While one of the goals of an auction is to find an item for a lower price than usual, starting the bidding low can encourage others to bid as well. A low bid can quickly escalate into a bidding war, where multiple parties try to top the competing bidders marginally. By starting with a reasonable offer within your budget, you can eliminate the competition early so that emotions are less of a factor for bidding decisions.

Your chances of winning a bid increase when fewer people bid on the item you want. If the auction offers a few of the same items, look at the activity to find the less active options. You might be able to win the item for a smaller bid.

If you have the means to monitor the auction throughout the entire period, you can use marathon bidding to let other bidders know that you mean business. With this strategy, every time someone makes a bid, your goal is to bid immediately after them. Quickly countering their offer might discourage them from bidding more because they may be unable to keep up.

This online auction strategy involves closely watching the auction timer and then placing a final bid at the very end of the period. For less-active auctions, this method can be a great way to snag an item at a low price. However, one potential issue is that this strategy is one of the most popular tactics for web auctions, which means others might have the same idea. The auction may also have policies regarding last-minute bids, such as an automatic time extension.