The Art of Auctions: Bidding and Knowing

AUCTIONS – Welcome to the home of the yelling matches! Not seriously, of course. Just for your information, this is not one of those articles telling you to go and click on that bid or how to put up prices or stating that 56k modems just aren’t good enough. Go and look up ‘auction’ in that nifty little search bar up there, and you’ll find lots of other articles telling you the good old information with how, what and whatnot.

First of all, here’s the update on auctions. When the latest of those interesting articles were written, it was in Issue 136. At that time you could actually deposit the money into your bank account at the end of the auction if you would regret something. News flash! Now you can’t.

Just that fact in itself could be enough to take an hour to debate it. Just to be nice and save your time, the simple message is this: Bid only if you are 100% sure about this. Or you’ll be wasting your NP.

In this article we’ll be looking at ways of bidding. Then we’ll be checking out several sorts of items that often come up in auctions, and see if they’re worth it or not.

First of all, get out the NP. Auctions require pure NP, for the newbie. That’s why some people prefer the Trading Post in which they can get the item trading with another item and so on. Make sure you have lots of NP, at least enough for what you plan to bid on.

Now, make the Shop Wizard (SW) pop up in a separate window. You’re probably going to need it. If you’re a rich person and like those unbuyables and wish to buy them at a cheaper price in auctions, have a window with the Trading Post (TP) open.

Next, try to train your typing speed to 30 words per minute or faster. That way you’ll be able to type whatever you’re looking for fast enough while the auction is still going on. Otherwise, get comfy with the quick-commands of copy and paste. If you have one of those cool new computers that let you select and drag it over to another window without having use the copy and paste, go for it.

Quick-commands with copy and paste may be slow, but it will be spelled correctly. By typing, you could do mistake and thus lose the auction. If you aren’t familiar with copy and paste, typing could be faster for you. If you don’t have a laptop, it would be a good idea to keep one hand on the little number pad when bidding.

On a side note, you can’t be afraid of opening new windows. Sure, they get real squished down there, but if you memorize where each of them are, you will have better control over this. If opening new windows freezes your computer or messes it up in some way (like it does to my old one), stick to clicking and all that. Just make sure that you’ve checked the value or know it by heart so you don’t pay for overpriced items.

Always remember: You must have control of yourself, and not go crazy with bidding over the SW/TP value. Think of a reasonable price that you would pay for this item, and if the bids ever go above, just leave. There are other lots out there, not only that specific one. Use your good judgment. Now that we’re done with all the boring but necessary stuff, let’s move onto the different methods of bidding.

Last-Minute Method

This method absolutely requires another window to the SW/TP. When you get onto the first page where there are those one-second lots left, go to 41-60, 61-80 or 80+, depending on the speed of your computer. Personally I stick with the 80+ since I get to check the price in SW without rushing, and after a few refreshes I find out how popular the item is. (In other words: How many bidders that are interested in this particular lot.)

Those pages probably contain a lot of junk, such as Piles of Dung for 2 NP or so. After a few refreshes, you should know now what to bid on and what not to. Just because there is a name of the last bidder, doesn’t mean that the item is underpriced. Check the SW just in case. On second hand, check the SW with all the items you don’t know the value of, so you won’t pay for overpriced items.

Find an item that you think is good. As I’ve tried to hammer the good old statement again, check the SW. Click on the picture or the text to get into the next stage.

Now that you’re here, you can see the list of bidders. You can also see the minimum increment. If the list is long and names appear twice or more, there are lots of bidders. Prepare for competition. If the list is short and there are only a few names, it could be a nice, hidden lot. Or it could be that the minimum increment is too much and if you bid, you won’t make a lot of profit.

When there is lots of competition, I suggest that you refresh a few times (assuming that you’ve got a good connection) and see how the bids go. Think of what you would pay in to get the lot. Stop! No! Don’t bid just yet! Refresh and see how those other people bid. When there are a few seconds left, scroll down to the box and type in what you think you could win the lot on. Other people are probably going to bid with the minimum increment, and if you add another one or two on, you might be the one to win the lot even with a slower connection. However, there is a downside to this. Other people may do the same thing as you and have their final price a little bit higher than yours.

When there is less competition, you can relax and check it now and then. However, some people will come in and bid way over the minimum increment (like bidding 4k when the automatic numbers say 1501 and the item is worth 14k or so) and thus win the auction but still pay a fraction of the price of the item. But mostly a good minimum increment and a fast connection should get you the lot at a nice price.

Wanted Items for Cheap Prices

You know those things in which the SW underpriced method works. Bottled faeries, Codestones and Dubloons. Avatar items such as Evil Blue Fuzzle, Fire Paw and Niten Hiroru also makes good profit if you know the trade.

Go the search bar and look them up. You can often find underpriced stuff there. Underpriced equals profit. This takes time. Pick those auctions in reasonable prices (lower than SW/TP value) that close in an hour or less. If you know the compounding competitive bidding and see the same people bid here again and again, it is probably not a good idea to bid right now as they probably will bid over you in no time. The price has to be good. If it is, open a window for that auction and sit and wait. If you’re really cheap, just jot down the username and lot number and the time left on a scrap piece of paper. Check back when there’s five minutes left or so. Then follow the Last-Minute Method.

For this method though, you’ll have to wait. Go off and play some game, but put a timer if you’re really intent on getting that item and the price hasn’t gone up too much.

Cheap 5k items are a good start. However, if you have more cash, go for more expensive items such as the Secret Laboratory Map (once I saw one priced 25k when there was one minute left…), Battledome items etc.

Category of Items

Junk: This is the category of Piles of Dung, Barbered Wires, Old Boots and Tombola booby prizes. Not worth bidding on. Most of them are 2 NP, and you can buy them in shops anyway, so why bother?

Snowballs: Good business can be made, if you’re patient enough to weed out all the baddies. Go for the Sticky Snowballs, if they’re cheap. Somewhere there will be someone uneducated (formerly me) who puts out snowballs at 2 NP. However, they might be a little bit hard to sell in shops once you’ve got them.

Omelettes: No! Why bid on something you can get free once a day? Forget it.

Magic Items: Mostly overpriced. Check the SW before you make any bids.

Battledome Items: Usually slightly under general value, but some of those people make outrageous requests. Once in a while there will be some rare finds. Usually best to bid on when the seconds tick down.

Books: Most of them are overpriced. Sometime there will be a cheap one or two, but always check the SW.

Petpets: This is kind of like a trap if you aren’t familiar with petpets at all. Check the SW as most of them are overpriced anyway. Sometimes there will be cheap ones, but they’re popular.

Quest Rewards: Check the value. May be better deals at the SW.

Advent Calendar Items: Quite common here. Try to avoid them since they’re usually overpriced and no one will buy one in the shop anyway (with a few exceptions).

Other: Sometimes there might be a furniture coming along, or food. Always check the price before you bid. Got that into your head now?

That’s pretty much it. I hope you know more by now. Remember, you can’t win them all. Then again, that nervous feeling in your stomach tells you it’s exciting. Just keep your head cool, use your better judgment and you’ll be all right.

Author’s Note: Comments, questions or concerns? You’re welcome to Neomail me if this article ever gets in. Constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated. Happy bidding to y’all!