Please help. Stupid Ebay bidding question

[Wyatt Burp]

I once bid and won a gun barrel on Ebay or Gun Broker. I found out after I won I actually pay less than my bid because I just exceeded the highest bid by someone else (or something like that). Now I'm going to bid at Ebay and wonder if the last bid is $50 and I bid $80, for example, do I just end up paying the next increment above the highest last bid, or the $80? I can't recall which place I was at where that happened. I hope this made at least a little sense. Thanks in advance.

 

[Bruce51]

The auto bid feature works incrementally topping out at your maximum bid.

So if your bid beats the next highest bid then you win the auction.

BLM

 

[Tom S.]

It is set up that you pay the next increment above the last bid. However, if the last bidder did something similar, to use your example, placed a high bid of $75, his bid showing $50 will be what it took to beat the last bid before his, and your $80 bid will automatically force his high bid, then yours to beat his. That is why sometimes your bid will show lower than your max bid and other times goes straight to your max bid.

Clear as mud?

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Yes, Wyatt, it's ebay, not gb, where the auction works as you asked.

Using your example, the bid is $50. You bid $80, but the system's auto bid only increases the actual bid to, say, $51 (if it's a $1 increment auction). If nobody else bids again you win for $51. If somebody bids $52, the auto feature increases your bid to $53....

On gb your bid is your bid. That's why they use the 15-minute rule near the end of an auction -- the auction's end time gets extended by 15 minutes with every bid inside of 15 minutes. I actually like that much better than ebay's auto-bid feature.

 

[mojave30cal]

Your top bid of $80.00 represents what you are willing to pay
for the item. If the bidding stops at $50.00, that's what you
will pay, plus shipping if charged.

 

[Tom S.]

On gb your bid is your bid. That's why they use the 15-minute rule near the end of an auction -- the auction's end time gets extended by 15 minutes with every bid inside of 15 minutes. I actually like that much better than ebay's auto-bid feature.

That is not accurate. Although GB does extend auctions, your bid will only raise if someone bids against you, or if the reserve hasn't been met. I recently won a bid there that was less than my maximum bid was because the reserve was met, and no one out bid me.

 

[deadin]

I still can get my head around the "15 minute rule". I understand how it works, but not why it is popular. Bid what you are willing to pay. If you win, fine (and sometimes you will even get it at a lower price). If you don't win, so what? (You weren't willing to pay more.)
If you don't know what you are willing to pay, maybe you shouldn't be messing around with auctions in the first place...

 

[Jessie]

Tom S. is correct. GB works the same way. The very bottom of the page tells the increment that bidding increases by for each bid( usually $5 ).
It will stop increasing for you when your max bid is outbid.

 

[Tom S.]

I still can get my head around the "15 minute rule". I understand how it works, but not why it is popular. Bid what you are willing to pay. If you win, fine (and sometimes you will even get it at a lower price). If you don't win, so what? (You weren't willing to pay more.)
If you don't know what you are willing to pay, maybe you shouldn't be messing around with auctions in the first place...

The 15 minute rule mimics live auctions, in which the auction continues until bidding stops rather than at a set time. Why they chose 15 minutes is only a guess, but perhaps they feel it gives bidders a chance to be notified they have been out bid and time to respond. But that part of it's only a guess on my part.

Some people like the rule, while others hate it. Sellers like it because it does mimic regular auctions and gives the opportunity for higher bids from people caught up in the bidding. Plus it helps to negate the use of sniper programs.

Sniper programs for the uninformed are 3rd parties who will place your bid in the final seconds of an auction (mostly eBay) so that other people don't have a chance to outbid you. I like sniper programs for the fact that I don't have to wait up until 3 am to place a final bid on something listed on the left coast. Sniper programs can also be used on GB, but with the 15 minute rule, the only real advantage to them is as I said, not having to stay up until the middle of the night to throw in a last minute bid.