Posted By:
T206CollectorIf you bid on an ebay auction at any time and in any amount before 30 seconds prior to the auction's close, you are wasting money. There is zero advantage to doing so. If you want to put a nominal bid in to "watch" the auction, I can understand that, although I prefer to just click the "track this item" link at the top of the auction listing.
By putting in a maximum bid early, you are inviting people to bid into your maximum. If everyone only bid their maximum, it would make sense, but most bidder have no idea what their maximum is for an item, are disappointed when their so-called maximum isn't the highest bid and will bid higher than their so-called maximum to try to win an auction. This kind of bidding against oneself is only possible when people put in early high bids.
If all bidders could collude and agree to only bid in the final 10 seconds, the final prices for items would diminish significantly.
How wealthy do you have to be to put in a bid over $100 for something that doesn't end for another few days? Why are you giving people an opportunity to strategize about how to eat away at and perhaps ultimately defeat that bid? What benefit is there to losing money? I do not get it and I will never get it.