Bidding on Ebay

[tory 0]

OKKKK honestly, how does Ebay REAALLY work? Trying to get my daughter's textbook for her dual enroll Calc class. I place a bid and it appears to be winning right up to the end as I watch the sec click away. Only to be outbid by exactly $1,10 sec before it closes. How is that even possible besides pure luck? It was at my bid for a few days. Then this guy wins it w/i 10 sec of close for exactly $1.00 more than my hi bid (which is hidden from others). Makes me wonder, almost like he knew what my hi bid was so he could overbid and win by $1??

She is not going to be amused starting her first college class with no book. Going to try again but what is the trick here?

[MZ SKEETER 4,708]

People have max bids, that are higher than yours,  people also use programs to bid at the last second,  while they are doing other things.  a third party bid program. Here is one and many others,  THey may not even be on EBAY  but are at work,  or elsewhere.  Those bids will not even show up until the last second,. 

http://www.auctionsniper.com/?how=google+AuctionSniper+Wins

[tekcorps 50]

On your particular item the bid increments where probably $1. So he might have bid $10 more than you but only needs $1 higher to make the next bid to overtake yours.

[JoeDirt 5]

I was watching the early show today and they mentioned renting college books for half the price maybe that's an option 4 u??

[MZ SKEETER 4,708]

you might also try  Amazon.com  and    http://www.half.ebay.com/

[MZ SKEETER 4,708]

you might find some info here also 

http://www.dogpile.com/dogpile/ws/results/Web/cheap%20text%20books/1/417/TopNavigation/Relevance/iq=true/zoom=off/_iceUrlFlag=7?_IceUrl=true

[tory 0]

Thanks guys, the next one ends at 3 am....no wonder they use autobidders.

I checked into that too Joe, unfortunately renting it still costs more than IF I can get one of the lower cost ones on Ebay. I might have to resort to that if I don't get lucky on bidding w/in the next day or so. Actually ridiculous this book is $160 new and $80 used......they went a few dollars since I was in college

I checked half and a few others that sell textbooks, they were all higher. But might have to be a last resort. I'll check that link you sent too

Thanks everyone.....I'll give it another try!

[BannerJohn 1,324]

college textbooks are one of the biggest scams out there. No way around it,though. If you really want the book,stay up til teh auction ends....and bid the maximum you are willing to go with 20 seconds or less left.

[tory 0]

You aren't kidding John, they charge enough for the classes and then charge redic fees for the books too. I fig I'd be pulling a late night if I have a chance at it. I'm also assuming I need to refresh the page even though I can see the clock counting down to show the correct current bid right??

[JLDesigns 1]

As a recent college student text books are the worst.  I was noticing that on Amazon they sell the Kindle, which in turn many universities/textbook publishers are using this format for their text books.  So, that is just a thought...will probably look into it further those books get so big and most of the time you don't even use 1/4 of the book.  So, just a thought!

[edge 67]

If you are in a college town, we've found craigslist to be a good source for used text books. Often we'll perform a google search using title and or ISDN # to compare price. 

[Rodger 527]

When I bid on ebay , I wait until 5 seconds & bid the highest I would pay .

[tory 0]

Rodger I've decided that is going to be my next plan of action. That's how he swiped it out from under me w sec to go.

I did think of the Kindle too, although the purchase price is steep ea book is not. That will prob be the wave of the future, but they don't have them all available yet.....yup I checked.

I don't know why I didn't think about Craigs list, it's the one place I haven't scoured although I did do a Google search and nothing came up. I'll ck their site out. I like the idea of renting but can't believe the prices they are asking just to do that. Maybe we are all in the wrong business lol

Thanks for all the good ideas.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

When I bid on ebay , I wait until 5 seconds & bid the highest I would pay .

now why didn't I think of that?

[fargo_182 0]

I thought everyone did it that way? I bid with 3 sec left all the time lol

[ms_sign 5]

When I bid on ebay , I wait until 5 seconds & bid the highest I would pay .

This is good advice  

You will upset other people though. I get over that pretty quick as the thrill of victory sets in  

Jon

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

http://www.esnipe.com/

[kctrader 10]

These guys will give you three free snipes.

http://www.ezsniper.com/

I always hated it when I had to buy the book for the class that was also written by the professor.  What a cash cow for them. 

[mars 45]

I use a snipe program - bought several years ago (I bought it during the days of dial-up internet access - maybe 10 years ago) - the author updates it constantly to keep up with eBay's screw-ups - I mean improvements.  I looked at the two sites in the links above and if you are an infrequent eBay bidder they make sense.  If you are an eBay shopper though you will get your money's worth by buying a program- believe me! There may be other programs - this is the only one I tried and I really like it.  I think I spent $12.95 for my copy and it has been dependable and won me a lot of autions.  You will still get outbid if you don't set the bid high enough - but if there are several auctions with the item you want you can set up bids for all of them - use bid logic to only bid if the earlier auctions didn't win - and you can be away from the computer and never miss placing a bid.  That's how I won my Copam when USCutters was still offering them without a reserve price - I set up bids for every one they had listed and missed most of them because I was looking for a bargain price - patience paid off and I finally did win one for a very good price - the auctions after the one I won were never bid on since the logic was to bid only if I had not yet won.

Here is a listing for the program I use

http://cgi.ebay.com/Most-Powerful-Bidding-Snipe-Software-AuctionMagic_W0QQitemZ190360504023QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2c525ec6d7

Here is the web site

http://www.merlinsoftware.com/auctionmagic/

The only association I have with this software is as a happy user - and I think the guy offers great value - still sells for $12.95!

If you get the software - no fair bidding on anything I want!!  

-mike

[tory 0]

Well no luck last night on Ebay, BUT I was able to locate a few on Craigslist waiting for them to contact me. Thanks again for reminding me to check that out as well.

The snipe sights make me nervous because they need my user name/password. Seems potentially dangerous since your paypal is also contacted to that info??

[bamafan2277 50]

you should have a separate and more secure login for paypal. When you buy on ebay using paypal, you still have to log into paypal.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

you should have a separate and more secure login for paypal. When you buy on ebay using paypal, you still have to log into paypal.

great big +++ on that

[TexasMom 0]

ecampus.com is also a good place to get books.

[tory 0]

Well thanks for all the great suggestions. I finally found it on Craigslist and the best part is it was cheaper than Ebay by $20. I was slightly nervous about making arrangements to pick up from a stranger but it was fine. Even better really because she will have them the first day of class and not have to wait for shipping delays.

[Rodger 527]

Congratulations Tory , I am glad things worked out for you