some guys bid early intentionally, bidding the maximum price they are willing to spend on that specific item, then moving on without ever checking back...if they win, great...if not, there are plenty more opportunities ahead...

most of these guys will bid early and "somewhat low" on dozens of items, usually a lot lower than the winning price the item typically gets, not expecting to win many ... but when they do win, it's usually at a pretty good price...

saves time and effort trying to follow the bids as they go up in the last hours...when the actual bidding wars can take place...

Yup. Remember that earlier bids get priority, and auctions with high quantities are much more likely to be winnable very cheaply, so wait till midnight or whenever a ton of auctions will open simultaneously, then as fast as you can:

1. Find an auction with a high(ish) quantity that just started moments ago.

2. Place a $1 starting bid with AutoBid max set to a price that is so low that it's very very unlikely to win, but if it did, it'd make you say "wow that's an absolutely amazingly-cheap deal!"

3. Go to step #1 (until no more just-opened, high-quantity auctions are left).

4. Don't do anything. No bid modifications. Just passively wait for all the auctions to eventually end.

This is the optimal way to play CigarBid. I used to wait till midnight and place such bids on 25, 30 or 40 items within a few minutes. Usually I'd end up eventually winning between 0 and maybe 3 of them. All my wins were for "holy crap that's cheap!" prices, and I didn't have to monitor or care about last-minute anything, with any of the auctions. I just checked my "Won Bids" list periodically.

If you want to win a higher percentage of the auctions, make your AutoBid maxes a bit less miserly. If you want to win a lower percentage but for even more amazingly-low prices, make them more miserly.

This is the best technique to put everything in your favor (early priority, high-quantity reduction of competition, lower prices via scale and being willing to lose 95%+ of all auctions you bid on).

Playing the odds optimally to get ultra-cheap stuff! It works, and it's easy.
.

^^^^^What him said^^^^👍

for me, it's about the great (caustic, sarcastic) friends I have made here, not the fivers won.
The forums are not to be confused with buying cigars.

It's farging hilarious here...loosen up and play along.

Two things you should be aware of, if you're gonna stick around . . .

1. Be careful around frankj1.
They don't call him "Frankie Tripod" because he's a photographer.
They call him that because . . . Well, YOU figure it out !

2. Say hello to FishingGuitarMan. He's our unofficial "noob" greeter.
http://www.cigarbid.com/Forum/c/posts/380264/CAT-Challenge-The-Thonginator 


Welcome to the neighborhood.

Stop teaching the n006$ how to bid, dagnabit...

You're cutting into my entertainment value...