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[bezoar]

I'm embarrassed to admit, but I've never done an eBay or any other kind of auction before.

Why would I post that in this forum? Well, I tried placing an auction bid (a real low-ball one) on an SL land auction. Two actually -- one I was promptly outbid on by an automated bid increase (you can set the maximum amount you're willing to bid, and somebody else automatically upped their bid against mine), and another where I'm the current high bidder, but with a real low-ball price and more than a day to go (so I won't get it).

From what I hear, a lot of the action occurs in the last minutes before an auction closes. Why is that? Is that if you bid it up when there's too much time to go, people more often convince themselves to bid the price higher? Whereas at the last minute, people will give up sooner?

Any online auction tips?

[tigressjewel]

I've done more selling than buying and by no means an expert!  I don't know why the bids go into a flurry at literally the last minute of the auction.  I've had it happen a few times in both selling and buying.  When I buy things I just use proxy bid and put in the very highest I'm willing to go for something.  I think you probably know that is not your first bid, but will just keep you in the auction unless someone else is willing to go higher than your highest bid.  True, you may not get it, but at least you won't get caught up in the competition side of bidding and bid too much!

[bezoar]

Agreed...

It's been instructive though -- I looked at a dozen or two plots, and jotted down thought about my own opinions of the land, and then checked back to see what the going high bid was. I think I'm beginning to get a sense of what's "good", although some other plots that I thought were flawed, are also getting high bids.

Quite educational

[danovara]

I am also not an expert, and have noticed that myself.  I have also done that myself where I just happen upon an auction of something I wish to get just before it ends.  And my other theory is some peeps get bit by the auction bug and forget that they only wish to pay a price and all of a sudden they want to WIN the item.  Hope that helps

[Adventuredaz]

Call me a sceptic, but don't forget I think some people have "friends" bid on their stuff to inflate prices and prevent stuff from selling for less then they think they want.  They may fish out the maximum bid by having someone bid it up to see where a persons max is set. this is Just IMO based on my also limited observations and what I have been told.

[Califgirl]

Actually, they don't have to have friends bid to inflate the price to what you want. Anyone can set a 'reserve' price on their item, and if the auction doesn't reach the reserve they don't have to sell it. (They may if they choose, but they don't have to). 
While the price doesn't necessarily go higher with a reserve, what friend is going to want to get stuck with your item? They'll just end up giving/'selling' it back to you. You might as well set a reserve and not inconvenience your friends.

[bezoar]

In SL, there have been reports of people making VERY high bids, and then refusing to pay. (Apparently, you can get away with that once or twice.) Then, the auction goes to the next higher bidder.

Now, combine this with a "friend" who will be the next higher bidder, and you can see the abuse.

- "fair" price L$3000
- "friend" bids L$2000
- "guy who refuses to pay" bids L$5000, and then forfeits...

There are a lot of sneaky people in the world.

[PirateDaisy]

Yes Adventure, what you are talking about is called "shill bidding" and against ebay rules. If I feel that something is going way higher than it should, I simply do a search by the bidder I believe is doing the shill bidding. If I see that that person has only been bidding on that seller, I don't bid on that auction. Of course nowadays it's fairly easy to create new accounts each day, so you just never know. The downside to shill bidding is, if the shill bidder ends up winning the auction they are obviously stuck with their own item and seller and buyer fees. That is why it's much better to have a reserve on your item or you can start it at the lowest amount you're willing to let it go for. The only thing about reserves is that it really turns a lot of people away from your auction, since many people don't like wasting their time on a mystery amount.

Be, it has always been that way since the day I first started buying on ebay. I think you did well for your first auction, I remember mine didn't go so well. lol You get so caught up in the bidding when someone outbids you in the last minute but common sense kicked in on my second and it's good to set yourself an amount you are not willing to go over. If you do not want to sit there until the very last minute of the auction there are these programs that do the bidding for you. These programs are called "snipping" and completely legal in Ebay; though many buyers and sellers don't think it's fair. How it works is, you go to the website that offers you bid snipping(some you pay for, some are free), you enter your ebay information and you enter the highest amount you are willing to pay for. The programs waits literally until the last 5 seconds to bid, that way if your bid is the highest, the other bidders will not have enough time to outbid you. So you can see why a lot of people may not like it but I must admit I've used it myself to try and get the best deal and not have to stay up till 3 am for an auction.

Good luck Be, if you have anymore questions just let us know! 

[Purpleduck]

As a rather avid buyer from Ebay, I am one that waits for the last few minutes, even if I had already placed a bid.  I lost enough Donald Duck items by having this happen to me.. so I feel somewhat qualified to explain my tatics.

Let's say I want to spend no more than $40 on an item.  (I NEVER start with my high bid. Almost guarantees you will not get it.)  I may place an early bid of $20, but can generally watch that be outbid.  If that happens.. I then choose to wait for those last two minutes (my computer is sometimes not fast enough to get a fresh bid in too much under that 2 minutes).

As long as the highest bid is less than my $40 stopping point.. I will put in a bid of say $39.52.  First off, by the time my bid gets in, if anyone sees it.. they hopefully won't have time themselves to try to outbid me.  Secondly, with the qwirky $.52 cents.. most people don't outbid me, cause they work with the '5' or '10' cents. So the extra 2 cents serves to secure the item, cause by then.. time is up.

I still lose stuff to someone that will WAY outbid my last minute attempt.. but I managed to stick with my highest I would go - cause there is no time for more bidding!  I am very happy, once I learned to do this, that I almost never lose what I truly wanted. 

[bezoar]

Oooohhhh.... eBay pros...

Well, with still a full day left in the auction:

You have been outbid on the following Second Life auction:

High Bid: L$27850

Sort of silly, because even as a novice, I think I can predict that the final price will probably be in the range of L$60,000. I don't think I'll be placing any more bids on this one

Besides, who wants to live on a snowy mountain?

<sigh> I want MORE LAND...

(Yes, I'm conflicted, lol)

[Disney Dreams]

Not sure if you still need any tips on this, but if you are speaking of buying, not selling, I can offer some tips / assistance.  I used to win just about every auction I wanted if it was within my "willing to pay" price when I was an avid ebayer (then we bought a house and well, money?  Ha!). 

It is ALL about the final 10 seconds, a fast computer, and knowing how high you are willing to go.

Let me know what specifically you are wanting to know and we can chat.