How to Bid and Win on eBay

A Strategy for Success - Written by Tanya Richards

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Take into consideration the RRP when the seller/donating customer brought the item (that’s if it wasn’t a gift or

vintage condition when we receive the item).

Now at this point you can throw in a near exact RRP figure for the bid, hope for the best, and try your luck that you won’t get called out on your ‘bluff’ (depending on if you actually have the funds or not).

Or…

Consider, that everybody wants a bargain, and that the seller will more than likely want roughly 50% for an item that was more expensive (£50-£100+ region - especially if it was a gift for the seller), and the bidder wants at least between 25% and 40% off (depending on the quality of the product combined with its true RRP as its original value) as their actual winning bid.

Consider that there are two types of bidders; 1, the really broke folk who input £1 incrementally, on repeat until they wise up and realise they are up against somebody who knows what it is worth, who wants it more for emotional reasons or simply because they have the money. Or 2, people who will pay you what they think it’s worth at second hand price based on its current state of quality.

Consider the time left on the listing, as well as the item itself and its desirability at that given time within the wider society, as early bids will be more incremental than last minute bids.

Remember that there are normally always other sellers selling the same thing depending on desirability of that item. Sellers will set their starting bid to fall in line where others are to ‘get the best price’, others will have it low for a good fight to happen over the item.

Also consider that bidders will jump from one listing to the next to weigh up prices and savings to see which is the best deal for what they need as a customer from the product. This creates an opportunity for desired products to be set on the listing as ‘make an offer’, which opens doors to bidders who can pay immediately to secure a sale - whether the offer is slightly higher or lower: where sellers capitalise on the customer/bidder desperation factor that remains hidden and silent.

Don’t forget that people normally like to bid in whole numbers (easier on the eyes and for personal budgeting), so £5 / £10 / £15. So always input one higher than the whole. Example: So if a listing is set at £12.50, when it’s valued at RRP at £20, I will have to take into consideration that people will want it for £15, what I want is to bag it for around, no more than £17.50. So I would input in, £16.99, or maybe even £17.25.

Finally, don’t forget your: 0.99, where it's relevant.