There are as many bidding strategies as there are bidders. A lot has to do with how much time you have to sit at the computer and watch as things develop. I will pass along mine. You are free to use any or all of it as it fits your needs.

First off I decide what the next item I want to bid on is. I do some research on it such as checking at least a couple of retail outlets on the web to see what that item is selling for new. This helps in setting my max bid. I’m sure not going to bid more than I can buy it for at the retail outlet. I then search for the item on Ebay. I like to do business with dealers that I have had good service with before. If I notice one of those dealers, I will check them out first. Then I scan through the list for the lowest starting bids. I will check the little box on each item that seems to have a good price. Having that done I click on the compare button. This takes each of the items I checked and puts them in a side by side comparison. Here I take several things into account at the same time. I look to see who has the best overall price (starting bid S/H) as one catches my eye, I check that sellers feedback. I want a dealer that has a 99.8% or better feedback. I might go lower, but that would depend on the reasons for the negative raings. I use a third party product that shows me just the negative and neutral feedbacks for a person. Having done all that, I will take the top three items and put them on watch. While I am still in the search mode, I check the box for completed items and search that. It shows all the previous sales for that item in the last 30 days. I add the overall winning bids for each item sold then devide by the number of items sold. This gives me the average selling price for that item.

I look at the first item to close, leaving the other two as backups.I don’t like to start bidding on an item till it is within two days of closing. I don’t want to wind up bidding that item up while waiting for it to close. If somebody else has a bid in on it, that is fine, I will keep it on watch till the last 12 hours. While I wait, for each item, I take the average selling price and subtract the S/H charges for that item and that gives me my max bid. I compare that number with what the item goes for at retail stores. I use the lower of the two as my max bid. I put this info in the comments block of my Ebay. I do this for the two backup items as the max bid will change depending on the S/H charges. I am then ready to start bidding. I keep the items condition in mind as how high I am actually willing to go. I don’t bid my actual max until I am within two minutes of closing. If I am in the lead at that point all I have to do is sit back and see if someone snipes the item in the last few seconds. If I win great. If not I go to my backups and start the bidding process again.

I hope this has helped. Good luck in your bidding.