Bid strategy for ComicLink? 0

[USArmyParatrooper]

Hello,

 

The only online auctions I've ever bid on is Ebay (besides DL one time), and I know exactly how the bidding works. It's always worked out well for me to bid in the last 10 seconds of the action.

 

But I'm not at all familiar with how ComicLink works, so I'm requesting advice from CL veterans as far as when and how much to bid.

 

I noticed when you get into high dollars the bid increments get pretty large on Heritage and David Lawrence. I bought an expensive coin once from David Lawrence and ended up paying more than I would have liked to, but I begrudgingly did so.

 

The high bid was below fair market value, but the next bid increment was slightly above it. I'm (assuming) CL also has sizable bid increments as you get higher up? So is there a strategy to be high bidder at a sweet spot where it's a good price, but the next bid might be slightly painful?

 

Also, when you place your high bid, does it accept that as the bid price or does it go just over the next highest bidder like Ebay does?

 

Thank you for any suggestions from the CL gurus!

 

-Sean

Edited September 7, 2011 by USArmyParatrooper

[comicdonna]

Don't worry about anything. Just bid high and often.

[sufunk]

Yeah, it's just like eBay and most other places. If the bid is at $100 and that's the max bid so far and yOu put in your max bid of $1,000, it will only go to $105(or whatever the increment is) until someone else puts in a bid and pushes you up (thumbs u

[mikenyc]

What Jason said, and if I really want a book, I start with the highest price I'm comfortable paying. If I get it at that price I would be happy, if I get it cheaper, than I am even happier, and if I don't get it, it's the same as seeing a price listed in a store or sales thread that is not agreeable and I would pass anyway.

 

That being said, if you are weak willed like myself and say what's a little more and a little more and try to get in the last 3 second bid, than all's fair in love and war. (thumbs u

[Norrin_Radd]

My strategy is the same for any auction.... last second max bid. I win or I don't. Don't see a need to bump up price until the very end.

[Iceman399]

My strategy is the same for any auction.... last second max bid. I win or I don't. Don't see a need to bump up price until the very end.

 

+1, often the more bids on an item the more it may appeal to someone other than yourself thinking hey now that I see someone else wants it I want it that much more and will quickly be over spending/buying things you don't want

[Brian48]

I've only been using CL since June. I bid pretty much the same way I bid on eBay. I just bid the highest I can go and just ride it out. Sometimes if bidding is higher than expected, I will put another higher bid if I think it's worth it. I honestly I don't waste my time with sniping. If I really wanted something, I'd just bid some really ridiculous amount and hope no one is as stupid or as crazy as I am.

[my_stuff-migration]

I honestly I don't waste my time with sniping. If I really wanted something, I'd just bid some really ridiculous amount and hope no one is as stupid or as crazy as I am.

 

That leaves you wide open for shill bidding. Sniping is the only way to go if you don't want to get burned.

[mikenyc]

I honestly I don't waste my time with sniping. If I really wanted something, I'd just bid some really ridiculous amount and hope no one is as stupid or as crazy as I am.

 

That leaves you wide open for shill bidding. Sniping is the only way to go if you don't want to get burned.

 

But if you started with the absolute highest you would be willing to bid, it's moot and the only difference is you are not allowing yourself the chance to breakdown and spend more in the heat of the moment.

[my_stuff-migration]

I honestly I don't waste my time with sniping. If I really wanted something, I'd just bid some really ridiculous amount and hope no one is as stupid or as crazy as I am.

 

That leaves you wide open for shill bidding. Sniping is the only way to go if you don't want to get burned.

 

But if you started with the absolute highest you would be willing to bid, it's moot and the only difference is you are not allowing yourself the chance to breakdown and spend more in the heat of the moment.

 

If you started with your absolute highest bid, then by definition you wouldn't be bidding anymore at all :shrug:

 

But I'll have to disagree in general. If you don't snipe, you may end up paying more than you should have to, not more than you wanted to. If you put in a bid of $100 and the only other bidder is a Shill, instead of paying the $5 opening bid, you'll be paying $99.99. Right there you got screwed for $95. Sniping doesn't allow the shill to chip away at your max bid.

[Ghost Town]

My strategy is the same for any auction.... last second max bid. I win or I don't. Don't see a need to bump up price until the very end.

I do that too. But occasionally, C-Link's servers have been slow and it made it hard to get in a last second bid. So when it's something I really want, I'm more of a last 45 second kind of bidder.

[DailySuperpower]

It should also be noted that CL doesn't have a watch feature so for convenience you can put in tracking bids to consolidate all the books you are watching on your active bids page. It's not really a bidding strategy since these bids are so low they're almost irrelevant, but you also get an idea of how many people are "watching" certain books by how many tracking bids are put in.

 

[lizards2]

I honestly I don't waste my time with sniping. If I really wanted something, I'd just bid some really ridiculous amount and hope no one is as stupid or as crazy as I am.

 

That leaves you wide open for shill bidding. Sniping is the only way to go if you don't want to get burned.

 

But if you started with the absolute highest you would be willing to bid, it's moot and the only difference is you are not allowing yourself the chance to breakdown and spend more in the heat of the moment.

 

If you started with your absolute highest bid, then by definition you wouldn't be bidding anymore at all :shrug:

 

But I'll have to disagree in general. If you don't snipe, you may end up paying more than you should have to, not more than you wanted to. If you put in a bid of $100 and the only other bidder is a Shill, instead of paying the $5 opening bid, you'll be paying $99.99. Right there you got screwed for $95. Sniping doesn't allow the shill to chip away at your max bid.

I rarely have to worry about that, as there seems to usually be someone that is willing to pay double whatever my high bid is. There have been about 5 exceptions, but that is it.

[batmiesta]

My strategy is the same for any auction.... last second max bid. I win or I don't. Don't see a need to bump up price until the very end.

Me too ! I go through all the books I am interested in as soon as possible, place a $1 bid on them or as little as possible,depends if a bid has already been placed, easier to track, then put my last minute max bid in, if I win, great, if not, wait until the next one comes along and I have a idea of what it may go for.

[USArmyParatrooper]

OK, here's something I didn't think of before and it kind of sucks.

 

If there's more than one comic you want, you can NOT just move on to the next comic if you don't win the first, correct? They all end at the same time don't they?

[TheWatcher]

OK, here's something I didn't think of before and it kind of sucks.

 

If there's more than one comic you want, you can NOT just move on to the next comic if you don't win the first, correct? They all end at the same time don't they?

 

No, the ending times are staggered

[batmiesta]

OK, here's something I didn't think of before and it kind of sucks.

 

If there's more than one comic you want, you can NOT just move on to the next comic if you don't win the first, correct? They all end at the same time don't they?

 

You would have to be quick, not sure of the exact time, but I think you get 15-20 seconds.

[shadroch]

If you are bidding on Avenger 4 and want to bid on Avengers 5 if you lose, you are in trouble, but if your fallback is Avengers 25, you'll be fine.

[TheWatcher]

Not sure how it works in the Focused auctions, as I never follow those, but in the Featured auctions you have 30 seconds in-between lots

[The Troll King]

So far Comic Connect is the only auction site that seems to offer exactly the way it should be handled.

 

I know you guys are probably tired of hearing me say this over the years but an auction site should increase the close time of an item if a bid is placed within the last 5 minutes (or so) of closing. This is how a REAL auction works in a live setting.

 

This gives ample time for second/third/fourth bidder to counter the bid if they feel they are willing to pay that $10 more than they originally would have.

 

Auctionuniverse.com (which is long gone but was better and BEFORE eBay) started with this practice 1995.

 

The systems set up by eBay, Heritage, CLink and the rest of them FAIL because it allows people to force up maximum bids using shills (with usual little risk of the shill winning the item) and it allows sniping and auction in which case everyone loses.

 

Before anyone gets upset by this statement hear me out.

Soft end times for items would lead to increased values on items, increased buyer's premiums, and more satisfied buyers! It's a complete no-brainer and I have no idea why eBay or anyone else is so set on their ways about this.

 

I know the argument is that "only bid what you're willing to pay" but the truth is, for any of you that have actually been to a live auction if you decide before the auction that you're only going to pay $100 for that box of Strawberry Shortcake dolls and you're in a situation where only one other person is bidding, more often than not you'll get caught up in the action and will go ahead and pay that $110 for that box.

 

It's easy for us to rationalize the extra $10 when we only have a limited amount of time to make the decision. In the end, as I said, everyone comes out ahead, and everyone is happy.