Bidding above the BIN

[nat]

Thought this was fun.

There was a card for auction with a BIN that I was willing to pay. But I was also feeling cheap and thought I'd try to win it in the auction and save a few bucks. Auction ended late at night, so I went to set a snipe rather than stay up late. But I realized that once you've decided that you're not going to hit the BIN, that it has a BIN is irrelevant to your decision. The rational thing to do is to just bid whatever you're willing to pay for the card. So I put in my snipe above the BIN price. I figured that I would win it for less than that, but if I'm not going to use the buy-it-now option, it doesn't make sense to bid less than what it's worth to me.

Anyways, I woke up the next morning to find that I'd won the card for a nickel above the BIN price. I suspect that the underbidder and seller woke up the next morning and were confused.

And being cheap cost me a nickel.

[bnorth]

At least it only cost you a nickel. I have done that also and ended up paying WAY more than my cheap ass would have paid by hitting the BIN.

[swarmee]

There are some auctions I spot with way-under-market BINs right as they're listed, that I would feel guilty if I bought and actually purchased at that price. So I bid the minimum on the item to get rid of the BIN and then let the seller be pleasantly surprised when it sells for a price 10x what they set the bid for.

[h2oya311]

Originally Posted by swarmee

There are some auctions I spot with way-under-market BINs right as they're listed, that I would feel guilty if I bought and actually purchased at that price. So I bid the minimum on the item to get rid of the BIN and then let the seller be pleasantly surprised when it sells for a price 10x what they set the bid for.

Those tend to be the auctions that are ended early by the seller. Then you will kick yourself for being stupid enough to have been the “good guy” when there are 10 other guys out there without those same morals who convince the seller to cancel all bids and sell at 3-4x what they thought they’d originally get.

Oops.

[swarmee]

Originally Posted by h2oya311

Those tend to be the auctions that are ended early by the seller. Then you will kick yourself for being stupid enough to have been the “good guy” when there are 10 other guys out there without those same morals who convince the seller to cancel all bids and sell at 3-4x what they thought they’d originally get.

Oops.

Not the ones I've done it on. They've all run to the end.

[Howe’s Hunter]

each time eBay will remind me I’ve bid more than BIN, am I sure I don’t just want to BIN. No, I don’t and all three times I’ve won the card for less than the BIN because no one else bid it up.