Why did eBay decide to do a maximum bid auction price? Does auction theory suggest that this leads to higher bids?
The question asks about 'higher' bids; I'll assume the implied comparison is between eBay's actual proxy bid system and a system where the bid a user enters is the bid they have to pay if they win.Because you can see when you've been outbid on eBay, are allowed to submit multiple bids, and eBay doesn't charge per bid, theoretically the outcome should be the same between eBay's system and a system where the winner pays the highest amount they have entered. This is because (in theory) bidders would just adjust their behavior to do start doing what eBay currently does on their behalf, which is to bid the smallest legal increment above the current high bid anytime they have been outbid but the current high bid is less then their true maximum willingness to pay. In fact, that's more or less how eBay describes how their own system actually works. (Automatic bidding)Of course, in practice, having the proxy system do this is much more efficient and wastes less time for their users, and also results in higher prices because if you forced people to do this for themselves, some of them wouldn't use your platform at all, while others would bid initially but might not come back and increase their bid when they have been outbid, especially near the end of the auction. (Interestingly, because people don't understand the nature of eBay auctions completely, don't understand game theory, or have some unusual preference profiles, waiting until the very end of an auction to raise the bid is still a viable strategy on eBay and some other platforms in practice. (See Auction sniping for more on this.) But this problem would be much, much worse (and clearing prices would be lower) if the proxy system did not exist.A related concept which this question sort of alludes to is the differences between first price auctions (where you pay your reported bid) and second price auctions (where you pay the next highest reported bid when you win rather than your own bid). It looks like How is a second-price (for single item) auction anything other than a subsidy from the seller to the buyer? is the home for that question on Quora. However, it's important to realize that since the eBay auction is fundamentally a sequential game rather than a sealed bid, one-shot auction, it's theoretically most similar to a second price auction whether or not the proxy system exists.
Is bidding on ebay free?
Absolutely 1000 percent not. Only if you win, otherwise, yes bidding is free
On eBay is the deposit the same as the reserve price for buying a car?
The two are completely different and unrelated. The reserve price is the amount the auction must reach before the seller is obligated to honor the sale. The reserve could be anything less than the $19,000 buy it now price. As an example, if the seller set the reserve to $10,000 and the highest bid was only $8,000, the auction would simply end without a successful bidder or sale. The deposit is the amount you must pay up front (and generally immediately) once the auction is finished. You will pay the rest when you meet to take delivery of the vehicle. You also generally must have cash on hand to buy the vehicle. Unless it's advertised in the auction details, most sellers are not willing to finance the purchase and accept monthly payments. If you need to finance the vehicle, make sure you can arrange it with a bank or credit union prior to bidding on the vehicle.
Ebay- how to unblock someone from biding?
I blocked someone from bidding on my item because the buyer has no rep. so i blocked the buyer. but i can trust the buyer and i want to allow the buyer to bid on my auction. how do i unblock him from bidding on my item? please give me a proper answer. thanks :)
Sellers driving up price on their own eBay auctions?
If sellers get caught 'shill bidding', they get terminated. However, it was most likely NOT the seller doing the shill bidding. After all, the seller - wants to SELL his item. What you ran into was probably a 'sniper'. Sniping bids IS allowed, unfortunately, and there are lots of sniping services out there. Read more about it here: http://ebay.about.com/b/2009/06/24/snipi... You also need to be aware that even ebay itself has 'automatic bidding', which will determine the amount need to outbid a person - and bid ONLY that amount. So the person could have bid as much as $10 or more HIGHER than your bid - but the bid SENT would only be the amount need to win. In your case, just $1.00 over your bid. Had you had time to send in another bid, it would most likely simply have outbid you - again - by $1.00, within seconds. This is why you should always bid the highest amount you truly are willing to spend. Here is ebay's own explanation on how automatic bidding works: http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/automatic... Next time, try using it to your own advantage.
If only one person bids on a product on eBay and the bid ends, does that mean they will win it automatically?
I can only speak in terms of eBay.You have an auction on eBay.There is one bidder.You suspect the bidder will not pay if he wins.You can cancel the bidder’s bid. You do not need to give a reason. Sellers can protect their livelihood.You can then Block the bidder. You can also Block any bidder who has received Strikes for non-payment.However, most eBay bids arrive in the last few moments of an auction. And the selling price is set not by the winner but by the underbidder.(If you bid $10 on an eBay auction and I bid $40, I will win, but I will only have to pay $11 - one increment higher than your underbid.)Or do you think you need to do something more to complete the sale?You probably don’t. You may have to send an invoice with the shipping cost if you did not already set a shipping cost for your customer’s location. If you did set a cost,eBay will invoice him for you.
What happens when you bid twice on eBay?
For example, you're the only bidder on the item, and you put in a certain amount, but you feel like someone may be waiting until the end of the auction. What will happen if you are the only bidder on the item at the end of the auction but you raised the bid. So say you first bid on the item for $15 but at the end you bid on it for $20 and you're the only bidder. Would you pay the $15 or would you pay the $20?
Why do people bid on items that cost more than the store/retail price on eBay? Is it a scam when you see these types of bids?
On eBay there is the old adage that a product is worth the amount people are willing to pay for it which is the underlining assumption behind auctions.No matter from which price you choose to start the auction you are taking a risk - so keep that in mind...1. Let's say that you saw similar items go for $300. If you start the auction from a price which you think is fair, (around $300) then you are taking a risk that less people will bid on it since people are on eBay for the explicit purpose of seeking bargains. If $300 is the market average, people are going to be trying to finding somewhere to buy this at a considerable discount. But people that collect this stuff also know the REAL market value of it and although they will be looking to buy it for $1, they know that they are willing to pay more (up to the REAL value $300 and sometimes more), so they will look for an auction that starts low and will hope that no one else will outbid them.From my experience, a collectors item will usually reach its REAL market value. 2. If you start from $1 the big advantage is that you will get a LOT of exposure, and this will increase the chances that someone who really wants it will find you and place a bid, now as I said previously, they know the real value so they will continue bidding and the price will rise (if there are others who are bidding as well).The downside is that you might end up selling for much less if the product doesn't generate enough interest. By starting an auction you are taking a risk.But the best way to get maximum exposure is to start the auction from the lowest possible price - one dollar. To summarize, I would advise to do some market research, find the market value and check on eBay completed listings (sold items) what is the average price people are willing to pay for similar items and how many sold listings are there (to find out popularity).
Can't I just place a really high bid on eBay and win with the minimum price?
You seem unfamiliar with eBay’s bidding mechanism. Your amount entered is the highest point that automatic bidding can escalate to and still include you in the process, but your payment amount is always just slightly above the next highest bid. No one knows you bid a maximum of $1000 if the other bidders do not approach that amount. If the bidding starts at $10, then your $1000 bid is displayed as $10 until another party enters the bidding. At that point your bid ceiling keeps you in the game until their top bid exceeds your top bid. if they offer $20, your bid is displayed as $21, either enticing a new bid or chasing them away. At that point your lowest possible price is $21 (in this example, given a competing bid of $20), not the original $10 amount. Bidding continues until time runs out without you having to continually raise the bid against others. Only name a maximum bid that you would comfortably be satisfied paying to the seller for that item.