On the subject of madbid.com, one thing I’ve wondered is: What’s the best strategy to follow when bidding?

Madbid.com used to recommend waiting until near the end of the countdown timer before placing your bid.  I’ve searched their site now for a link to show you, but I can’t find it any more – maybe they’ve changed their recommendations.

It’s just as well, because I always thought that was a terrible plan.  OK, it makes perfect sense from madbid.com’s point of view – they want to make sure that every punter gets as much of their time as possible before losing.  But that very fact meant (to me) that it was exactly the wrong strategy to follow.

For instance, if a punter has placed a bid in a 30-second auction, they’re fixated for as long as their bid is active, wondering if this is the bid that’ll win.  The longer they’re staring at the screen, the more fixated they are, and the more involved they are.  If they lose just at the end, I think it’s more likely that they’ll leap in again with another bid, and that’s exactly what someone bidding against them doesn’t want.

So, if I were bidding against them, I’d make a point of bidding again as quickly as I could.  As soon as someone topped my bid, I’d bid again.  They’d get a few seconds while I noticed and clicked things, but that’s all.  I’d concentrate on denying whatever ‘rush’ they get from watching their active bid, trying to crush any enthusiasm they have for the auction.  Taking all the fun out of it for them would seem to me to be an excellent strategy to follow.

After all, it’s no fun spending your pound for a bid only to see it disappear a moment later, before you’d really had a chance to savour it.

So, if I were bidding on madbid.com auction, that’s probably how I’d do it.  But I’m not likely to ever join, so you won’t have to worry about bidding against me.