Ebay Auction Watchers Vs. Anti-Watchers

[Huck]

For me it's :
1) Actively watching with intent to bid, I bid if nobody else has bid - 15%, no sniping service.
2) Actively watching an auction that is currently listed too high and if it doesn't sell for that price maybe the seller will relist at a lower price. 55%
3) Passively watching because I have initial interest in the item but come to my senses and realize I don't need the item nor does it fit the collection. 25%
4) Passively watching because I own a similar item and I'm curious what the current market value is. zero %
5) Passively watching because it's an interesting item and I want to see what it sells for. 5%

My cynical side, believes that the " watching item" is Ebay's way of getting users to panic and buy the item.

A recent watching that occurred over the past three days.

I found the R.J. Reynolds (BIN) piece and thought it was cool. I have always liked the piece and the item comes up for sale every now and again. The water damage was a bit of a concern so I decided to watch the item to perhaps convince myself that (1) the water damage was not that bad and (2) the item was $400 cheaper and in better shape than the second Reynolds piece. While I watched, the seller excepted a best offer. Sigh.

Fortunately, I found the Old Crow piece. Yahoo! Awesome piece and an item I had never seen before. The Old Crow piece was auction format. Near the close of the auction I get in a bit of a frenzy and bid $100 over my sane amount. The final bid, was $100+ more ($455) than my insanity (for me) bid. I don't know, perhaps the Old Crow piece is worth close to $500 with shipping and taxes. Alas.

Right after the Old Crow piece went off the board, I found the Hunter Whiskey BIN piece. Again, another piece I had never seen before. I immediately sent the seller a best offer. The seller countered and a sale was made. Woo-hoo!

[TanksAndSpartans]

I only watch auctions if they have a high minimum bid, and only then if I think the minimum is not so high, that I wouldn't mind paying that, but it doesn't make sense to me to be the first/early bidder on an item where the starting bid is right around its value - that basically alerts other potential buyers that there's interest. Sometimes the item is priced high enough I think it won't get any bids, so I'm basically waiting to see what the sellers next move is (anti-watcher?). I once made the mistake of reaching out to a seller on an auction that got no bids and he replied something to the effect "someone always bids eventually". Those type situations where the seller just keeps relisting with a high floor are good candidates to drop from my watch list.

In the case of the standard 99 cent starting price auctions (I stay standard because this is what the companies who sell on eBay usually start with), I find it convenient to throw down an initial placeholder bid as that triggers eBay email reminders close to the end, which is when I really decide whether I will put down a bid that has a chance of winning. I don't see any advantage to just watching these. If someone can't throw out a bid when an item is early in the auction, say 10-20% of the what the final price will be, then if I was the seller, I would assume they aren't really interested.

Last thought on this - an auction with a high minimum bid is very similar to a BIN, so to me its a different thought process than an auction with a low minimum bid. To use real numbers similar to the OP, if I set a snipe for $115 for an item, at a time when I really don't know where it will finish i.e. bidding may be around $40, it's different than bidding on the same item that has a minimum bid of $115. My thought process in the latter case is that if I make this bid, there's a good chance I win and maybe overpaid - it just feels different than the former case where even though I set a $115 snipe, I may not wind up paying that.