E-Bay Help

Could it be due to an other person's high bid (maximum)?
e.g. you bid, $5, then $10, $15 but someone - earlier - bid $40. Every time you bid, you were automatically outbid.

The best thing you can do is to decide on a price you are willing to pay for the item and put that in as your max.
If you just bit manually it is easy to get excited and perhaps bit more than you planned.

If nobody else bids even though your maximum is $10, if the start price is $.99, you're getting it for $.99 (+ shipping if it's not free )

chumpchange,

ebay can be a worthwhile venue for picking up needed coinage, but there are many pitfalls associated with doing business there. We have a special thread that is predominantly for ebay further down the page. It has sections for recommended and non-recommended sellers as well, based on personal experiences of CCF members. There are many threads that offer sage advice. I would recommend you give it a quick read and hit us with any questions you may have.

Learned the hard way.

I would also spend some time on ebay under the help section - especially related to how the proxy bidding system works.

It sounds to me as if someone else had bid above the current price (a proxy bid), and as you bid, ebay kept putting in a proxy bid on their behalf.

Ken

I recommend you watch items first before bidding. This way prices don't go up. Normally an auction last 6 days more or less and on the last day of auction you can bid if you see the price is still within your reach.

I'm a sniper. I don't use software, I just time my best offer bid to hit with one or two seconds remaining on the auction. Dial-uppers can forget this tactic. I've placed bids on items with days remaining prior to close. From a "buyers" perspective, that draws attention to something I'd prefer to keep quiet. I then watched as bids piled up one after the other. Not any more. I preview days in advance and if I see something interesting, I put it on my watch list. If the bidding hasn't gone ballistic I'll prep my bid about 10 minutes before close (I watch and bid on separate screens). I sync with ebay time thru the "refresh" button and wait till two seconds prior to close before launching my bid. Even sniper programs can't react. I'm around 90% successful. Those I've lost went for way more than I was willing to pay and those bids were received prior to mine.

Sellers would prefer that I take a more conventional approach and bid like a true auction. ebay isn't set up this way. Whoever gets the highest bid in at close, wins. When I sell, I understand these dynamics. I always start at .99 and have no reserve to encourage nominal bidding, thus bringing more attention to the auction.

There's been alot of fakes being offered on ebay lately. Alot of American silver dollars. I saw one guy had fake IHC being auctioned.