Powersellers Blog

It seems lately that more people are waiting to bid on items until the the last few minutes of the auction. This trend can be somewhat stressful to buyers who enjoy checking on their items each day to see how they are doing. When there are no bids, it appears there is no interest and can be disheartening to say the least.

As a buyer, I like to bid on items as I find them. This way I don’t forget about them and get a nice notice when I’ve been outbid. I’m not sure if the perception is that you can get a better deal if you wait til the last minute or if there is some other reasoning behind it. Several buyers using auction sniping services that will automatically place bids for them when they have been outbid. I’ve never used an auction sniping service but I guess that you can set it up to bid at the last few minutes of an auction. Maybe the reasoning behind this is that then someone else can’t outbid you.

Whatever the reasoning, with so many buyers waiting til the last minute it can be frustrating to watch an auction with no bids for six days. There are a couple of stats that will show if anyone is interested in your auction. First you can always check the stat counter. eBay provides a stat counter for each auction. Simply check the number to see how many people have viewed your listing. Another thing to keep an eye on is how many people are watching an item. If there are quite a few people watching, then there is definitely interest in your listing. These two stats can help to keep you sane during those six days of no bids on your auction. 

Lynn Little wrote this on July 10th, 2007 and filed it under eBay |