You’re probably reading this because you’ve been outbid trying to win an eBay auction at the last second after you just spent a good amount time waiting for the auction to end with you as the highest bidder only to get outbid in the eBay auction at the last second. Don’t do that. You’re just wasting your time, and just hurting your feelings. 
There is really no “best” way on how to win an eBay auction. Different circumstances allows for different strategies to win an eBay auction. I’ll just go over some general tips for you beginners.
First of all, if you can avoid it, I advise you to not bid on the actual eBay “auctions”, but instead, use the listings with the Buy-It-Now features. I personally rarely purchase anything from eBay using the conventional eBay auction. Why? ..because it’s fast, and I know exactly how much I’m going to be paying for the item from the start. I’ve wasted too much time in the past bidding on auctions, and have the final bid price of the auction be more than the average Buy-It-Now price for the exact same item. I could have simply purchased the item using the Buy-It-Now feature, and be done with it. No time wasted, no emotional stress–easy. Just search of the item that you want, click on the “Buy It Now only” tab, sort the results by “Price + Shipping: Lowest First.” This will now order the listings with the cheaper price including shipping at the top. Just make sure you skip the “junk listings” at the top, and look for the actual item that you’re looking for with the lowest price. Make sure it’s from a good seller with excellent feedback.
Another reason why I like doing it the Buy-It-Now way is because of the Bing Cashback program, which currently gives you an 8% discount/cashback off the price of the listing not including shipping fees. I’ll write another whole article on that topic later.
If you have no choice but to purchase the item through the conventional bidding way via a real eBay auction (e.g. no Buy It Now listings for that item or if the auction looks like it’s going to end up with final price significantly lower than the Buy It Now listings), the first thing you should do is pick your maximum bid price. You can look at completed eBay auction listings for the same item, and see how much they generally end up selling for, and use that to help you get a ballpark price. It also depends on how badly you want the item. There are a lot of factors that tie in, but in the end, choose a maximum price, and stick with it.
Once you have your price, I highly suggest just waiting till the last minute or so, and bid that amount as late as you can before the auction ends. Set an alarm on your phone if you have to. This will prevent you from getting into a bidding war, and end up exceeding your maximum bid price, and more importantly, it prevents other potential buyers a chance to outbid you since you placed the best ten seconds before it ends. There are tools that can do this for you automatically called “snipers.” The one I personally use is called Auction Stealer. It comes with three free bids/auctions per week. There is no need to pay for this service.
Another tip is to look for auctions that end at the least busiest times of the day such as very, very late at night or very early in the morning. Early morning time is probably best. If there are no eBay auctions that end at these times, choose the one that is closest to ending at the least busiest time. Using this tip in conjunction with an auction sniper should yield you good results.
Another good tip is to choose a maximum price a few cents higher than a typical bid. Most people bid in whole numbers. Let’s say your max bid price set for an item is $50.00, change that to $51.23 or so instead. That extra dollar and those extra few cents will give you the nod over someone who bid $50 or $51 for only a few cents more.
I think that is all I have for now on the best way to wing an eBay auction. I probably missed something since I do this so much that it’s natural to me now. If you are confused about something or need some help, leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you.
Related posts: