Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Why bid early?

I suspect I'm either missing something or haven't thought this through properly, but...

Why on earth would anyone bid on an item on eBay at a time other than the closing minutes of an auction? Surely bidding days in advance is just likely to lead to a higher final price since people have more time to outbid your offer?

I'm aware that people don't always act rationally on eBay, but still, I'm confused.

1 comment:

Chip said...

From this particular rational person's viewpoint...

If you know how much the item is worth to you, and hence the maximum you're willing to pay, it doesn't really matter when you start bidding, does it? It's only second-order effects of your bid timing that could come into the decision - whether your bid makes other people more or less likely to join in.