Anyone buy anything in the DVLA Timed Auction?
Discussion
I tried, I really did.
While not one usually tempted by such things*, I decided to have a look for a little graduation present for myself and took a shine to some of the Irish "Z" plates ending in whole numbers of thousands, ie "000". I registered, I bid. I read with interest the anti bid sniping policy whereby bids placed within 30 mins of the stated end time would cause said end time to slide by half an hour, discouraging last minute bidders working to the eBay principle of "don't-let-anyone-know-what-you-want-to-bid-until-the-end-of-the-auction". That seemed like a fair idea.
Naturally, minutes from the end of the auction where I was highest bidder, I was outbid. I put a few more quid onto my bid, more to penalise my opponent than to win, but again I was outbid. I selected another number, which had been bid to a lower amount, and stuck a bid in just out of interest and was confirmed as the highest bidder until just before the end time. Same thing happened.
I found the whole thing a bit frustrating, but remain philosophical that it was my own fault for being so vain.
Anyone on here score a bargain?
*I do have a dateless plate on my Saab, but it was free and had a scrap Volvo 340 attached.
While not one usually tempted by such things*, I decided to have a look for a little graduation present for myself and took a shine to some of the Irish "Z" plates ending in whole numbers of thousands, ie "000". I registered, I bid. I read with interest the anti bid sniping policy whereby bids placed within 30 mins of the stated end time would cause said end time to slide by half an hour, discouraging last minute bidders working to the eBay principle of "don't-let-anyone-know-what-you-want-to-bid-until-the-end-of-the-auction". That seemed like a fair idea.
Naturally, minutes from the end of the auction where I was highest bidder, I was outbid. I put a few more quid onto my bid, more to penalise my opponent than to win, but again I was outbid. I selected another number, which had been bid to a lower amount, and stuck a bid in just out of interest and was confirmed as the highest bidder until just before the end time. Same thing happened.
I found the whole thing a bit frustrating, but remain philosophical that it was my own fault for being so vain.
Anyone on here score a bargain?
*I do have a dateless plate on my Saab, but it was free and had a scrap Volvo 340 attached.
This plate would have been an amazing deal for anyone with a Saab 93-X
https://dvlatimedauction.co.uk/lot/52583
Do you have to pay the £80 assignment fee as well or does it come included in the price?
https://dvlatimedauction.co.uk/lot/52583
Do you have to pay the £80 assignment fee as well or does it come included in the price?
Grunt Futtock said:
I don't understand the 'anti-bid sniping' policy. Just place the maximum amount you are willing to bid, if you win you win, if you don't you don't. What does it matter whether the winning bid happens in the last second or an hour before?
Sniping comes from the way ebay auctions work, they are (I think) Dutch auctions which only bod enough of your amount beat the current bid. e.g. if the current bid is £20 and your bid is £50 it'll bid £21. If some else then raises the bid so will yours until such time as you win or are outbid. Sniping (done properly) means that your 'opponents' don't have time to re-bid over yours. Really simple if you are the only bidder using a sniping program not so simple if lots do.Cylon2007 said:
Grunt Futtock said:
I don't understand the 'anti-bid sniping' policy. Just place the maximum amount you are willing to bid, if you win you win, if you don't you don't. What does it matter whether the winning bid happens in the last second or an hour before?
Sniping comes from the way ebay auctions work, they are (I think) Dutch auctions which only bod enough of your amount beat the current bid. e.g. if the current bid is £20 and your bid is £50 it'll bid £21. If some else then raises the bid so will yours until such time as you win or are outbid. Sniping (done properly) means that your 'opponents' don't have time to re-bid over yours. Really simple if you are the only bidder using a sniping program not so simple if lots do.Cylon2007 said:
Sniping comes from the way ebay auctions work, they are (I think) Dutch auctions which only bod enough of your amount beat the current bid. e.g. if the current bid is £20 and your bid is £50 it'll bid £21. If some else then raises the bid so will yours until such time as you win or are outbid. Sniping (done properly) means that your 'opponents' don't have time to re-bid over yours. Really simple if you are the only bidder using a sniping program not so simple if lots do.
Still doesnt make sense. The opponent doesnt need time because the system already knows that up to £50 is waiting to be used. Even if you put £22 in at the very last second, the person that put in £50 should still win with £23, even if they placed that £50 hours ago.BuzzBravado said:
Still doesnt make sense. The opponent doesnt need time because the system already knows that up to £50 is waiting to be used. Even if you put £22 in at the very last second, the person that put in £50 should still win with £23, even if they placed that £50 hours ago.
You're right, and I've won many an item on eBay that way. Where this was different was that I was the highest bidder for days, right up until minutes before auction end. Then I was outbid. If someone was using sniping software I'd have known I was outbid way earlier, so they only started bidding near to the end of the auction. In which case, why?As others have said, a) it's probably dealers and b) I guess you might conceivably wait until near the end to get an idea of magnitude.
Still feels frustrating.
Turbobanana said:
....... so they only started bidding near to the end of the auction. In which case, why?
In the old days there was a real buzz of being in the "smoke filled" room with live bidding but as most have moved on to internet platforms - nowadays the thrill is to join at the last seconds, BuzzBravado said:
Cylon2007 said:
Sniping comes from the way ebay auctions work, they are (I think) Dutch auctions which only bod enough of your amount beat the current bid. e.g. if the current bid is £20 and your bid is £50 it'll bid £21. If some else then raises the bid so will yours until such time as you win or are outbid. Sniping (done properly) means that your 'opponents' don't have time to re-bid over yours. Really simple if you are the only bidder using a sniping program not so simple if lots do.
Still doesnt make sense. The opponent doesnt need time because the system already knows that up to £50 is waiting to be used. Even if you put £22 in at the very last second, the person that put in £50 should still win with £23, even if they placed that £50 hours ago.The disadvantage of bidding your maximum via proxy in advance is that your opponent has time to re-bid and keep re-bidding until they've pushed past your limit and become the highest bidder themselves. Or unnecessarily push you closer to your limit if it all becomes too rich for them. Obviously this is still less than you were prepared to pay, but everyone likes a bargain, right?!
The best tactic is to let them think they're the highest bidder until the dying seconds of the auction and then bosh in the maximum proxy bid you're prepared to spend.
Chances are it will only increment by the minimum amount and you'll win the auction. Or it will out-bid their lower proxy bid and you'll still be the winner.
First rule of eBay - never bid! Loads of people still do though. Maybe they enjoy it.....
timmymagic73 said:
The disadvantage of bidding your maximum via proxy in advance is that your opponent has time to re-bid and keep re-bidding until they've pushed past your limit and become the highest bidder themselves.
Thats exactly how an auction works. If a sniper wins its because your proxy bid was not high enough, and thats fine. I always put in the max i want to pay right from the off. If i get outbid then it wasnt meant to be. Dont piss about with little increments, either you want it or you dont.BuzzBravado said:
timmymagic73 said:
The disadvantage of bidding your maximum via proxy in advance is that your opponent has time to re-bid and keep re-bidding until they've pushed past your limit and become the highest bidder themselves.
Thats exactly how an auction works. If a sniper wins its because your proxy bid was not high enough, and thats fine. I always put in the max i want to pay right from the off. If i get outbid then it wasnt meant to be. Dont piss about with little increments, either you want it or you dont.All you're doing by bidding your max from the off is giving other people a chance to push you up closer to your limit. eBay will keep outbidding them by proxy on your behalf - until they give up and you still win, but potentially paying more than you needed to.
If everyone only sniped at the last second then the situation would be very different, but for some reason enough people keep incrementally bidding while the auction is active to make sniping a valuable tool.
Besides, sniping in the last 2 seconds or less is part of the thrill.
OP I tried too. Wanted ARR9N CRA162A and CRA61S. It was a very frustrating, ARR9N went for over £6000 including fees and the other two went for more than I thought they would and I couldn't justify spending over £2,500 on each of these plates that might not be worth that outside the auction.
I suspect these auctions have people with really deep pockets bidding, I was seconds from winning CRA162A and outbid, I ended up being a bit bored and frustrated and gave up.
I only found out about the auction because of Pistonheads, but I heard that the auction was mentioned in Money Saving Expert emails.
I suspect these auctions have people with really deep pockets bidding, I was seconds from winning CRA162A and outbid, I ended up being a bit bored and frustrated and gave up.
I only found out about the auction because of Pistonheads, but I heard that the auction was mentioned in Money Saving Expert emails.
BuzzBravado said:
Thats exactly how an auction works. If a sniper wins its because your proxy bid was not high enough, and thats fine. I always put in the max i want to pay right from the off. If i get outbid then it wasnt meant to be. Dont piss about with little increments, either you want it or you dont.
I tend to agree and that’s what I mostly do. The only problem with that is shill bidding which I imagine goes on.I had a similar experience to the OP in an dvla auction several years ago.
A plate I requested was put into auction with a £500 reserve, I was the only bidder until the last 30min then boom a new bid. I bid several times and got up to nearly £3k and called it s day. The plate was marked sold yet it doesn't come up on any dvla search, reg transfers et al, nor tax system or MOT check. It makes me think the whole dvla system is corrupt.
A plate I requested was put into auction with a £500 reserve, I was the only bidder until the last 30min then boom a new bid. I bid several times and got up to nearly £3k and called it s day. The plate was marked sold yet it doesn't come up on any dvla search, reg transfers et al, nor tax system or MOT check. It makes me think the whole dvla system is corrupt.
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