5 Bidding Strategies to Win that Auction

PropertyRoom.com | July 30, 2015 | #StealOfADeal, What's the Story | 1 Comment

Most of us would think that winning an auction is a difficult and complicated process. Some people even perceive that an auction is a more expensive way of buying stuff. Think again! Auctions, especially online auctions, can be a hassle-free (imagine shopping from the comforts of your own living room, or better yet, bedroom) and more budget-friendly way of shopping. How did it become the latter, you ask? Well, you don’t need to be a millionaire to participate in an auction or to ensure a winning bid, it is all in your auction bidding strategy.

There are a lot of ways to win an online auction. But before we share with you some best kept auctions bidding strategies, let’s see why you should participate in an auction.

What are the benefit of participating in an online auction?

Practicality: Participating in an online bidding is a practical move because there’s no need for you to shell out a big amount of money, you just need to be careful and strategic to get the best deal you could have as compared to buying it at retail cost.
You Determine the Price: Most online auctions provide interest bidders the convenience of determining the most acceptable price they are willing to pay for. As bidders, you have the power to initially place your maximum bid and you will not have the chance to over-shoot your costs. In this case, you are not forced to pay such amount which sometimes contradicts to your interest.
Not only for Individuals, but for Businesses as well: Online auctions offer a number of benefits not only to end consumers but to small businesses as well. If you are an individual who re-sells products, you might want to check out an online auction now. There are a wide variety of products that you could get at whole sale prices and resale at retail prices both online and offline.

Practicality, cost-efficiency, wide range of deals to choose from? Yes, that is online auction.

There are different varieties of auctions (we won’t get into that) but they all work somehow similar with each other and the bottom line is for you to have a working and efficient strategy to win that deal.

Placing a bid is a piece of cake. Just choose the product you like, place your preferred amount and you’re done. But that’s just the first step for you to win that deal, that precious deal. Here at PropertyRoom.com, most auctions start at $1 and are usually open for 2 or 3 days – in this kind of scenario, patience, awareness and in-depth research are your best friends to win the deal.

Pro Tip: If you are a first time bidder or a new comer to our website, or any other online auction sites for that matter, the first thing you have to do is to know how the website works. Read-up on the guidelines or ask customer support how they run the auctions for you to have the grasp on the system. This will make your bidding experience a lot easier. Once you equip yourself with this valuable information, you can now choose which product or category you would like to focus your bidding on and let the bidding start!

Now that we’ve brushed up on the benefits of online auctions, and a generic tip for first time bidders. Let’s now dive deeper and talk about the best kept secrets for you to increase the chances of winning an auction.

Do your research

This is the most intelligent move to take when you plan on participating in an offline or online auction. Researching for an auction comprises two things:
a.) Research done on the auction page – this simply means you inspecting the product that you are eyeing. Browse through the photos presented, check the product description, most especially the condition.

Each PropertyRoom.com auction has around 2-10 photos being displayed and as much information on the product is detailed on the description page.

b.) Research done outside the auction page – after thoroughly studying the product as it was described by the seller, learn more about the product directly from the producer (search for it on the web!). If it’s a gadget, check when it was released and how much it sells for in the retail market; if it’s a piece of jewelry, check how much a gram of gold currently cost and so on. You might also want to check if the product is popular or in demand (if it is, more people would want to have it, more people are your competitor bidders).

Researching would help you determine if 1) you really like the product, 2) how much you’d be willing to pay for the product and 3) even predict the winning bid amount to expect

Set your budget

The most important thing to consider before participating in an auction is your budget, how much are you willing to pay for a certain product? You’d always have competitor bidders that could outbid you just to get a hold of the precious product that you are “fighting” for. But this doesn’t mean that you need to put high stakes just to win it.

Here at PropertyRoom.com, you can place your maximum bid at the beginning of the auction – also known as ProxyBid. Once the system reaches your maximum bid and you haven’t won the auction yet, watch the bid activity of your competitors first and decide whether you’d go a little over your set budget or not.

Bid unpredictable amounts

Ah, placing a bid, the easiest part of the process. But hey, there is secret when placing a bid, too. In the duration of the auction, there is a possibility that you will get outbid by another bidder. If this happens, don’t stick with normal denominations like $10 or $15 or $50 (whole number that is), do it in a very unusual way like $10.65 or $50.89 (yes, decimals!). With that, you can possibly outbid other bidders without placing a very high amount but by just a penny or two ONLY.

Watch the auction timely

Getting yourself literally hooked on an auction would be a better way to win an auction – but who could do that? Good thing there are different features to help you monitor the auctions. One is the Watch List and another is the email notification when you were outbid by another bidder. But it is still best to check the auction regularly, especially when it is about to close, or better yet, check your emails regularly for that Outbid Notification from us.

Be there at the End

Every online auction have different time durations and the most crucial part of it is the last hour of the auction. Most people who participate in online auctions are waiting for the last minutes of the auction especially when the product is in demand. The closing time of an online auction is where the results could change in just a snap. Which is why it is very important that you are in front of your computer or your mobile device at the last minute of the auction, that way you can make last minute adjustments to your bid for you to increase the chances of you winning the auction.