Could someone explain why the bid history looks strange on this item on Ebay 4621503208

http://offer.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=4621503208

I see nothing wrong with it. An early higher proxy bid, then someone bidding to try and beat the previous bid. I see this on a lot of items especially when newer bidders are bidding. I personally never bid on an item until the final minute. Otherwise you just drive the price up.

looks perfectly normal to me also.
a "new" zero-feedback bidder jumping the bid the minimum increment, over and over and over. Looks to have quit each time he became the current high bidder.

as said by '62Vette, it's a complete waste of time/money bidding on things before the last minute (or seconds ). ;^)

Looks like schilling to me

That's what happens when someone uses the sniping programs. It will autoamatically bid the minimum amount to try and outbid the current high bidder. I just got outbid like that on a set of fender flares for my 4Runner. I hate it, but I'm not gonna change my high bid because of it.

That's what happens when someone uses the sniping programs. It will autoamatically bid the minimum amount to try and outbid the current high bidder. I just got outbid like that on a set of fender flares for my 4Runner. I hate it, but I'm not gonna change my high bid because of it.
Nope. When you snipe you won't have any bids until the last five seconds or so. What you see in this case is just proxy bidding. Thats why it shows the winning bid was placed on the 15th, because it was. Like was mentioned before, if you bid before the last minute, you are wasting your time in most cases, and driving the price up. Just wait until the last minute(or last few seconds), then enter your highest bid. As far as sniping goes, if you can't beat em, join em!

For those that think some shill bidding went on can you explain why you think that? Here's how it went...

kdd-mo was the initial bidder.
podtroub was the high bidder with a bid placed on the 15th which was higher than all the bids placed on the 16th by ron46345. That's what proxy bidding does. Reserve was not met and nobody bid on the item during the last 3 days of the auction.

Snipping as Jay points out is bidding on the item at the last possible moment so no other bids can be placed.

Anyway if there was shill bidding here please enlighten us so we know what to look for in the future...

Here's a shill bid auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1992-Chevrolet-Camaro-Anniversary-Edition-V8-5-Spd-Ttop_W0QQitemZ4623037940QQcategoryZ6161QQrdZ1QQcmd ZViewItem


Signs you have a shill bid auction:

- High amount of bids for the amount of time left on the auction. In the case above, auction has 6 more days to go and alredy has 23 bids on it.

- Item is unreasonably priced. Car above has 129,000 miles on it and might be worth $2,000 but car has not yet met reserve even after 23 bids.

- Bidders names kept private.

Hi Hylton - Other than bidders names being private and some early bidding (these are not real good signs in an auction but nothing positive to prove shill bidding) I really don't see anything that says shill bidding is going on. There is a reserve and based on times of bids it looks like some proxy bids were placed and it looks like one or two are trying to find the reserve without placing a bid that really goes over the reserve by much.

$2K may be a value you would place on the car but that doesn't mean much to the seller. I've seen 3rd gens sell for $5K - $7K and mileage is not an issue. Yes I've seen them sell for less than $2K as well. A car is worth what someone will pay for it...

I'm not saying it's not a shill, I just don't see your reasoning to be proof it is...

IMHO, i think it's just 2 new users. I have an ebay store, and see new users bid like this a lot. Your typical experienced bidder will bid unusual amounts to try to eke out a higher bid, or they will sit and try to snipe it. A beginner will bid round numbers, like even dollars or on the half-dollar. Both are recently registered, but not right at the time of sale, both were a few weeks earlier. A schill bidder would have a new name starting right at or right after a auction starts.

For those who want to win more, you can use a sniping program, which will keep you from losing sleep, and automatically enter your bid at the time frame determined by you, and you can go about your business.

The other option (because we all like instant gratification), is to set 2 windows on the auction. One side is set with the actual listing shown live, not in a summary. You keep refreshing as the auction comes to an end. The other is set with you absolute maximum bid, and is entered. You submit the bid, but hold off on the "confirm bid" keystroke until say 20 seconds until the end. With 20 (or whenever) seconds left, you confirm your bid. Ebay will take it form there, using you maximum bid and proxy bids for you. The downfalls are that someone else's proxy bd may still be higher, but you already entered the most you were willing to spend anyway. The other way to lose is if you have the same maximum amount as another bidder who entered thiers first.

hope this helps clear up, and saves some cash for you guys.:thumbsup:

Bowtie-72 is right on the money as to how it's done by most people (both new and experienced). I recently won an auction for an item with 4 seconds left.... bidding with 20 seconds left as suggested is FAR too early. In my last win, there were 3 bids in the last 17 seconds. Be patient, and snipe at the very last second. It's enjoyable just knowing that someone thought they had it won with 5 seconds to go.... and BAM, in comes the sniper ;^)


eBay Auction
(http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/69-Camaro-Coupe-A-C-Baffle_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ34197QQitemZ4621 475306QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW)

I have won and lost a lot of auctions on eBay in various categories. The first gen Camaro parts auctions attract more snipe bids than any other auctions I have participated in. Don't let the 'no activity' fool you. Lot's of bids in the last few seconds. To me this just indicates that there is a higher concentration of sophisticated bidders in this category. Whenever I see an aution with lots of hits I know if I look at the bidding history I'm going to see a newbie or two.

I agree, sniping is the only way to go, for all of the reasons mentioned previously.