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Can someone explain eBay PROXY BIDDING to me? (1 Viewer)

Dick

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Rick
I know what proxy means, but how does it apply to eBay bidding and how is it accomplished and is it even ethical?
 

John Thomas

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From Ebay website:

Here's how it works:


When you place a bid, you enter the maximum amount you'd be willing to pay for the item. Your maximum amount is kept confidential from other bidders and the seller.
The eBay system compares your bid to those of the other bidders.
The system places bids on your behalf, using only as much of your bid as is necessary to maintain your high bid position (or to meet the reserve price). The system will bid up to your maximum amount.
If another bidder has a higher maximum, you'll be outbid. BUT, if no other bidder has a higher maximum, you win the item. And you could pay significantly less than your maximum price
 

Aurel Savin

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I think it's completely OK. In this age of BUY IT NOW on Ebay, I always enter the highest amount I am willing to pay on regular auctions. This way I let the auction ride and I do not have to keep an eye on it.

Personally I never get caught up in the heat of bidding, so proxy bidding works perfectly for me.
 

Josh Lowe

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proxy bidding is the default system used by ebay, it's perfectly ethical. all it means is that you enter your minimum bid and your maximum bid.

for example, if you enter a maximum bid of $20.00 for an item currently bid at $12 and $13 is the price that would make you top bidder, it bids you up to $13. If someone else bids $14 as their maximum, then the bid price raises to $14 but you still remain top bidder, as your maximum bid is $20. If someone then comes along and bids $22, then they become top bidder. that's all proxy bidding is.
 

Julie K

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I use it and think it's perfectly ethical. It's simply how much are you willing to pay for an item. It's more fair, IMO, than the item going to the person who typed in a bid the second before the auction closes. (Assuming that anything connected with online auctions can be called 'fair', of course...)
 

Jeff Ulmer

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It's more fair, IMO, than the item going to the person who typed in a bid the second before the auction closes.
Not really. If a sniper bids the most for an item, they win, if someone else had a higher previous bid, the sniper loses. There is nothing unethical about either practice IMO. Bidding at the last second simply stops the price from increasing in a bidding war, or in some (all too common) cases being shilled up.

If you have your heart set on something (not a good idea with auctions without a "buy it now"), be prepared to overpay, and bid accordingly. If you are looking for a deal, chances are the closer to the end of the auction you bid, the better chances of not being outbid, though you should pad you high bid for the inevitable snipe attempts.

It always amuses me when a long auction goes up, and a bunch of newbies begin a bidding war in the early days, as if they are going to win that early. As long as you have a bid on the table you risk being outbid, unless you maximum is well over what the item is worth.
 

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