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Using Bid Assistant

Having trouble winning an item? Create a group of items you’re interested in, set your maximum bids, and Bid Assistant will bid on your behalf until you win one item from the group.

It’s easy to set up your group and let Bid Assistant do the work for you:

Note: Bid Assistant is currently available to users with a Feedback Score of five or more.

Create your group

The first step is to create a group.

To create a group:

  1. Search for items you want to include, and click the “Watch this item” button on the item detail page.

  2. Go to the Items I’m Watching view of My eBay. Select the check box next to any item you want to add to your group, then click the Bid with Bid Assistant button.

Be sure that you’re comfortable buying any of the items in the group. You can only win one of the items, but you are obligated to buy the one that you win.

You can have up to 10 items in a group, and up to five active groups at any one time.

Place your bids

Your group will automatically be set in chronological order (starting with the item that ends first). Once you create a name for your group, you’re ready to place your bids.

To place your bids:

  1. Set the same maximum bid to apply to all items in your group, or enter a different maximum bid for each item.

  2. Review and confirm your bid for each item, and click the Confirm button.

  3. View your bid confirmation page. The page will tell you if you’re the high bidder on the active listing. It will also show you all the other items in your group.

Track your status

Once you’ve placed your bids, Bid Manager will move through your group (starting with the item that ends first), and place bids on your behalf. Bid Manager will continue bidding until you win one item, or until you reach the end of your group.

  • Once you’ve won an item, your bidding activity will stop, and your group will be closed.

  • Only one bid in your group will be active at any time.

  • If you get outbid on an item, eBay will wait until that item closes before bidding on the next item in your group. You cannot schedule bids to be placed at a specific time.

You can track and manage all of your Bid Manager groups from My eBay. From the left column of My eBay, click the “Bid Assistant” link under All Buying. Select the Bid Assistant group you want to view from the “Display group” menu in the upper left corner.

After 60 days have passed with no activity, your group will be removed from My eBay.

Skipped items
In certain cases, Bid Assistant will automatically skip an item and move to the next item in your group. This happens when:

  • The item was revised by the seller after you added it your group.

  • The item was ended by the seller.

  • The item was bought by another member through Buy It Now.

  • The item was removed by eBay.

  • The current price was higher than your maximum bid.

You’ll receive an email that notifies you the item was skipped.


Contact Customer Support

If you have an additional question about this subject, email us at Customer Support.
If you would like to ask a question on another subject, please use the Contact Us page.


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