.25 (the next higher increment in our example)
OR
You can bid $20.00 (or however much you are willing to pay for that doggy in the window)
and the proxy will bid $15.25 for you. |
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Savvy, seasoned bidder #2 has a distinct advantage here.
You have no way of knowing bidder #2's maximum.
How high are you willing to go to have the screen say you're the CURRENT HIGH BIDDER?
You won't know how high you need to go until
you get there. |
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Your better bidding strategy
(because you're becoming a savvy, seasoned bidder, too!
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That doggy in the window is up for auction.
The starting bid is $3.00.
You click on the BID NOW button. You're the first bidder. You bid $20.00. (because that is the absolute maximum you want to pay for doggy)
The screen says you're the
CURRENT HIGH BIDDER!
and that the current bid is $3.00. |
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bidder #2 sees and wants that doggy in the window!
They click on the BID NOW button.
The screen says they must bid $3.25 (the next bidding increment).
They bid $15.00.
The screen says You are the
CURRENT HIGH BIDDER and
the current bid is $15.25.
(The eBay proxy won't bid more than absolutely necessary.) |
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Now, bidder #2 has to decide whether to bid more, not knowing your maximum bid.
bidder #2 has already bid their personal maximum.
They walk away.
and you are still the high bidder!
You haven't bid more than you are willing to pay for doggy.
Others will see the bid history:
You bid early
bidder #2 bid
instantaneously, you outbid bidder #2
(this tells viewers you're using the proxy)
They will have to decide if they want doggy enough to try to outbid you! |
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Bid early
Bid your personal maximum
It intimidates the competition!
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