eBay is the largest auction website in the world, with over 500 million auctions held annually. The popularity of auctioning used goods and services on eBay has made the site a popular way for people to sell property, assets, and other goods and services. With so many people using the site to sell things, eBay has a lot of information and processes in place to make sure that sellers aren’t taking advantage of users or processing payments in an untrustworthy manner. When using Bidding on eBay, you have the ability to set a Max Bids Amount and a minimum starting price for each of your auctions. This type of bidding is known as Price-First or Price Resistance. It means that if your item is placed in an auction and the starting price is set too low, you won’t be able to compete with cheaper bids. On the flip side, if your item is too expensive and your starting bid is set too high, you won’t be able to drive up your chances of selling your item for a higher price. You can also use a Buy It Now (BIN) option to set the price at which you’ll buy an item from a seller
how does bidding work on eBay
If you want to make sure that your item is going to go for a high price, you need to set your starting bid as high as possible. On the other hand, if you want to ensure that your item won’t go for a low price, you need to set your starting bid as low as possible.
How Does Bidding Work On eBay
- Set your Max Bids Amount and a minimum starting price for your auctions.
- If you are selling an item that will be shipped, you’ll need to select the appropriate shipping method.
- If you are selling an item that won’t be shipped, you can set the item’s location and country of origin, as well as its weight and dimensions.
- Select “Bid Now” or “Bid On This” to start bidding on the item in question and/or place a bid on another item in the same auction.
- Place your bid by typing in a number between 0 and 100,000 (higher amounts are more expensive). You’ll also have the option to click “Place Bid” after typing in your bid amount if you want to place a second bid before it is accepted by eBay’s system (you must have enough available funds to cover both bids).
- When another bidder places a higher bid on your first auctioned item, you can either accept the bid or “snipe” the item by placing a bid on another item in the same auction.
- When your bid is accepted, you’ll be able to view and track your current eBay auctions on the site’s homepage.
How To Post An Item For Sale On eBay
- Go to the eBay homepage and click on “My eBay” in the upper right corner.
- Click on the “Sell” tab, then “Items” from the drop-down menu.
- Locate the item you want to sell and click on it.
- From here, you’ll want to scroll down to the bottom of your screen and click on “Add a listing”.
- Fill out all of your information and make sure that you’ve filled out everything correctly before submitting your listing!
- Once submitted, wait for approval! This can take some time as there are lots of sellers selling items daily on eBay – so be patient!
- Once your listing has been approved, you will be taken to a page where you can go back and edit your listing.
- You will also notice that the item is now listed on the “Active Listings” page. This means that the item is no longer just a draft, but an actual active listing on eBay!
- Go to the “Active Listings” page and click on “Inactive Items”. You’ll see all of the items that you’ve listed that have not yet sold within a specified number of days (we recommend 3-4 days) – this is where you can find out why your item hasn’t sold!
- If there isn’t anything wrong with your listing, it’s time to start placing bids! To do this, simply go back to your listing and add additional information such as Quantity (1, 2, or 3), Price (your starting price), and Delivery Time (Next Day or Two Days).
- When you’re ready to place your first bid, you can simply click on “Place Bids” and fill out the necessary information.
- You can now place your bids in the order that you wish – in our example, we’ve placed a bid at $7.99.
- Once you’ve placed your bids, you will be taken to a page where you can view all of your bids and see how much money is left in the bidding pool(s). If another buyer places a higher bid than yours, eBay will automatically raise its price.
- If no one else outbids you, eBay will keep raising the price until someone outbids them!
- Once all of your bids have been placed and there’s no more room in the bidding pool(s), your item will be sold! Congratulations! You just completed an eBay listing for an item that’s been sold!
How To Start A Bidding War On eBay
- First, you need to decide on the maximum amount of money you’re willing to spend. This is your Max Bids Amount.
- Second, you need to decide on the minimum price that you’re willing to accept for an item. This is your Min Bid Price.
- Third, you need to set your Max Bids Amount and Min Bid Price in your eBay account-preferences page (Settings > My eBay).
- Fourth, once this is done, go back into the “Bidding” tab of your eBay account and click “Start a New Auction” or “Bid Now” (depending on whether or not there are bids already on the item).
- Fifth, fill out all of the necessary fields for an auction listing: Title for the listing (description), Description for what it is that you’re selling (make sure it doesn’t have any excessive information), Start Time, End Time, and Item Condition.
- Sixth set your Max Bids Amount and Min Bid Price.
- Lastly, click the “Continue” button at the bottom of the page to finish creating your auction listing.
- Once you’ve created an item listing, you can start to fill out all of the necessary information for your auction.
- Now that you have a bid on an item, it’s time to find out how much other people are willing to pay for it!
How To Stop A Bidding War On eBay
- When placing your bid, use the drop-down menu to set the amount of the bid.
- If you want to make sure that your bid will be the highest, it’s important to place a bid that’s at least 1% higher than the next highest bidder.
- It’s also a good idea to leave some room for error and keep your bids between 2 and 5% higher than the second-highest bidder.
- Finally, when you’re placing a very high or low bid, consider using an automatic bidding system like AutoBidder or eBay’s Manage Your Bids feature
Conclusion
eBay is a great place to sell and buy items, but it can be difficult to know how everything works. In this guide, we will cover everything you need to know about bidding on eBay, from how to post an item for sale to how to stop a bidding war. We hope that this guide helps you in making the most of your eBay experience.