Why do people bid .99 on an auction?

[Mike Kerins]

With my "technique" I try to remove the emotion from my bidding. I decide what the knife is worth to me, the highest I would be willing to bid. Then, I drop that amount in at the last possible momment. Believe it or not, this is not done to snipe....well thats not the ONLY reason.... I do it so that I wont have any chance to act on emotion and drop in another, higher bid.
Of course I often forget to place the bid at all and that pretty much guarantees that I wont be adding the knife to my collection.

Joe,
I've started doing that as well. I'll determine what I'm willing to pay and set it up so it goes in at the very end and let the chips fall where they may. As you say, it takes the emotion out of the process and I can live with myself (and more importantly my wife) after all is said and done.
Mike

 

[imafritz]

Should have not told my secret to success.

Its all a crap shoot anyway with auto bids-I wish no one would bid until the last minute-it just drives up the price-like its been said-figger what your willing to explain away to the wife and drop it at the last second and ending in .22-good idea Flatlander

 

[henkyjenky]

Maybe they saw it for X.99 in a local store and put that in as their max bid?

I just mash the keyboard for the cents part and see what happens.

 

[110 Dave]

naw ya gots to have an sis-tem!
other wize ya'll never win any!
i kinda think i will keep useing my supper see-ker-ret
bust that other bid outa the water number!
unless it's a must win knife
then i'll put the Gree Gree on them...

 

[Flatlander1963]

Hey I just bid $xx.22 and I won. Go figure...first time with that system and it won.
And it was on a NIB micarta 505 that I've been on the hunt for over a year.

 

[jimmer_5]

Its all a crap shoot anyway with auto bids-I wish no one would bid until the last minute-it just drives up the price-like its been said-figger what your willing to explain away to the wife and drop it at the last second and ending in .22-good idea Flatlander

This is what I hate - all the idiots that keep bidding early and drive up the price. Very occasionally, when I'm having a busy week, I'll put in a low bid just in case no one else bids. I have gotten a few great deals this way, but it rarely works. More often other people end up bidding at the last minute or I forget to bid and miss out on a great deal.

But the one that makes me crazy is all the new people (less than 10 feedbacks) driving the price up with 5 days left before the end.

 

[imafritz]

This is what I hate - all the idiots that keep bidding early and drive up the price. Very occasionally, when I'm having a busy week, I'll put in a low bid just in case no one else bids. I have gotten a few great deals this way, but it rarely works. More often other people end up bidding at the last minute or I forget to bid and miss out on a great deal.

But the one that makes me crazy is all the new people (less than 10 feedbacks) driving the price up with 5 days left before the end.

Yeah-what he said. Although I'm sure there are some occasional sellers in this forum that like those guys-I know i would if i were sellin

 

[Flatlander1963]

I've been being a little tongue and cheek with this topic but what I've found works best for me is something similar to Joe H. I tend to research and determine the value of an item. Then I'll determine my maximum amount that I'll pay. If its something hard to find and in my collecting theme as the 505 micarta last night, I'll actually bid 20-25% over the street value. The pleasure of rounding out my collecting effort is worth a little bit of a premium. Also, I make that bid at the last moment as not to drive up the bidding unnecessarily.

But, Jimmer is right about novice bidders running up the bid process. Ultimately, I don't let that bother me to much as I have a price I'm willing to pay and if it goes over that, I'll try for the next one. I think I missed on the first 505 micarta about 2 years ago maybe longer and a couple more misses this past year. But then that's the fun of collecting too.

 

[imafritz]

Whoa Boy-dont be givin up on that tried and true $.22 strategy-Your battin 1000 with it

 

[110 Dave]

This is what I hate - all the idiots that keep bidding early and drive up the price. >>>>
But the one that makes me crazy is all the new people (less than 10 feedbacks) driving the price up with 5 days left before the end.

a lot of low feed back bidders bid early because they think that is how it is done and they will win if it is not seen buy others

some bid as that they will pay at least that for it..not that they really think they will win .. jest if it goes that low they want it..
called trolling by some and some dealers do this

and shrilling..((which is any activity to run up a bid))
like=
the hard core have some one that will bid to run the price up for profit

some times it is to generate interest on a item that will go for more any way

the oddest is were i heard of some one bidding to raise the bid to get an insurance value on some thing for a friend not that they wanted to buy or sell it!

and the meanest of all things..spite bidding..
i got grapevine word back once that some one bid to run the price up jest so some one that has out bid him a lot would pay more then he other wise would