Reply #8: Yeah, I usually wait until the last 10 or 15 seconds [View All]

[Awsi Dooger]

Never show yourself before then. Pick a max bid and put it in, no second guessing if you fall just short. But you have to make sure you've already gone through the sign-in crap so they don't make you do anything but confirm the bid in the final seconds. Sometimes I keep a separate window open, on the same item, and refresh it to check the bid level approaching the end of the auction.

I generally bid on things I know the value of, like golf clubs and computers. I look for poorly listed auctions, ones that end in the middle of the night or have an absurdly low Buy It Now. Last week I bought a golf club purely to resell it. I paid $38 total including shipping and I know with a good listing I can fetch $70 or $80, maybe more. The same club went for $124.50 last night. But I might end up keeping it.

Good luck on the book. There are the same annoyances with sporting equipment, professional bidders who spot value and ruin it for average bidders. I can frequently tell what they are doing. One major golf company, Callaway, has preowned clubs on their website, very good to excellent condition with low shipping rates. Some ebay stores buy those clubs in bulk and then sell them on ebay at higher prices. They take advantage of ebayers who don't know about callawaypreowned.com. I can spot it a mile a way. Specific clubs on callawaypreowned will disappear in huge quantity then days later ebay is flooded with that same club. Actually, I should be doing it myself. I know the gag and the profit is generally $10 to $30 average per club.