bronto

Your approach is certainly hassle free, but you probably end up paying more than you otherwise would. For example...

Suppose there is an item on eBay which you would be willing to pay $5k for, and that you are the one willing to pay the most. You've thought about this and set that number in your mind in advance. Suppose also that the person who is willing to pay the next highest price is only willing to pay $4.5k, and that 1 hour prior to the end of the auction the highest bid is $3k.

Under your approach, you would have been the lead bidder with an hour to go, because as you say you set the bid early and let it play out. So with 2 minutes to go, the other guy sees it's still at about $3k and thinks he might be able to get it for $3.5, so he bids that. It's not enough, so he bids $4k, still not enough, so if he's lucky he has enough time left and bids $4.5. Still doesn't get it. You win the action at $4501.

Under my approach, you have not bid yet with an hour to go. He sees that the price is about $3k and with 2 minutes left he bids $3.5k and is the high bidder. He sits back and waits, refreshing the page to see if anyone beats him. Finally at 30 seconds or less left (10 seconds is best but you've got to have a fast/reliable internet connection) you bid your $5k and are the high bidder at $3501. Now the poor guy has little time left and has only one chance to make a bid (if that, depending on how diligent he is at refreshing the page) but still bids what he *hopes* to get it for, not what he's willing to pay, maybe $4k. You are still the high bidder at $4001. Or maybe he didn't have time to even get the last bid off, and you win at $3501.

This is really what happens too, much of the time. If you look at the bid histories on eBay you will see a flurry of bids right at the end, with 1 or more bidders making multiple bids at the last minute trying to bid what they hope will win, not what they're willing to pay. If you don't participate in that you have a much better chance of not only winning but for getting a very good price, because you are not adding to the bidding "war". There may not even be a "war", because that takes two or more participants. Just keep things quiet, don't let your bidding competitors know you're interested, then strike a decisive blow at the last second. If you win it might be a real bargain, and if you don't it will be for a price you would be unwilling to pay anyway.

bronto

The other part of the story is that the seller had to drive the car from St Louis to Denver, so it had actually made some distance before I even closed the deal. I figured if he made it that far and it was still OK it would probably make it the rest of the way.

And, "running hot" isn't the same as "over heat". I don't think I'd even BUY an aluminum block car that had ever "over heated". On one you're approaching a line, the other you've crossed it. At least that's how I think of "running hot". Not necessarily TOO hot.

auzivision

I use the same technique if I really want something at a bargain price. Once I upped my bid 3 times in the last 20 seconds. It’s best to figure out what you top dollar is and pluck it down with less than 10 seconds to go… that way you don’t get caught up in the excitement and start upping your highest bid.

Also, another trick on is to bid with odd numbers like $10.01 instead of $10. I’ve literally won auctions by out bidding someone by a penny. One time a guy kept bidding with x dollars and 17 cents… I spotted his trend and bid something ending with 18 last second. Checked the history after winning and sure enough his high bid was one cent less.

Only once have I paid to use the bid snipe software, but it is pretty cool how that stuff works.

Tampa 928s

Or do what I did over and over again!

ExKiwi

Actually, they don't say just Devek, there are 2 shops mentioned:

"I have all records, all work performed by Porsche specialists (Devek, Auto Sport Engineering)"

So maybe they switched to Auto Sport Engineering?

auzivision

a few more just for fun...

http://newyork.craigslist.org/wch/cto/1792826138.html

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/1788010361.html

http://fortmyers.craigslist.org/col/ctd/1747413466.html

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/cto/1786550092.html

http://watertown.craigslist.org/cto/1794596177.html

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/1790724474.html

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/1765960734.html

blown 87

RIF, guess I should try it sometime.

VehiGAZ

One must have patience in this game! Anything is possible to find if you know what you are looking for.

I searched for a shark for 2 full years before buying. I had even given up hope when I lost out on a pretty much perfect car ('91 GT, black-on-black and clean, 65k miles, all service done, personal car of operator of a used P-car shop, $25k) two towns over from me.

Then what happened? A month later, I found the car I jokingly told one dealer I was looking for... a low-mileage '89 GT for $20k. I drove it and wrote a check and made sure the seller went through with the ridiculous deal. And to several posters' points, I paid through the nose for the ridiculous deal fixing up all the things that needed to be refreshed on it! But at least I'm learning about what can go wrong on these cars.

Nevertheless, the moral is that if you are looking seriously and ready to pounce, all you need to do is wait and the perfect car will pop up.

VehiGAZ

A 928 is not a good place to look for that! I think that there are only one or two 928 variants that could be increasing in value over the long haul, and maybe neither of them is on the upswing in the current economy.

smyth1

gotta disagree with those who do not see these cars going up in value.the 5 speed cars are hard enough to find already.with earlier 911s and most muscle cars from the 60 s getting out of reach these are next in line.the 70's saw the performance cars going away.928 s were more or less one of the muscle cars of the 80's what else was around beside corvette,and obviosly turbos and some of the other exotics.

Landseer

They'll hit us with some carbon emmissions / luxury registration / gas consumption hammer tax just when your prognosis starts to take shape.

Buy one and enjoy the hell out of it now.

Daniel Dudley

Google up AIC Auto in PA. I can assure you he will have a good car for you, whoever you are.

Sorry if I haven't read the last seven pages...

Hilton

+1 - work out what value you're willing to pay. If you're not sure how much, think about if, when the auction ended, it went for $x, would you be pissed you didn't bid higher?

It pays to do your homework too, so you know what fair value for the car is, and thus don't end up paying over the odds. I use other auctions/adverts for similar cars, or cheapest online retail price in the case of other stuff.

Of course, with a car auction, its always good to talk (not e-mail, actually talk) to the seller before the auction is too far underway and has too many bids.

Make sure they know you're an enthusiast, ask all the right questions, and then talk about whether they'd end the auction early for the right price. Remember, they're running the risk of zero-feedback bidders, non-payers and scammers, although don't try to hard-sell them into it or they'll dig in heels.

DeWolf

The trick to eBay is to have four or five windows open, all with prices already set. All you to do is click confirm bid on the first, if not a winning bid hit the next window and so on.

Hilton

Or you just bid 15s from the end whatever number you plan to put in your fifth window.

There is no benefit at all to incrementally increasing your bid rapidly. Just wait to the last, and put in your highest acceptable offer, and see if you win.

Besides.. putting a bid that someone else then beats, then you beat just encourages that other person to "win" the bid. Don't clue them in to having any competition until your final bid.