Will see if I can find the links to the behavioral research stuff. But, all they do is drive prices up for the other buyers, bidders. Thus, these bidders just tend to drive prices up in an auction. I personally don't get it - but some people don't know the value of the item to them - they just know that they are willing to pay more than the current bid. If the current bid is $10 - up from $9 - to some bidders they look at the $10 and make a decision based on that to bid $11. I don't have the links handy - but studies show that some bidders use the auction bids themselves to determine what their price is. The theory goes that some people don't bid knowing in advance what their max is. If there are no other bids, you get the item for $30.25, not $50. If someone else is willing to pay $30, and they bid $30, instead of seeing that the high bid is $30, they see instantly that someone else has outbid them and the high bit is $30.25. If nobody else bids, you get the item for $10.25, not $50. They see that the bid is now-I forget what the increment is-$10.25. If the auction is up to $10, and you are willing to pay $50, and you bid $50, nobody sees $50. But today, your high bid amount is not visible to other bidders. In Ye Olde Days when your bid was visible, which I think must be at least six or seven years ago, yes, "sniping" was important. and forget about it until the auction has finished. I just bid the amount I am willing to pay at the time when I see the item. Not good for bargins.Nisiprius wrote:I completely fail to understand what advantage you supposedly gain from waiting until the last few seconds. "Best" means that many other bidders are already aware of that particular item. Note 2: I have never understood the "Best results" default. Too much patience is not good if you really want to own a particular set. Note: After a couple of months your bargin price may not be a bargin any more: Once, I didn't buy a used 42009 for around 110 Euros, now it costs at least 160. Even simple missing parts tend to reduce the final bid.
#JBIDWATCHER THINKS AUCTIONS ARE ENDED HOW TO#
Sometimes, missing parts come in handy when you know how to replace them (or already have them). Building instructions, on the other hand, are important to me. I also don't care about the original box. I also watch out for "no minifigs" because that reduces the price significantly. Usually I don't follow "MISB, NEW etc." because I want to build, not put away sealed. Then I save the search and look for promising auctions, with patience. Search options: auction, soonest end timeĪfter a few auctions have ended, I already know what would be a good price for a given set. Prices for sets vary a lot throughout the year. There are for sure other techniques out there, but these are the ones I find work best for me.įirst of all, I get a feeling for what currently is a "bargin". This allows you to see who is really eager to get it and how often they have bid. JBidWatcher is a good starting point.įor bidding, check out what others have already bid ("Bid History") and also look at "Show Automatic Bids". This often helps you win auctions if no others are using snipes. When it gets to bidding, look into using Sniping software, which allows you to place a bid in the closing seconds of an auction. For the popular holiday train (10173) for example, which easily sells for >$500 on eBay, the cost in pieces is typically around $200 on Bricklink, lower if you already have some of the critical pieces. If you have the time, check out and see how much the same set costs there, or, if you really have the time, use the Inventory feature and see if you can get a better deal just buying the set pieces :). For example, if you want LEGO but not Duplo, you could search for "Lego -Duplo".Īlways compare with current retail values (check, or ) if the set is still currentįor sets that are no longer current - look at to see what they used to go for.
Use the tips and techniques in the Advanced Search section of eBay Help to refine your searches. Here are a few things that might make your life easier:Ĭreate searches and save them (you can even get notification emails for new finds this way). For example, I have seen Lego Maersk train sets (I'm a Train fan :) ) sell for $250 in certain auctions, but have managed to pick up one with extra power functions for less than that in a separate auction. I don't think there is a single strategy that will always work - it all depends on what other people are looking for at the same time as you are looking.
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