More Auction eBay Online Shopping Tips

Beware of Shill Bidders on Auction eBay

As any auction shopping enthusiast, after you have done all the research on an item on auction eBay as described in ebaY Online Shopping Safety Tips, you decide to place a bid for an item. 

What is a shill bid? 

If a sellers party is also bidding for the same item in order increase the price of the item. A shill bidder will always bid about $0.50 to $1.00 over the highest bid amount. That’s because they want to keep other bidder still interested in bidding. 

Check the bidder's history by  looking at the feedback. If that bidder has NOT won anything on auction eBay for a while, then this bidder must be a Shill bidder. 

Remember - always know what you would be willing to pay for the item and do not go over your limit. You can identify a Shill bidder on auction  eBay when someone is just bidding a few cents to a dollar over the highest bid.

Use a Bid Sniper for winning eBay auctions

A Bid Sniper is a tool that will place a bid for you in last 5 - 10 seconds of the auction ending time. As you can see, with an ebay bid sniper, there is very less chance for others to place a bid higher than yours. There are many free bid snipers.

A bidding strategy that you can adopt is to bid for a few cents more than what you are willing to pay. As you know, auction eBay allows buyers to place proxy bidding, which means even though you are the highest bidder, you can place a bid for the highest amount you are willing to pay.

The advantages of bid sniping:

• You can avoid bidding war.
• If you place a bid early, other buyers will notice that and competition will increase. You will end up paying higher than what your limit.
• You don't have to wait till the end of the auction time. There are some auctions that end late at nights.
• You can avoid shill bidders.
  

Here are some popular Bid Snipers:

Auctionstealer: This is free bid sniper. This places your bid in the last 10 seconds of the auction ending time. It has good features, easy to use. If some other bidder has placed a bid higher than your bid snipe amount, then you will receive an email to indicate this. This is a great tool for auction eBay online shopping.

Auctionsniper: They offer free trials. Five bid snipes per week are free and then there is small fee. Auction shopping can fun with this tool. You can bid on multiple auctions of the same item on eBay and as soon as you win one of them, auction sniper will cancel the rest of the auction snipes. 

Bidnapper: Another popular bid sniper. This has some good features but is expensive. For $49, you get to use this for an unlimited number of bids.

Stealthbid: This has a growing popularity. They charge a percentage of the bid amount. For small wins less then $5 the fee is a flat 5 pennies. For average wins of up to $499, the fee is one percent. For large wins over $500, the fee is a flat five dollars.

How to decide your proxy bid amount for auction ebay?

Most buyers set up a proxy bid amount that is rounded off to the closest dollar amount like $50 or $55. Your proxy bid amount should be an odd figure like $50.01 or $55.01. Let’s say someone is experienced in these techniques and may place a bid for $50.01 or $50.51. So to beat this, place a bid for about $50.55.

Your responsibility as auction eBay Buyer

Buying and selling on ebaY is great experience if both buyers and sellers act responsibly. If you win an item, then pay promptly. You reputation is also on the line. 

You may intend to pay but the seller doesn’t know you so create a good impression by paying promptly. Sellers definitely appreciate prompt payment. If you are mailing in the payment check or money order then send an email soon indicating that the payment is on its way.

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