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After the Auction: Analyzing Bid Histories

Are those who ignore history really doomed to repeat it? Well, in the world of online auctions, yes. Take bid histories. Studying an auction's bid history is an invaluable tool for buyers. It's a great way to step back into the recent past, do a little research, and discover some helpful information about previous auctions that you'll be able to use in your future auction endeavors--and thus avoid past mistakes. Read on to learn how analyzing bid histories can make you a better buyer.

Don't Know Much About History...
The name pretty much says it all: a bid history is a breakdown of how the bidding went for a particular auction. Typically bid histories include the user names of all the bidders (and sometimes their email addresses), the amounts they bid, the times their bids were made (see below for more site-specific information about bid histories), and whether the auction had any bid retractions. The link to this information is usually prominently located on the actual auction page (in the case of eBay, it's next to the number of bids placed). Click on "bid history" and you're there. Of course, you can access an auction's bid history while it's in progress; these tips, however, are geared toward using bid histories once an auction has been completed.

Variations on a Theme
All the major general service sites offer some kind of bid history for every auction. In essence, the same information is included. But there are a few variations you should know about. On eBay, bid amounts are not available while the auction is in progress. You can see who's been bidding, but not how much they bid--that information is listed only after an auction closes.

In contrast, Amazon.com Auctions lists the bid amounts while an auction is underway. On Yahoo Auctions' bid history pages, you can see the actual bid amounts, and bidders can even post comments. However, there are no dates or times designating when the bids were placed. That information can be found on a subsequent advanced bid history page. If you check out bid histories on CityAuction, you can see the cities in which bidders live.

Market Sense
The most utilitarian use of bid histories is to find out the market value for a particular item. Once the flurry of the actual auction is over, you can step back and take your time and examine the emergent bidding patterns. Where did the bidding begin? Where did it end? Granted, these are pretty basic questions, but they'll provide a guideline for what you can expect to pay--or not pay--in a future auction. Play along as if you were a participating bidder in several closed auctions and determine the average sale amount. What you would have ventured to bid? Were you willing to pay more than the average price for that Pokémon card? If so, then it's probably best that you didn't participate in that particular auction. Next time around you'll know what's too much--and what's not enough.

Also note the obvious: Is the price going up, down, or staying the same? Knowing this information will make your upcoming bids better informed. Lastly, bid histories will also tell you what items are garnering the most bids. You'll quickly find out if your category or area of interest is hot or not.

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