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Are There Any Pitfalls To Increasing A Maximum Bid On Ebay?
21 Answers
Sorry if this is the wrong section for this type of question but I didn't know where else to put it.
Yesterday I placed a bid on an item on eBay, the starting bid is £9.99 so I made my maximum bid £25.00. I'm currently the only bidder so obviously the price at this moment in time is still £9.99. The auction is due to end this weekend and I've just realised I won't be home so I've decided I want to play it safe and increase my maximum bid to £50.00. The thing I'm worried about is will I, in effect, be bidding against myself? i.e. will the current bid increase? I don't mind if it increases by 50p or even £1 but my concern is that it will increase to a pound above my original maximum bid of £25.00, making it £26.00. I'm pretty sure something like this has happened to me before although it was about six years ago and the details are a little sketchy. If I remember rightly, on that occasion it only involved a couple of quid where I'd increased my maximum bid from £3 to £5 for an item with a starting bid of 99p. Again I was the only bidder but as I recall, I shot myself in the foot by increasing my maximum bid and ended up paying over 3 quid for the item. I don't know whether it was a system glitch on eBay's part or if it's supposed to do that, but I don't want to take the chance and end up paying 25 quid for an item I may be able to get for a tenner.
Alternatively I'm thinking I might be best just to retract my bid, and bid again with my renewed maximum bid.
TIA
Yesterday I placed a bid on an item on eBay, the starting bid is £9.99 so I made my maximum bid £25.00. I'm currently the only bidder so obviously the price at this moment in time is still £9.99. The auction is due to end this weekend and I've just realised I won't be home so I've decided I want to play it safe and increase my maximum bid to £50.00. The thing I'm worried about is will I, in effect, be bidding against myself? i.e. will the current bid increase? I don't mind if it increases by 50p or even £1 but my concern is that it will increase to a pound above my original maximum bid of £25.00, making it £26.00. I'm pretty sure something like this has happened to me before although it was about six years ago and the details are a little sketchy. If I remember rightly, on that occasion it only involved a couple of quid where I'd increased my maximum bid from £3 to £5 for an item with a starting bid of 99p. Again I was the only bidder but as I recall, I shot myself in the foot by increasing my maximum bid and ended up paying over 3 quid for the item. I don't know whether it was a system glitch on eBay's part or if it's supposed to do that, but I don't want to take the chance and end up paying 25 quid for an item I may be able to get for a tenner.
Alternatively I'm thinking I might be best just to retract my bid, and bid again with my renewed maximum bid.
TIA
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as far as I am aware - as long as you are logging in as the same oroginal bidder then you are not bidding against yourself - but just increasing the max amount you are prepare to go to.
If someone else joins the bidding process - they will be automatically outbid for any amount they enter under £50.00... and the bid amount will increase by a fraction more than their 'outbid' bid (if that makes sense) so it doesnt jump up to £50 suddenly.. unless they placed a bid of £49 as their first bid.
If someone else joins the bidding process - they will be automatically outbid for any amount they enter under £50.00... and the bid amount will increase by a fraction more than their 'outbid' bid (if that makes sense) so it doesnt jump up to £50 suddenly.. unless they placed a bid of £49 as their first bid.
I've done exactly the same as you and it worked out fine. If you increase your max bid using the 'increase max bid' button and NOT just put another bid on it in your name, then your original bid should remain the same - it did for me a few weeks ago but I still got pipped at the post in the last few seconds. What could happen is that the seller may get a friend to put a bid on to up the price -but if you put your max bid to a price you are willing to pay for the item then no problems. You could of course go onto ebay forums and i'm sure they'll give better advice than me
You don't bid against yourself, your increase will have no immediate affect. But putting in a larger bid than you really want to pay leaves you open to winning at that bid. Someone foolish may assume no one has put in a ridicuously high bid and so do so themselves to ensure they win. Then one of you regrets winning.
Or use Goofbay's ebay sniper to automatically place your maximum bid in the dying seconds of the auction:
http://www.goofbay.com/
http://www.goofbay.com/
Thanks for your responses.
Nosha123, that's what I thought, that because I'm the same bidder it shouldn't affect the current amount of £9.99 unless of course another bidder places a bid in the meantime. I've been buying on ebay for several years now and I do understand most of the things on there. Unfortunately, increasing a maximum bid isn't one of them.
crystalbee27, yes, I do see that button inviting me to increase my maximum bid everytime I log on to my ebay account and view the item. I am tempted to click it hoping the only thing that will change will be my max bid amount and nothing else. I have checked out the ebay forums, and to be honest, that was my first port of call, but it didn't offer anything in the way of useful information on this subject. I even thought about contacting ebay themselves but thought it may be days before they reply and by which time the auction might be over.
Old_Geezer, I really don't mind paying 50 quid for the item but obviously, like every other potential buyer on ebay, if I can get the item for a much lower price I'd be a very happy bunny indeed. For obvious reasons I won't go into too many details about the item but it's one I've been after for a while now. I had my ebay notifications set to email me if ever the item became available. The item was listed 3 days ago and so far, according to the counter, there have only been 9 people, including myself, interested in viewing the item. I realize of course that any of those could be biding their time and waiting to jump in at the very last minute, which, admittedly, is something I myself have often done, but as I said, I won't be around at the time of the auction's close. I'd certainly have no regrets paying 50 or even 60 quid for the item if push comes to shove, but at the same time I don't want this to sound like a fool and his money soon parted - hence the reason for my OP. I'm pretty confident that if I increase my max bid to £50, the item will be mine.
snags, I've never used any of those automatic sniper bidding programs before, how reliable are they? No disrespect intended but I'd be a bit reluctant to use something like goofbay until I'd had time to test it out for a couple of weeks and on items of lesser importance to me. I had thought about placing a last minute bid from my mobile phone but I'll be at a party and it won't really be convenient. Plus, I've tried placing a last minute bid once before using my mobile and either due to my crappy network or the fact that I'm useless when it comes to mobiles, or a combination of both, by the time my bid went through, the auction was well and truly over! Had I been sitting at my computer I would've won the item.
tinkerbell23, as I said to nosha123, I am familiar with how ebay works. I know that as things currently stand, if no one else bids I will only pay £9.99 for the item. I have absolutely no intention of bidding against myself but my concern is I might inadvertently be doing this if I attempt to increase my max bid from £25 to £50.
Nosha123, that's what I thought, that because I'm the same bidder it shouldn't affect the current amount of £9.99 unless of course another bidder places a bid in the meantime. I've been buying on ebay for several years now and I do understand most of the things on there. Unfortunately, increasing a maximum bid isn't one of them.
crystalbee27, yes, I do see that button inviting me to increase my maximum bid everytime I log on to my ebay account and view the item. I am tempted to click it hoping the only thing that will change will be my max bid amount and nothing else. I have checked out the ebay forums, and to be honest, that was my first port of call, but it didn't offer anything in the way of useful information on this subject. I even thought about contacting ebay themselves but thought it may be days before they reply and by which time the auction might be over.
Old_Geezer, I really don't mind paying 50 quid for the item but obviously, like every other potential buyer on ebay, if I can get the item for a much lower price I'd be a very happy bunny indeed. For obvious reasons I won't go into too many details about the item but it's one I've been after for a while now. I had my ebay notifications set to email me if ever the item became available. The item was listed 3 days ago and so far, according to the counter, there have only been 9 people, including myself, interested in viewing the item. I realize of course that any of those could be biding their time and waiting to jump in at the very last minute, which, admittedly, is something I myself have often done, but as I said, I won't be around at the time of the auction's close. I'd certainly have no regrets paying 50 or even 60 quid for the item if push comes to shove, but at the same time I don't want this to sound like a fool and his money soon parted - hence the reason for my OP. I'm pretty confident that if I increase my max bid to £50, the item will be mine.
snags, I've never used any of those automatic sniper bidding programs before, how reliable are they? No disrespect intended but I'd be a bit reluctant to use something like goofbay until I'd had time to test it out for a couple of weeks and on items of lesser importance to me. I had thought about placing a last minute bid from my mobile phone but I'll be at a party and it won't really be convenient. Plus, I've tried placing a last minute bid once before using my mobile and either due to my crappy network or the fact that I'm useless when it comes to mobiles, or a combination of both, by the time my bid went through, the auction was well and truly over! Had I been sitting at my computer I would've won the item.
tinkerbell23, as I said to nosha123, I am familiar with how ebay works. I know that as things currently stand, if no one else bids I will only pay £9.99 for the item. I have absolutely no intention of bidding against myself but my concern is I might inadvertently be doing this if I attempt to increase my max bid from £25 to £50.
Thanks for your responses.
Nosha123, that's what I thought, that because I'm the same bidder it shouldn't affect the current amount of £9.99 unless of course another bidder places a bid in the meantime. I've been buying on ebay for several years now and I do understand most of the things on there. Unfortunately, increasing a maximum bid isn't one of them.
crystalbee27, yes, I do see that button inviting me to increase my maximum bid everytime I log on to my ebay account and view the item. I am tempted to click it hoping the only thing that will change will be my max bid amount and nothing else. I have checked out the ebay forums, and to be honest, that was my first port of call, but it didn't offer anything in the way of useful information on this subject. I even thought about contacting ebay themselves but thought it may be days before they reply and by which time the auction might be over.
Old_Geezer, I really don't mind paying 50 quid for the item but obviously, like every other potential buyer on ebay, if I can get the item for a much lower price I'd be a very happy bunny indeed. For obvious reasons I won't go into too many details about the item but it's one I've been after for a while now. I had my ebay notifications set to email me if ever the item became available. The item was listed 3 days ago and so far, according to the counter, there have only been 9 people, including myself, interested in viewing the item. I realize of course that any of those could be biding their time and waiting to jump in at the very last minute, which, admittedly, is something I myself have often done, but as I said, I won't be around at the time of the auction's close. I'd certainly have no regrets paying 50 or even 60 quid for the item if push comes to shove, but at the same time I don't want this to sound like a fool and his money soon parted - hence the reason for my OP. I'm pretty confident that if I increase my max bid to £50, the item will be mine.
snags, I've never used any of those automatic sniper bidding programs before, how reliable are they? No disrespect intended but I'd be a bit reluctant to use something like goofbay until I'd had time to test it out for a couple of weeks and on items of lesser importance to me. I had thought about placing a last minute bid from my mobile phone but I'll be at a party and it won't really be convenient. Plus, I've tried placing a last minute bid once before using my mobile and either due to my crappy network or the fact that I'm useless when it comes to mobiles, or a combination of both, by the time my bid went through, the auction was well and truly over! Had I been sitting at my computer I would've won the item.
tinkerbell23, as I wrote in my reply to nosha123, I'm familiar with how ebay works. I know that as things currently stand, if no one else bids, I will only pay £9.99 for the item. I have absolutely no intention of bidding against myself but my concern is I might inadvertently be doing so if I attempt to increase my max bid from £25 to £50. In other words, will the autobots at ebay suddenly change the current bid to £26.00 (a quid above my original max bid of £25) ? In a nutshell, this is what I'm worried about.
Nosha123, that's what I thought, that because I'm the same bidder it shouldn't affect the current amount of £9.99 unless of course another bidder places a bid in the meantime. I've been buying on ebay for several years now and I do understand most of the things on there. Unfortunately, increasing a maximum bid isn't one of them.
crystalbee27, yes, I do see that button inviting me to increase my maximum bid everytime I log on to my ebay account and view the item. I am tempted to click it hoping the only thing that will change will be my max bid amount and nothing else. I have checked out the ebay forums, and to be honest, that was my first port of call, but it didn't offer anything in the way of useful information on this subject. I even thought about contacting ebay themselves but thought it may be days before they reply and by which time the auction might be over.
Old_Geezer, I really don't mind paying 50 quid for the item but obviously, like every other potential buyer on ebay, if I can get the item for a much lower price I'd be a very happy bunny indeed. For obvious reasons I won't go into too many details about the item but it's one I've been after for a while now. I had my ebay notifications set to email me if ever the item became available. The item was listed 3 days ago and so far, according to the counter, there have only been 9 people, including myself, interested in viewing the item. I realize of course that any of those could be biding their time and waiting to jump in at the very last minute, which, admittedly, is something I myself have often done, but as I said, I won't be around at the time of the auction's close. I'd certainly have no regrets paying 50 or even 60 quid for the item if push comes to shove, but at the same time I don't want this to sound like a fool and his money soon parted - hence the reason for my OP. I'm pretty confident that if I increase my max bid to £50, the item will be mine.
snags, I've never used any of those automatic sniper bidding programs before, how reliable are they? No disrespect intended but I'd be a bit reluctant to use something like goofbay until I'd had time to test it out for a couple of weeks and on items of lesser importance to me. I had thought about placing a last minute bid from my mobile phone but I'll be at a party and it won't really be convenient. Plus, I've tried placing a last minute bid once before using my mobile and either due to my crappy network or the fact that I'm useless when it comes to mobiles, or a combination of both, by the time my bid went through, the auction was well and truly over! Had I been sitting at my computer I would've won the item.
tinkerbell23, as I wrote in my reply to nosha123, I'm familiar with how ebay works. I know that as things currently stand, if no one else bids, I will only pay £9.99 for the item. I have absolutely no intention of bidding against myself but my concern is I might inadvertently be doing so if I attempt to increase my max bid from £25 to £50. In other words, will the autobots at ebay suddenly change the current bid to £26.00 (a quid above my original max bid of £25) ? In a nutshell, this is what I'm worried about.
If you are currently winning the item and are willing to pay no more than say £60 then increase your bid to £60.
This way it will only be beaten if someone bids more than £60 before the auction ends. Nobody can see that you have put in a higher bid. You are not bidding against yourself, just increasing your chances of winning.
Remember, an item is only worth as much as somebody is willing to pay for it.
This way it will only be beaten if someone bids more than £60 before the auction ends. Nobody can see that you have put in a higher bid. You are not bidding against yourself, just increasing your chances of winning.
Remember, an item is only worth as much as somebody is willing to pay for it.
MASS1961: I think you're missing the point. I'm fully aware that nobody, not even the seller, can see what my maximum bid is. I'm also aware that if someone bids higher than my maximum bid by the end of the auction, they'll get the item. At this moment in time let's forget about any other bidders, let's just concentrate on the fact that right now I'm the ONLY BIDDER. Just focus on the following facts:- The item's starting price is £9.99, my Maximum Bid is £25.00 but I've decided I want to increase my max bid to £50 but in doing so I'm worried the "Current Bid" will automatically change to £26.00 (a quid above my earlier maximum bid). Now, presuming that will happen, let's assume nobody else bids on the item and at the close of auction the price is still £26.00. This would, in effect, mean I've bidded against myself and ended up paying 16 quid more than the starting price of £9.99 even though I'm the ONLY bidder. Like I said in my OP, I'm pretty sure this has happened to me before but only involved a couple of quid. Plus, I've just been reading through ebay's forums and apparently it's happened to others too. I know I could have saved all this confusion by placing a maximum bid of £50 or £60 from the word go, but regrettably I didn't. Are you suggesting that even if ebay do crank up the current price to £26.00, I should be happy about paying that amount because I was willing to pay up to £60 for the item?
Cheers snags, ladybirder, boxtops and EDDIE51. Yes, I always do throw on a few extra pence for good measure. It's amazing how many times those extra pence have won me the item! I understand what you're saying, Eddie, about another one will always come along on ebay but I've waited the best part of a year for this one, so I don't really want to miss out if I can help it. I hope you all understand where I'm coming from on the "Increasing Maximum Bid " dilemma. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind paying a high price for the item if it's a result of a bidding battle with other bidders but I'd find it unfair for ebay to basically penalise me to the tune of 16 quid just because I wanted to increase my maximum bid while I'm the only bidder. I guess you could call it a matter of principle.
Thanks MASS1961, that's all I wanted to know: Can I increase my maximum bid from £25 to £50 and will the current bid/starting price remain the same as it is now (£9.99) barring there being any other bidders in the meantime of course? If the answer is yes, then that's what I was hoping for. You say you've increased your maximum bid on a number of occasions and that the current bid has remained the same, and that's good enough for me. Thanks again :o)
Cheers MASS1961 and everyone else who told me I'd have no problems increasing my maximum bid. Just been on ebay and increased my max bid to 75 quid (I know I said 50 or 60 but I really do want that item!) and just like you guys and gals said, the current bid stayed at £9.99 (and there's me worrying over nothing! Typical!) Thanks again, you've all been a great help! :o)
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