Jenny How

eBay Strategy: When to Buy, When to Bid

pros and cons of bidding and buy it now.

You can't avoid it. Maybe it's happening now, or maybe later: do you pay the fixed dollar price, or do you continue bidding?

What's the best strategy here? The scenario could be a single auction, or you could be torn among several auctions of the many types. Do you click the buy now button, or maybe slug it out at the outbidding game?

It's a cross between risk management and gambling.

What are you willing to walk away with? What will you settle for? Let's look at the possible gains and losses.

Purchase Now: the Gains

If you go with the buy now option, you already have the asking price, and could even deliberate of paying such an amount. Or not. You can even have a talk over, negotiate. No more need to keep a watchful eye on the auction.

No getting dragged in bidding during the final minutes, no matter how exciting that can be. Consider for a moment that the seller would be getting a fixed price for their goods. Instantly, they're nicer to you. Sometimes sellers resent it when you got too much of a good bargain.

Purchase Now: the Loses

Coughing out the money now means buying at a price that could have gotten lower later. This gets worse with the heftier priced items. Also, you're killing the auction fun by buying the goods now.

Besides, if you wanted a fixed price, why go to an auction? The web is crawling with stores all screaming 'fixed price.' Opting for a set price in a gamble-auction is nothing less than boring. Unless that's exactly what you want. Or you don't care for the fun, just to get the goods you want.

Other Considerations

Some rules don't ever change. A fraction of the time, buying the goods now means getting it on the cheap. Sometimes, bidding gets you there, too. It really drags down to your convenience, the price, and if you need the item right now. After all it's your money, and your whim.

Of course, opting for the buy now option is prudent when the present bid is almost nearing the fixed price for the item. No point in waiting for the bid to balloon and the bidding to drag on.

The same prudent logic goes for when the selling price is just a tad heftier than the starting bid. Why hassle it out with bidding? Buy. Now.

Of course, some use the buy now gesture to announce a claim to an item after a long war of bidding. If you like that, go for it. If you're prudent, don't. Being decisive and getting a bargain are two different things.

The buy now option is an effective eBay strategy used to get ahead in the bidding arena. You'd best remember that of the many eBay bidders, many of them don't have the faintest as to what they're doing. A few notes on tactics, like the foregoing, can help you secure the goods.

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