Ebay-ing for Coupons Pt 2

Ebay has really got some sellers on there lately that are taking advantage of newcomers to coupons. In my humble opinion, they are abusing the system. I come across this with a little detective work while wondering what was going on with my bids.

There are some of the sellers that, I believe, are running up the bids on their own lots. I will give you an example of why I was even curious to start:

Lot of 20 coupons for .45/1 Angel Soft bathroom tissue (AWESOME coupon)

The lot had a bid of around 1.20. I bid 2.10. This gave me the winning bid. An hour before the auction ended, My bid was maxed out but not over come. (It was one of those sellers that use the same photo for all their listings. I had bought from them previously. Keep this in mind.)

3 other lots that I had been bidding on were done the same way. Maxed out but never outbid. I went and looked at the history of the bids. Each bid had been at the .10 integral that the seller had specified for their listings. And across the listings I had purchased, it was the same bidder with identical bidding pattern. Always maxing, never topping. On Ebay, if you bid the same as someone else the bid will be matched, but the other bidder will win because they bid that amount first. It is a tell-tale sign that the auction was worked.

Unfortunately, there is nothing that can really be done about this. My advice, if you have the time, is to add items to your watch list and keep them fairly regular around the same period of time, and during times when you are going to be online anyway. Then when you are already on the computer, you can keep a tab open to watch the progress. I usually bid during the last hour and keep an eye on my lots every 15-20 minutes.

The only bad part about this type of bidding is that you are more tempted to pay WAY more than you want just so you will win. You have to be able to draw the line. If you know you are competitive by nature, you may want to just go ahead and bid your max that you are willing to pay and just let it run. Just be smart about your own tenancies and what you want. choose the way that is most beneficial to you.