1118 – Bidding on Online Auctions
Jermaine: Wait! You shouldn’t bid on that auction right now. Wait until the last minute.
Bethany: This auction has a buy-it-now price of $25 and free shipping.
Jermaine: Don’t pay the buy-it-now price. The minimum bid on this item is $10 and the current bid is only $12.50. There’s no reserve, so if you wait to bid, you may snag it for a much lower price than $25.
Bethany: Okay, I guess I can wait, but why can’t I place a bid of $15 right now?
Jermaine: First of all, the bidding on this auction goes up by increments of 50-cents, so the next bid would be $13.00. You could place a maximum bid of $15.00, but someone might outbid you at any time.
Bethany: But couldn’t that happen anyway? Even if I wait until the last minute someone could sneak in and bid a higher price.
Jermaine: You mean they could snipe you? They could, but not if you snipe them back. It’s all in the timing.
Bethany: You seem to know a lot about online auctions.
Jermaine: That item you’re bidding on, guess who listed it?