Why do people wait till the last minute then inch their bids up?

[ehdonhon]

Please excuse me while I rant about my pet peeve for a moment. Maybe somebody can shed some light on this for me..

I've noticed that in several of the drop auctions I've been in lately, there are always a few people that like to wait till the last few minutes of an auction and then start incrementing their bid by the smallest amount possible over and over until they are winning the auction. Then they'll wait to see if they are outbid, and will start incrementing their bid again.

Do these people not understand what proxy bidding is? What on earth do they think they are achieving when they do this? The only thing they can possibly hope to gain would be that somebody else with the same flawed strategy somehow gets distracted for 5 minutes or more.

If anybody can explain to me why it makes sense to do this, I'd really like to hear it. For myself, my strategy is simple: evaluate how much the domain is worth early on, and then bid the absolute maximum that I'm willing to pay for the domain. Then, no worries.. I either get the domain or I don't.

[biggedon]

others have different strategies than you....plain and simple.

that's just the way some people play that game.

[Andrew Shaw]

The answer is simple... why would someone bid on something in the beginning of an auction, take the chance of someone bidding ontop of that, and then have to bid even higher to get the name ontop of that?

Bidding at the last moment saves you time and money, plus it gives the other person little to no time to think about it and bid again.

flawed plan? i think not

[ehdonhon]

The answer is simple... why would someone bid on something in the beginning of an auction, take the chance of someone bidding ontop of that, and then have to bid even higher to get the name ontop of that?

Bidding at the last moment saves you time and money, plus it gives the other person little to no time to think about it and bid again.

If I have already added a proxy bid for the highest that I am willing to pay, then the system will automatically bid in increments for me until the bidding is higher than I'm willing to pay for the name (and after that, I don't care). So no time for thinking at the very last second is required on my part.

I would expect that waiting till the last second to bid leads to heat of the moment decisions, which are more likely to be emotional rather than logical. Not only that, it means I have to be sitting at my computer at the exact moment a domain auction ends. So, it seems to me that bidding at the last moment looses, rather than saves time and money.

What am I missing?

Thanks.

[denny007]

Totally agree with "Ehdonhon". I always evaluate max price I am willing to pay and bid in advance.

In the two november's huge drop-days it was a strategy which richly paid me off. There was so many domains, those last-minute bidding idiots was not quick enough to beat my proxy bids.

I.e. on Pool the server was down 10 minutew before end and those idiots started to whine so Pool extended the auciton for next day. But same happen the next day too (they did not learn from their mistakes) so I got so many domains for so great prices, that I am thankful there are those last-minute bidding idiots out there.

Actually when I started auctioning and had no idea, what proxy bid is. I was up until 4AM my time, when the aucitons ends and lost a lot of auctions because of this wrong strategy. Now I put my bids during the day and can go watch TV shows or red books. And in the morning just check those "Congratulations" emails...

[Anthony Ng]

my strategy is simple: evaluate how much the domain is worth early on, and then bid the absolute maximum that I'm willing to pay for the domain. Then, no worries.. I either get the domain or I don't.

Different people have different auction strategies. But I'll have to say that you have missed the fun part of bidding.

[cursal]

Sad to think it, but maybe they are just pushing the bid up.
Scam? maybe in some cases, not all.
Some people do not know how to bid or what bid-butler, proxy bidding is.

But I agree with proxy bidding. Set the price and let it go.

I like to tune in for some auctions that I am willing to play the last minute game, but that is both for thrill and I WANT TO WIN :devil:

Just my 2 c

[cursal]

double post.

[cooljeba]

Last minute bids are done to get the best price i.e if the existing BID is over budget then you can back off else the deal is yours

..:: peace ::..
Jeba

[financialtraffic]

Bidding at the last minute is the sign of someone who doesn't have enough budget.

If you're not able to quantify and come up with the maximum figure that you'll pay and stick with it, you're likely to waste money at any level.

If you simply put in your highest bid, you'll either get the domain for most likely a lower price anyway, or you'll be outbid and someone else will overpay for the domain.

Not knowing what the domain is worth to you is a sure way to beat yourself.

[stuff]

Bidding at the last minute is the sign of someone who doesn't have enough budget.

Have You ever used any drop catcher?

[financialtraffic]

Yes I've used them, but not often because there really aren't many good purchases to be made as most people and/or companies overpay for the domain just because they can't stand the fact of someone else getting the domain. That's the premise of an auction! Go to a real, in-person auction a few times and you will understand the concepts I'm discussing just by being in the room at the auction.

If the domain is good, there will be plenty of people watching. Waiting until the last minute doesn't matter. You'll see the same thing at a real auction. Some wait until the last minute to place a bid. If the item is wanted by at least two people, it's not going to matter when you place your bid. The only thing that matters is if a bidding war occurs or not. The bidding war can occur right away or at the last minute.

The real battle is with yourself in knowing how much to pay. If you don't quantify that, you'll have little control over the success of your acquisitions.

The only situation where what I've dicussed doesn't hold true is if you're dealing with a domain or item that nobody else wants. Then, waiting until the last minute can pay off. Because, the other thing about auctions is that if someone bids, sometimes another person will bid even if they normally weren't inclined to, just because they see that someone else seems to see value in the item.

In conclusion, waiting on your bid isn't usually going to make much of a difference at all if you're dealing with an item that has any value.

Morever, most fail at auctions because they simply get too worried about missing out because someone else bids high. You shouldn't bid high because you are afraid of missing out, you should bid high only if you need the item and are willing to pay a good price for it.

[actnow]

I believe you are complaining about one of the largest players in the domain biz.

Name Admin uses a script that kicks in at the last minute. And, continously bids
in the smallest increments until it is the top bidder. Or, it reaches a set max. price.

And, then, they bid manually.

Bidding at the last minute is the sign of someone who doesn't have enough budget.

I'm sure they bid at the last minute because Name Admin. doesn't have enough
money.
(The last I heard, Name Admin. only has $ 20. million allocated for domain bidding.)

[WhoDatDog]

They are numerous ways to profit from the auctions. If you have the time to pay attention to detail then it is probably more profitable to hold out until as late as possible. The ONLY thing you have to worry about is getting caught in a bidding war for a name you don't really want. If you are watching 5-10 names and someone else is watching 50, then a few strategically placed bids at 5 minutes to close could very well land you a name you might not have won otherwise.
I had a name today where it was just one other person. Originally, we had both bid the minimum of $60, but he was first. I was hoping for a few days that I could get it for $61, but I didn't want to bid the $61 so quick as to catch this person's attention and get him/her competitive, so I waited until under 10 minutes to go in the auction to bid my $61 (often times I will bid the $61 the first day)...all of a sudden the phone rang and I was distracted for about two minutes longer than the end of the auction.....I thought I blew it and thought the person likely got the name for $62. Luckily, I got the Congratulations email a short time later. It can work both ways like this all of the time...for and against you. I'm sure that those who still have Dial-Up are at a tremendous disadvantage to those who have DSL as well. Love this game....Love this game.

[ehdonhon]

I had a name today where it was just one other person. Originally, we had both bid the minimum of $60, but he was first. I was hoping for a few days that I could get it for $61, but I didn't want to bid the $61 so quick as to catch this person's attention and get him/her competitive, so I waited until under 10 minutes to go in the auction to bid my $61

But the only reason that worked in your favor was because the other bidder wasn't using proxy bidding, right? I mean, if that person had decided long ago that the name was worth $150 and bid that to start with, then your strategy would have failed.

I'm just trying to understand what advantage last-minute bidding has over proxy bidding. It seems that so many people are using last-minute bidding and are spending a lot of energy trying to be better at it than others. Because of that, I wonder "what am I missing?" However, I haven't really found an angle where last-minute bidding has any strategic value over proxy bidding at all.

The only rationale I can think of that would explain it would be if winning the name was more important to people than getting the name at a price that they think they can profit from it. However, I'd like learn a good business case for why last-minute bidding is better. Though, if there is no good business case for doing it then I suppose I shouldn't complain too loudly.

Thanks.

[Andrew Shaw]

who cares... the point is... people have diffrent ways of doing things. If you want to stick to proxy bidding thats fine, obviously you have more luck setting a set limit per domain name, while others may have more success bidding at the last minute. Its all a matter of what works for you and what doesnt.
we can just agree to disagree

[stuff]

Last minute adventages
1) Last minute bid --> end-users may miss the bidding!! They think they are the highest and don´t watch the auction, so in 5 minutes the auction is over.
2) Last minute bid --> big players may miss the bidding!!
3) Not many people have the time to watch the auctions for hours.
4) And Let say Your limit is $155 for one domain, now someone bids $160, what diffrence dose make the $10 ???

disadvetages:
1) You may go grazy with Your bidding ( You have little time to think)

[denny007]

what diffrence dose make the $10 ???
It is exactly $10 more than I am willing to pay...

[ehdonhon]

we can just agree to disagree

Yes, we can. I'm fine with that.

But even when I disagree with somebody, I try to make an effort to understand their point of view, which is all this was. If its just a matter of personal preference, then I can live with that... But, if there's good reason why I should be doing it differently, I want to learn. That's why I asked in the first place.

I did get some useful information from many different people, and I think I understand the issue a little better than before, so thanks to all.

[actnow]

You're welcome.

:-D