Ebay bidding question
 

I am selling something on Ebay, and the auction ends on Sunday. Until earlier today there was one bid on it - now there is a second bid by the same buyer.
Should I assume that they have put in an increased final price bid, because they're keen to get it?

Yes, I would guess that first they bid the flat price you saw, then realized they could not be there to watch the very end of the auction (and/or someone explained to them the concept of sniping an auction in the last second,) so they bid again with their actual highest price, but had to surpass their own first bid in order to get the new bid registered.

Thanks, Clod. Someone else has bid now, outbidding the first guy's two bids.
Really I ought to go to bed instead of staring at my crummy little auction item!

I bet the first guy bids again. It astounds me how many people won't really put their true top bid as their top bid. They've bought into the inherent psychology of bidding, instead of objectively deciding what they will and will not pay for something.

I'll let you know. It's part of a my new drip-drip approach to uncluttering the house.

You can also keep your bids private.
Many times I've seen, let's say, 12 bids and only eight names.
It's set up so that only the bidder and seller can see them.

On ebay.co.uk ALL bids can only be seen by the purchaser and the seller. It's part of the recent changes, very few of which I find helpful.

I almost never put my top bid in first.
Because there are people out there who will bid, realise they haven't yet one, then keep bidding in increments until they are the winning bidder. You then have a choice to go 10p up in the final minute, or just walk away. This is too much pressure for a tiny mind like mine.

If I'm the first bidder I'll maybe offer 99p more than the base price, then watch it obsessively for more interest. I'll then recommence bidding in the last hour. It lulls other bidders into a false sense of security. I know - I've had it done to me too many times.

Typically, I check previous auctions of similar items to see what they generally go for. Then I bid my top price based in part on that information and just check back to see if I won.

I usually am looking for something specific when I Ebay and have to bid and lose on 4-5 auctions before I get what I want for the price that I think is fair. A bunch of it is chance, because you never know the sanity of the people who are bidding against you. Some people are not rational.

That's kind of how I approach it. In search of a specific item, put in my maximum/fair price and forget about it ...

Now we all want to watch your auction, Limey.... :D

Woo Hoo, I won, I won... Got a $10 off coupon at Pizza Hut, for only $18. :rolleyes:

I'm afraid I set it up as UK only and you can't change that once you've started, it seems. It's a shame because the item has a potential wider market ...
I'll let you know when it's over how I did :cool: !