Auction Power Guide

Dont do what is called nibble bidding which is bidding in increments. Decide what the maximum you are willing to pay including shipping, subtract the shipping amount listed in the auction from that amount, then bid once. Ebays system will proxy bid for you. If you get outbid dont take it personally, it just means someone else is willing to pay more than you. Another similar item will come along soon and then you can try again. Be sure to check the sellers feedback out before bidding, and check to see what payment methods they accept.
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6 years ebay experience.

Given the way the Ebay bidding system works, there’s nothing you can really do to keep the price low. Since the system auto-bids up to a person’s maximum, you can’t just "swoop in" at the last minute with a slightly higher bid. If you do, and someone else has a higher maximum bid, the system automatically has them out bid you.

But if you’re patient, the best thing to do is wait until a number of the same items are up for sale, and then gain the bidding on one of those. Multiple items of the same type depress overall prices, unless the demand is really high (like when a new video game system is released). If you feel like taking the risk, items that are sold by sellers with less history or lower ratings tend to go for a lower price, since some people only bid on items placed by "safe" auctioners.
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No matter what anyone says, you are more likely to win an auction if you place your bid about 20 seconds before it closes. That is because if you place it earlier, other bidders will see you as the high bidder and try to beat you until finally they do. But if your bid isn’t even in the system yet, then they MAY think that they don’t have to bid so much because nobody wants to pay a lot for the item. A lot of people don’t like it, but it is perfectly legitimate and commonly used as the best way to win. It is true that the highest bidder wins, but by bidding earlier you are encouraging other bidders to outbid you.
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The best way that I have had luck at is to search for several items that match your criteria, and add them to your "watch" folder. You can then check them out for auction ending times, and just before the auction is about to end for that item, you can come in, and enter a bid just a bit higher than the current bid. Now, keep in mind, the other bidder may have a higher max price, so even if you bid more than the current price, an automatic bad may be entered up to that bidder’s max price. I have won several items this way, but you have to be willing to stay by the computer at the end time of the auction. You need to bid with about a minute left, so in case thier max bid id higher, you will have time to keep bidding until you reach your max price, or it ends, and they have a higher max price. It works, with a little bit of practice. One thing though, don’t get mad, and keep bidding, just to get it, or you will spend a lot of money. Just realize that because you didn’t win that one, there will be others, lots of others. You need to be patient, sometimes.
Good luck.
Stevo.
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Any item on eBay that is very popular tends to demand high prices. So finding a video ipod for "cheap" is kinda hard to do. I would recommend a few things to reduce your cost.

1. Do an advanced search for the ipod but filter for "buy it now" only. Buy it Now’s are only available if there are no bids on the item or the reserve is not met. Sometimes you run into a seller who is looking to get rid of an item quick and puts a good price for buy it now. I have found some sweet deals on BIN’s.

2. Look for auctions closing on off hours (midnight to 6am) or on Thurs, Fri, or Sat. Historically eBay has less traffic on these days / hours. Less traffic generally produces lower auction prices.

3. Do searches for misspellings of the item title. "ipid" "ipof" "i pod" etc… The misspellings will have less views because they are hard to find. Less traffic generally produces lower auction prices.

Hope that helps!
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