Here is the result of an auction I watched recently on Beezid where the prize was a "50/50" - $50 gift card plus 50 bonus bids. Based on my formula, I wouldn't spend more than $5 final cost and 50 bids on this auction, and I would wait until the $4 or $5 mark before joining. Even though I bowed out after I saw this auction was going beyond rationality, I was still shocked to see the final result:
Final AuctionPrice: $36.92
Winning Bidder: playbaby - this bidder's record on www.allpennyauctions.com shows he/she is either a crazy rich person with too much time on her hands (since she is thousands in the red), or she's a Plant that accidentally wins a few auctions by default. Her bidding is deliberate, irrational and almost always a failure. The only auctions she wins is those she's willing to spend 10 x the amount, which doesn't only violate Rule #1, but is mean spirited toward other bidders.
| Shipping: $4.99 | |
| Placed Bids ** (1509) | $301.80 |
LOSS: over $ 250 |
And if you join an auction like that at $4 hope you lose it. That would be a definition of a jumper and jumpers always get a payback.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the last comment. Be polite...tag in before auction starts, make some bets..then you can sit back and wait for the right time to jump back in. Jumping straight in that late is not going to make you very popular and will cost you big time in the long run.
ReplyDeleteOn Beezid, nobody would even notice if you tagged in early to be polite. They are barricudas over there. The pros wait until the amateurs run out of bids using a Bidomatic, and then start their own bid wars.
ReplyDeleteOn a site like DealDash or other less aggressive sites, I would agree with you. You can watch the auction early to see how it's being played, but to tag in early just to be polite 500 bids before the average price? A wasted bid.
There's a section in my book about "Jumpers" and part of it reads exactly as you noted: "To avoid being labeled a Jumper, enter an auction you like early, place a few bids, then observe until the price has reached your predetermined range and most of the bidders are low on bids. Some auction sites prohibit new bidders after a specific price is reached, which prevents inadvertent (and intentional) "Jumping".
ReplyDeleteHowever, this does not apply when dealing with irrational bidders or any time when on Beezid.