Originally Posted by
FBOATSB
Thanks. I have very little experience with Ebay, like zero. For the shifters I'm interested in it appears I'm the only bidder and the "auction" ends tonight shortly after midnight. What are my chances?
$45 sounds about like the expected price, so I'd give you a 50/50 chance of winning the auction.
E-Bay uses a "proxy" bid system. So, say you bid $100 on the item. If there are no more bidders, then you'll get it at the opening bid, $45. On the other hand, if someone bid $60, you'd still get the item (at about $62, or one bid increment higher).
Some bidders will bid multiple times. For that reason, there are a lot of bidders that will wait till the last moment and bid, effectively preventing other bidders from increasing their bid.
Anyway, don't be surprised if you go to bed with a winning bid at 12:30, and wake up the next morning having been outbid.
Fortunately, there are always more items on E-Bay. Miss one, and get the next.