As I recall, you can enter your highest bid and it will automatically increase your bid until you reach the amount you entered. There aren't all that many auctions left on ebay, most items are Buy It Now or Make offer.

You will get an email when you are outbid so you can increase your bid, or you can enter a last minute bid but if your competitor has auto bids entered, they may outbid you .

So the auto bid is only entered on the item if it’s higher than a bid by the other bidder? I was hoping to avoid a bidding war, so if I do an auto bid now, won’t she maybe just outbid that? Or does the auto bid go in smaller increments until it reaches my limit?

I would set my timer for 5 mins before the auction ended and then bid my maximum - which would be ie: not $100, but $101 or something like that.

Figure out the maximum that you would be willing to pay and enter that number. The system will continue to outbid your competition in small increments up to that number. You may win the auction at way below your maximum bid. As soon as someone bids higher than your maximum, you are out of the competition. Some people may try to "snipe" the auction, putting in their bid at the very last minute. But they have no way of knowing your maximum bid and can still lose to you. If you get outbid, accept that it sold for more than you wanted to pay.

I have found that putting in a bid early does not work in my favour - it alerts others to increase their bid. I don’t know if it’s sniping to put a bid in 5 mins before it ends, but it still leaves you time to adjust your bid. I am no expert though and only bid once a year on something. I put in my maximum

Haha, I want these very much so I even thought of messaging the owner to tell my sad tale of losing mine and offering a good price if they’d switch to buy it now. I’m sure that’s probably aginst the rules, tho, so I didn’t. I figure if the other bidder might be a resaler, perhaps they will show up again.

Thanks for all the tips!

Ps. I will try autobid and be prepared to snipe if necessary!

Put the autobid in about 10 minutes prior to the auction end, that way you don't waste $ outbidding each other for hours. And yes, be prepared to snipe, but that is a fine art, you want to bid lat enough so your bid is entered, but not early enough to get outsniped.

Exciting evening ahead Olychick -hope you win

Decide what your maximum would be and place your bid in the last minute of the auction. I used to time and snipe in the last 20 seconds. Just make sure you do it in the time your computer allows to refresh and get the bid in. If lost but I was fine with that since I knew my maximum. But my loses were very, very infrequent. I would also add a few pennies to my bid in case of a tie.

What you see is not the higher bidders actual bid. The price goes up incrementally There is no way to know how much others have bid until the end of the auction.

Do what wildchild says. Snipe! In the last 7 seconds....put in your highest bid.....

I own a beautiful pair of cast 18k gold, circle earrings with a huge Tahitian pearl in the center with 3 little diamonds. The jeweler appraisal was $3k back then, I paid $59. (A jeweler on the East coast was retiring, selling everything in the store, even the oak display cases.....I purchased several pieces)

I’m feeling grateful for my new Starlink internet connection. I’ve always had super slow internet with no other options, but Starlink is a game changer, so a last minute bid might actually work!

I agree with @wildchild2x2 and @nicole___. I figure out the maximum I'm willing to pay and enter that bid with 8 seconds left. I seldom lose.

What time does it end....let us know if you got it....fingers crossed for you.

While waiting for the last few minutes of the auction, be sure to check places like Poshmark for the earrings. Since you have found the ones you want on eBay, chances are there are some listed on other sites.

Thanks Maddielee, I've looked everywhere. There is a pair on poshmark but they say "not for sale" - not sold just not for sale. Owner is on vacation. There is one other pair but the color is different available from a storefront. They are out there; if I don't get these I'll keep looking. Or I could pay a repairman to take apart my washing machine an extract the one inside, lol. It's probably ruined now, though.

Just came back to see if you won. Yay!

Thanks for explaining that MDLN about the bump up. I didn't see or know there was a certain bump up, but it must have been a dollar. The original price was 24.99 and so I bid that and apparently $25 was marked as my highest bid. I didn't understand all the finer points of how this all worked. Then someone bid $1 more and I decided I didn't want to get into a bidding war to raise the price, so just waited to bid $10 more at the end in case the other person had a higher maximum bid that would kick in. I thought I would pay the full price of my maximum, even if the other person didn't bid again, but I guess that's not how it works. It was a really good price for these earrings and I probably would have paid double what I paid if I'd found them on "buy me now." But, I'm happy to have them and the price was right. I doubt I'll ever bid on ebay again, but if I should want to, this info all helps.

Sign up for Bidnapper! It is an online bidding service that snipes for you at the last possible second. Shhh don’t tell anybody.

Good tip, but I doubt I'll be doing any more auctions!!

I rarely look at ebay anymore, but I know way back in the day there were apps or whatever you call it that would do it automatically for you. Sounds like Chinacat has suggested one of those. Now I am curious to see if I can remember the specific one I am thinking of....

Anyway "wear your earrings in good health and enjoy" as we used to say in the old neighborhood.

The first time I ever used Ebay was to buy a vintage 1960s sundress. I remember my heart pounding those last moments of the auction. I thought, this must be a "gambler's high" and I didn't like the feeling one bit, which must be why I'm not a gambler. Years later I was in a focus group for people who participate in auctions. One of the guys in the group went to a lot of art auctions and by his own admission, spent way too much money. He said that his happiest moments were when he lost. (BTW, my sundress cost $6. I've been wearing it every summer for the last 20 years and get compliments every time I wear it.)

I use eBay for clothing and vintage items. For clothing and jewelry, I concentrate on a few labels I’m familiar with (so I know the quality and fit)and pay a small fraction of the original price. I also buy occasionally buy vintage ceramics and other household items. For a recent renovation, I got a few Rohl fixtures, new/ open box non plumbing items, vintage light fixtures, and Emtek door and cabinet hardware. I saved a lot! These days, the “buy it now” format is more common than auction.

I'm kind of at the place in my life that I want to get rid of stuff instead of acquiring more, so I don't really look at ebay much. That said, I did just also buy a set of 4 Portmierion crescent shaped salad plates. I've loved their dishes for forever, but really prefer white plates for food and already have lots of serving pieces. I'm never happy with my table settings using the small square salad plates I have and decided to try a crescent shape. I found a set on ebay of the Portmierion, which is out of production, (thankfully, Buy Me Now, so I didn't have to navigate an auction). I do love not having to schlep from store to store to find something I want and it's so easy to look at LOTS of options there.

Every time you wear the earrings they can remind you that you have mastered (or are in the process) of learning a new life skill. Sometimes you can get good deals too. If you ever get a chance, go to a real live auction. Decades ago when I had my horses a friend and I would go to horse auctions to pick up deals on horse care accessories and tack, and the auction and people there were always very entertaining.

Lucillle, it would be good to acquire a new life skill. Not sure how much I'll use ebay auctions, however. The skill I need to hone is not losing earrings. I've NEVER before lost earrings because I use those little silicone protectors on the wires. But arthritis is making putting the protectors on a bit too challenging. And a couple of times I've grabbed my earrings and put them in my pocket or hoodie pouch to put on while I'm sitting at a stop light or similar. I've lost 3 pairs like that in the last 6 months, so I think I've finally learned my lesson to not do that.

The first pair, I lost one at Trader Joes. Someone turned it in to the office, so I got it back but it had been run over (probably by me). I kept meaning to send it to the artists to see if they could repair it, but haven't done so.

Second pair, same company, was the exact same scenario. I forgot about the earrings in my fleece hoodie pouch until I found ONE of them in the washer; the other was gone. The washer made a bad noise for a few minutes the next load I washed, then quieted down, so I think the earring is in the works somewhere.

Third pair, same artists (I love their earrings) was on Thanksgiving. I had guests and put the earrings on but couldn't get the protector on and I was feeling rushed. Figured if I lost the earring, it would be in the house, so I didn't worry too much. Sure enough, it fell out and I couldn't find it anywhere. Then 2 days ago, I was unloading the dishwasher and something caught my eye in the seam of one of the components on the bottom of the dishwasher. Could it be? Yep, there was my earring, absolutely intact! I was SO happy! Drives me crazy to lose things, esp things I am very fond of.

And I've now found a pair of the Trader Joe's ruined earrings for sale (new) and am replacing those...all 3 pair will be restored in my life.

And I will never leave the house with earrings in my pockets again!