How to Bid to Win at an Auction
The people who are always bidding and winning at auctions know that there's a knack to it. There's a lot of psychology used in how bids are made during an auction. You can learn to win your bids and take home terrific merchandise at great price.
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Instructions
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Get to the auction early enough to view all of the merchandise. Many have viewing times set the day before, and some even have booklets of the items that you can get ahead of time. Check out everything and write down the items and their lot numbers. Put the highest amount that you are willing to pay for them (so you won't overspend). Bring your ID and preregister early, too. Go early on auction day so you can get a good seat and see and hear well.
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Find out before the day of the auction what payment methods are accepted. This changes from auction to auction, with payment methods ranging from major credit cards to checks and cash only. Knowing this ahead of time may prevent you from losing out on an item you really wanted because you don't have the right means to pay for it. Make arrangements, if you need to, to transport any big items ahead of time.
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Start off with a bid that is absurdly low. This is a tactic that can make other buyers think that the item isn't really worth much after all. It usually will reduce the number of bidders. Use this early in the auction for the best results, when people are excited and a little uneasy. This works especially well on the first bid of the day.
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Bid much higher than the bid the auctioneer first announced. Put in your best bid first rather than working up to it. This unsettles the other bidders by showing them how badly you want the item. It says that you are really serious and would most likely pay a fortune for it. The other bidders will think there's no use fighting for it since it will go for much more than it's worth. You can do this only one time, or people will think you're up to something and bid anyway.
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Throw things off a bit by bidding in smaller increments than the auctioneer asks for. If the auctioneer starts the bid off at $50, bid $25. If the bid goes up to $50 and the auctioneer is asking for $100, bid $51 or $55. This sometimes throws the auctioneer off and slows the bids way down, but it is a good tactic for keeping the bids lower.
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Bid in odd dollar amounts at sealed auction bids. Instead of bidding $200 for an item, for example, bid $201 or $205. This will beat out all the $200 bids, and bidding an extra $5 will also overbid those who know the $1 trick.
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Know the bidding style of the auctioneer. Some go really fast. You may raise your paddle to bid, and the bid has jumped higher than you realized. Listen to a few bids by this auctioneer to see how he operates.
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Tips & Warnings
Find auctions near you by using AuctionZip. For government sales, go to USA.gov. The U.S. Treasury also has seized-property auctions. See Resources for the links to these sites. There are lots of local auctions. Keep up with these in your local paper, usually in the classified ads.
Be cautious about bidding. It is really easy to get caught up in the excitement and want to beat out the other bidders and overspend.
