How can you bid on an Auction when you are asleep? ;)

Since I live in New Zealand obviously the timezone is different and most auctions finish late night or early morning for me when I am  

I looked to bid on an old hare a few days ago and it finished something like 2:00 am!  
Well I wasn't going to get up at two in the morning   so I left it, but it strikes me as an interesting thought. How can you bid on an auction when you are asleep?  

I think it was last year that I did actually get up at 5am to bid on something once, but it seemed a bit pointless to make it a regular thing because I need my sleep and I'd much rather go for a buy now offer then a bidding war

The hare didn't sell. So I would've been the only bidder  But theres no way I'm staying up that late or waking up at any hour of the night  
Any thoughts/idea?

Though having said that, my brother stays up all hours of the night and sleeps through the day

Just bid early, and not at the at the end of the auction.

I've tried that on a lion which didn't sell the first time so I mistakinly thought that nobody was interested. At the last second someone over bid on me and I lost it

I guess I'm used to New Zealand auctions which always add two minutes everytime someone bids to give other people a chance. I forget that ebay doesn't have that 

Anyway, as soon as you bid, people think that its worth it, so they bid aswell.

That's a pain, I don't know that I would be comfortable with an auction adding more time like that!

Yeah a lot of people don't like it either

What would you do if an auction you really wanted finished late at night or early morning???

Eternal problem, - but I never wait till the last minute, because I just forget

Emma wrote:

Yeah a lot of people don't like it either

What would you do if an auction you really wanted finished late at night or early morning???

When that happens I just bid the highest I'm willing to pay at the latest time I can do it. If I don't win then oh well, there will be more down the road.

LeeAnn wrote:

Emma wrote:

Yeah a lot of people don't like it either

What would you do if an auction you really wanted finished late at night or early morning???

When that happens I just bid the highest I'm willing to pay at the latest time I can do it. If I don't win then oh well, there will be more down the road.

I guess I'm not used to ebay! I don't know how to place an autobid

If you place a bid on eBay that's higher than the next increment, and the next bidder is below your bid, then it will outbid the other person for you and up your bid. In other words, any bid you put in is automatically an autobid.

Have you thought of setting an alarm that will wake you 30 minutes in advance? Just in case you ignore the alarm and sleep a bit late you won't lose? That's what I would do. But I usually don't bid on auctions that much.

LeeAnn wrote:

Emma wrote:

Yeah a lot of people don't like it either

What would you do if an auction you really wanted finished late at night or early morning???

When that happens I just bid the highest I'm willing to pay at the latest time I can do it. If I don't win then oh well, there will be more down the road.

What Leeann said. I'm new to miniatures collecting, but not eBay. The safest thing to do in this case is (just before you go to bed the night the auction ends if it makes you feel better) just to bid the maximum you're willing to pay and be done. This doesn't mean your maximum will be the highest bid at that moment, the bidding function will bid up to your maximum. For example, let's say something is currently at $2.00 and you're willing to pay $10.00. You bid $10.00. Now it depends on the current bidder's maximum bid. If their maximum bid is $3.00, eBay will place your current bid at $3.50 and you're on top. If their highest bid was $12.00, they're still on top but the bid is now $10.50. If they had bid $3.00 and you're on top at $3.50 but someone else comes along and bids $7.00, you'll still be on top but the bid is now $7.50.  Really, the safest thing is to bid your maximum and leave it, waiting to the end if there's a bidding war makes no one but the seller happy. Competitiveness tends to take over.

If there aren't bids yet, you can always try messaging the seller and see if they'd be willing to put a Buy-It-Now on the item. Doesn't hurt to ask but it may be pricey.

Edit to add I've had luck with an auction I just missed with no bids messaging the seller and asking them to relist. That happened a few months ago and the seller even put it on a buy it now for a lower price than they'd asked in the first place.