How to win a bid on eBay?

[Ken]

First, if it is a common item you are trying to buy then look at some completed auctions to see how much they are generally selling for. You can use eBay's advanced search to look at completed auctions.

Once you know what the item generally sells for you need to decide what you are willing to pay for it. If you want to pay much less than what the item usually sells for it will be much more difficult to win.

One option is to do complex searches to see if you can find one that is poorly listed which may lower the competition on the auction. When an item is listed in the wrong category or is misspelled it is more difficult for other bidders to find.

Once you have found the item you think you have the best chance on and have decided what you are willing to pay watch the auction. Sniping or putting a bid in in the last few seconds of an auction is a reasonably good strategy for bidding. It wont allow your competitors to slowly bid you up until they have surpassed your bid, and it also keeps you from spending more than you meant to by not allowing you to second guess yourself.

You could also just submit your bid at the time you find your item but another bidder may well knock you out of the running bidding up a dollar at a time until you have lost the lead.

Once you have submitted your bid you just have to wait and see if your bid was the highest of the bids submitted.

Good luck and have fun on eBay.