On Wed, 31 Jan 2001 at 14:37:57 -0500, Collin Brendemuehl
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Bidding early (first) or bidding last are the only practical ways to
> be certain of getting the item you want. Both work with varying
> degrees of success.
The only 100% successful ebay bidding strategy requires deep, deep
pockets, deeper than anyone else's, and submission of a bid far
beyond the likely price. And only one person can play this game at a
time.
Any other bidding strategy will fail more or less often.
My own strategy is simplicity itself. I spend some time doing due
diligence on a likely price, then meditate on the intensity of my own
acquisitive desires vs my net worth. Finally I come up with a
figure representing the maximum, the absolute maximum, I am willing
to pay. I then bid that amount, be it high or low in relation to the
current high bid, and sit back and watch events unfold.
Generally, I defer bidding until a few hours before closing time,
when I can see what the action is like. My thinking is that if the
bidding is quite active and the price is getting close to my
maximum, all an early bid will do is stir up the pot more and drive
up the final price. But if I think that I won't be close to the
computer towards closing, I have no qualms about bidding early.
One problem not mentioned so far: We Canadians labour under the
problem of a seriously devalued currency; between the exchange rate,
shipping fees, and taxes on imported goods (14% in BC), a bid for $1
US translates into a total payment of $2CDN more or less, so we must
be quite cautious in our bidding.
--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
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