thanks Cornell for sharing your strategy...
Do you have an ebook or special report
on strategic bidding ? just wondering...
something to think about...

Hi Dien:

> I quite often attend auctions looking for
> deals...a couple of weeks ago I bought a
> year old Gateway computer for $290 and sold
> it 2 days later for $650 using a local
> internet classifed ad...also a childs desk
> (new) for $105 and sold it for $250 the same
> way.

> Most auctioneers ask for a fairly high
> opening bid, and then end up having to back
> track asking for an opening bid which is
> usually ridiculously low...then they run it
> up in low increments and it usually gets up
> to the opening bid they were asking
> originally plus some.

> I like to get to the auctions about an hour
> before they start. I check out the items and
> single out the ones I am interested in and
> what II am willing to pay for them...then I
> sit back and watch. Watching to see who is
> interested in the items I am after, and how
> many. It takes a bit of watching and
> learning but after a few auctions one can
> tell who is going to be bidding against you.

> When the auctioneer gets to my item I always
> make the first bid if no one starts at the
> auctioneers requested bid.

> Using the computer above as an example (I
> knew I had 2 serious bidders and that the
> max I was going to bid was $300), this is
> the way the bidding went:

> Auctioneer asks for opening bid of $500...no
> bid...I opened it at $100 (I could have gone
> $50 but it just would have prolonged the
> process, plus it was a psychological ploy on
> the other 2 bidders). Next bid was
> $110...then the 3rd bidder came in at $120.
> I added $50 and made my next bid at $170.
> Again the other bidders came back with $180
> and $185...one bidder had halfed his former
> increment and I was confident he was going
> to be out on the next bid. Again I bid up by
> $50 to $235. Next bid was to $240 and third
> bidder dropped out....now there were just
> the two of us. Again I added the $50
> increment and bid $290 (my max was set at
> $300)....and that was it....the other bidder
> quit.

> You see many things happened here...I was a
> serious bidder and made it known by the
> increments I was bidding (kind of a mind
> game with the other bidders). The final
> bidder had switched his bid from a $10
> dlollar increment to a $5 increment which
> told me he was just about done unless I
> played his game of low increments where it
> could easily run up quickly. Then I took it
> almost to my max...would I have bid more -
> no I wouldn't, and I knew I wouldn't have
> to. In order for this other buyer to
> purchase he would have had to take it to
> $295 or $300 (which was still low for the
> computer), and since he didn't know my max,
> he would have to assume following my pattern
> that my next bid would be $345 or $350 and
> then his subsequent one $355 - $360 ( still
> a viable amount)- and repeating this one
> more time would have meant he would have to
> pay at least $410 - $415 for the
> computer.....by him halfing his increment
> earlier I knew he wasn't willing to take it
> even to the $355 mark...what he he didn't
> know is that had he bid one more time he
> would have owned it.

> I use this same activity on all auctions
> whether it is for something as small as a
> desk (using $25 dollar increments, or to
> larger items like cars or yard equipment
> where the increments can be $100 or higher.

> Very seldom do I lose the item I want
> (unless I run into a serious bidder who
> wants it more than me and is willing to pay
> beyond the max I set for myself)...and never
> do I go beyond the max I set out.

> As I had posted about the auction, I thought
> I would add this for anyone interested.

> Cornell