Online auctions have been a thing for a while now. It’s a strategy to buy things that can get you things that are either hard to find or for a lower price. Nowadays, you can do this online with online auctions by following our Online Auction Tips. It’s a thrilling experience, to say the least.
Top Online Auction Tips for Everyone Who Want to Bid
You eye up an item that you are interested in and that’s being sold online and you have to bid for it. You can do this why sitting comfortably at home on your couch or out at the store running errands.
One of the best things about these auctions besides the fact that it’s so convenient is that you can bid on any item you want. That being said, you do have to keep in mind the same limitations exist as with a traditional auction. If someone outbids you, they are going to get the item. This forces a lot of people to overbid and end up paying more for an item than they should have.
Top 3 Online Auction Tips for Online Auction Bidders
Here are some of the best tips from the surplus database to ensure you win an auction and that you pay a fair price.
- Set a Max Bid
You have to go into an auction knowing what you are willing to bid. You don’t want to keep raising your bid without thinking. While there is a common philosophy that a lot of people follow to start with the lowest possible bid. While it’s true that you should bid conservatively at first, it’s not wise to have that mindset throughout the entirety of the bidding process. This is only going to lead to you spending more when you panic towards the end. Instead, you want to figure out the maximum amount that you are willing to spend on the item in question.
With that number set in stone, you can start to enter a bidding war knowing that you aren’t going to go over it. By bidding up people early on, you can drive a lot of potential buyers out of the auction completely. Some people love the thrill of potentially scoring great deals and winning a low bid. By raising the bid price beforehand, it’s going to drive them away completely.
For example, say you are willing to pay as much as $600 for a watch. You would want to begin by bidding around $300. That way, you can kick out anyone that is looking for a lowball bid. This can keep you from attracting too much competition to your listing.
- Remain Active
You’re going to want to ensure that you are remaining active with the listing. If you want to win an online auction, you need to monitor the auction and continue to place competitive bids. You don’t want to place your bid and vanish. It’s going to allow your competition to get ahead and steal the item from you. By remaining active, you can showcase to your competition that you aren’t going anywhere. It’s a psychological tactic that can help you drive them away and allow you to win more auctions.
You also want to avoid making any round bids. Instead, try to bid using odd numbers. This can be a very effective method at going over someone’s maximum bid to ensure that you drive them away from the listing. Also, these buyers typically go for even and round numbers. Thus, if you bid last minute with an odd number, it increases your chances of winning the auction.
- Time Frame
You will find that most people are going to be busy during the hours of 5 to 9 at night. After all, people have things to do and people to see. This means that you will typically find fewer people participating in auctions around this time.
Another good time in which you should plan your bids is early in the morning. This is a good time to put in some online auction work because you’re going to have a much better time winning auctions with less competition.
There is a good strategy where you can strategically wait until the last second to place your bid. This is typically a viable strategy for items that aren’t can’t miss. It’s less likely to work if people are eyeing the listing closely. However, sometimes you can catch prospective buyers off guard and win the auction by sniping it during its last seconds of being live.
For instance, if bidding is set to end at 3 p.m on the dot, you can immediately place a bid beating the current bid by a couple of cents. If you can do this with appropriate timing, you will likely win the bid.
Please let us know in the comment section that, are these Online Auction Tips help you get the best deal in any online auction.