Dipstick Bids

pricethat · 28-02-06

Whats your take on dipstick bids in overture? I can understand why someone would bid 98 pence to keep a high position (ie number 1) when the closest bidder is only 10p. They get to keep number 1 and only pay 11p in overture. We have a policy of making them pay their maximum bid price by bidding 97 pence even though it costs us money sometimes. Not through spiteful behaviour, simply we can not be bullied into second place simply because someone makes their bids so high knowing that most people will never bid aboce them when it is set that high,

Whats other peoples opinions on this, do they deserve it? I mean we cant accept number 2 when the realistic bid on an items is perhaps only 15p or something? I just see it as pointless having to bid below them and then watch it every day to recorrect bids once they get hit with a 50 pound bill for only a small handful of clicks.

Who did it really benefit in the end? Overture only i guess, the poor sods, some of them maybe on this forum had to fork out hundreds of pounds in clicks when they didnt need to if they only made sensible bids to begin with, or is bidding super high amounts not considered stupid, simply agressive perhaps?

Shane · 28-02-06

Dumb bids can be down to a few factors

1) Old bid that's not been watched very actively and others have lowered their bids since it was last checked
2) Simple mistake ie £2.50 bid instead of 25p bid
3) Some dodgy Agency/PPC management company burning deep pocketed client's cash on a percentage of spend
4) Someone trying to lock out top spot

I have to admit I've sometimes bumped my bid right under but not on anyone I know or on obvious mistake bids, if it's agencies taking the pi$$ or someone trying to lock top spot out when there is no need (ie pretty stable sector bid wise) then I've been annoyed at times and bid right under them.

An agency doing a banking client a couple of years back went in at 80p per click on every PPC SE regardless of number two bids, which at the time were from 10p to about 50p .. within a couple of days every number two was 79p

Basically you reap what you sow bidding like this, I don't think anyone can moan if they get bid 1p under at some stupid price because they were trying to lock no1 out.

Pete Taylor · 28-02-06

Moral of this, is to always click on the 2nd advert to catch the “bid chasers”

Paul Wright · 28-02-06

I spoke to somebody recently about this and assuming that the person/company way above are not complete ppc muppets and check their bids constantly then this could be seen as “setting the trap”. On purpose they bid way out in front (despite being no.1 already) and in doing so invited those below who like to spike to “come give it a go”. Their theory was that they could monitor and adjust their bids faster than the competition below who were looking to spike. So in effect the spikee becomes the spiked when company no 1 spots no 2’s bid change and jumps right below them. A couple of things seemed to come out of this:

1. Company 1 who set the trap has now found out which competitors are looking to spike and can keep a closer eye on them in the future.
2. Company 2 is now aware that Company 1 can play at that game and is not the sitting duck they originally thought.
3. Company 2 should be prepared to have 24/7 eyes on the situation otherwise they will get burnt more often than company 1.
4. Yes, it’s bullying but sooner or later the people in it for the long game will position them selves out.

It's a funny ol game

getvisible · 28-02-06

What you're doing is "bidd jamming" a useful technique. You could try "bid surfing" where you look for gaps of say 15p or so and go in the middle. There's kudos for bidding "stupidly" its all about psychology and the economic theory of oligopolies.

Also its not a wise move to go 1p under to bidjam as some automated bid software look specifically for bid jamming. So maybe not do 1p but vary between 2p and 8p - depending on the particullar bid situation.

I recommend you got to SES when its in London (May I think) some useful techniques were gleemed from the US one. So all you ppc'ers start checking your bids ;-)