3 Comments:

that extra dollar makes a big difference... but don't forget to add the extra cent or two.

By  Anonymous, at Thu Dec 14, 09:59:00 PM  

the winning bid may actually have been higher than that. for example, the winner may have bid $100 as his max, but since the next highest bid was only $50, ebay's automatic system entered $51 for the winner... so in that case, even if you had bid $55, the other bidder would have automatically been bumped up to $56. (unless his max bid was less than $55...)

By  Anonymous, at Sat Dec 16, 11:56:00 AM  

Just exercise a little game theory. Calculate (as best as you can) exactly how much the item is worth to you. Bid that amount and go to sleep. An easy way to do that is to have someone ask you if you'd rather have 20 dollars or the item. 25. 30... so on until you say "i'll take the cash."

Now, bid that amount. If you lose, that means the winner is paying more than you, so you'd rather have the cash. If you win, you'll pay less than your bid (as Ebay works off of a "winner pays second highest bid" system), so you actually do get something positive out of it.

It only works in this Ebay system with second price bidding. With the yankees example, bidder pays highest bid, so if you were to bid what it's worth and you win, you get nothing positive (you're indifferent between the money and the item), so it is necessary to bid less than what it's worth (how much less depends upon the opposing bidders).

Enjoy!

By  Anonymous, at Thu Dec 21, 01:35:00 AM