On Tue, 4 Jan 2005 23:18:43 UTC, "Antonio I0JX"
wrote:

My classic eBay bidding technique is to look long and hard at an item,
think it over, and then bid my maximum price - once, by proxy. If I
win, fine, if not, then it wasn't meant to be.

Just one comment. Bidding once is a good technique, provided that
you only place your bid 20 seconds from auction end.

As a matter of fact bidding hours or, worse, days before auction
end will give others time to place successive bids in small
increments, until they surpass you by just 1$.


Nope, doesn't work that way. I play it the way Antonio does. I
bid my max or there-abouts, right at the beginning. I've seen
folk inching up their bids but unless they are willing to go to *my*
max, they don't win the item.

If they do win it, hey, congratulations. I'll try again next time.

Look at the SB-104A that just went on the Bay. The proxy was
$1,000. A few bottom feeders inched it up 100, 200, 210, 215, but
they dropped out because they didn't want it enough.

Finally the serious buyers took it to $645.

Sometimes I sorta want an item and set my proxy bid, kinda high, at
the beginning. Folk will inch up, others will try the last minute
bid but how does anyone know what my proxy is?

Bid too high at the last minute and you might find yourself winning
the item at a higher price than you would have paid if you had days
or weeks to think about it.

I *never* pay too much because I have the time to think it through,
set my proxy, and walk away. Many times I've been pleased to find
that no one has been willing to bid at the last minute.

Take a look at http:groups.yahoo.com/group/RadioInvestor

There's a picture of a very nice Collins 75S-1 and discussion of the
investing in boatanchors. (fixing them up too.)