An extending auction has no natural stopping point — the clock keeps being given back as long as somebody bids. That is good for sellers and it is the thing you need a defence against.
The one that works
Decide your ceiling before the item comes up, and set it as a maximum.
Enter the most you will pay; the app bids for you in steps up to that figure and no further. You are not making a decision in the last ten seconds, which is the point — you are making it when the item is still four away and you are calm.
Two things to know: a maximum only goes up, because it has already bid on your behalf, and it is not available on sudden-death items.
The three that help
Write the number down first. Before the show. The act of committing it is most of the value.
Include delivery in the number. A cheap win plus an expensive parcel is not cheap, and delivery is the thing people forget until checkout. How delivery is charged
Work out what you actually need it to be worth. Not what it might fetch — what it is worth to you. How to work out what something is worth
The three traps
"One more step." The increment does not grow as the price does, so late on each step is small relative to the total. That is exactly what makes it easy to keep going — ₹25 on ₹5,000 feels like nothing, four times in a row. What is an increment?
Sunk cost. You have been bidding for six minutes, so you want to win. The six minutes are gone either way.
The room. A live show is a persuasion format, legitimately — pace, energy, a sense that it is about to go. A host doing that well is selling, not cheating. Your ceiling is the thing that is immune to it.
What is not a trap
Being outbid by someone's maximum. They decided a bigger number earlier. Nothing was done to you.
The clock extending. It works for you as often as against you.
The price going past what you expected. An auction finds what two people will pay, which is sometimes more than you thought and sometimes much less. How do I know the price is fair?
If you lose
Good. The discipline of letting it go is what makes the one you do win a good buy — and losing by one step puts you in line for a second-chance offer that costs you nothing to refuse. What is an under-bidder?
And if you win at your ceiling
Then you paid what you decided it was worth, which is the correct outcome and not a defeat. Pay promptly — the window is 30 minutes. What is an unpaid win?
More: how to work out what something is worth, what is sniping, the last ten seconds.