Why Did I Lose? My bid was the highest.

Increase your success rate dramatically by reading this 3-page series. Here are checklists that will help you avoid problems that we may encounter when we try to place your snipes. Sellers can block you from bidding on their auctions, and this list will help you avoid most of them.

1. Read this page.
2. Read Why Did I Lose? My Bid Was Higher.
3. Read the Complete List of Possible Status/Error Messages.

For Your eBay Account, Check:

• Ensure that your eBay authorization is valid.
• Ensure that you do not have more than 2 Unpaid Item Strikes in one year.
• Ensure that you have a feedback rating of at least 10.
• Ensure that you are not using a PO BOX for delivery.
• Ensure that you have a PayPal account in case sellers require it.
• Ensure that your PayPal account is linked to your eBay account.
• Ensure that you have confirmed your primary PayPal address in case sellers require it.
• Ensure that you have a credit card on file with eBay in case sellers require it.
• Ensure that, if you changed your eBay password, you have logged into our site at least once since the change.

For Each Snipe, Check:

• You accounted for the [minimum bid increment](/help/minimum-bid-increment/].
• You bid high enough to beat any proxy bids that may be waiting.
• You did not get blocked by the seller by asking obvious or silly questions, and were not argumentative.
• Item does not have a reserve price.
• Item is not a Buy-it-Now where you bid too high; overbids on BIN's are rejected by eBay.
• The seller allows more than one purchse per buyer (if you bought from them previously).
• The seller ships to your country.
• The seller did not end the item early.
• The listing is not an Immediate Payment listing.
• The listing does not have country-based export regulations.
• The seller ships to PO Boxes (if you are using one).
• The listing is not private auction (blocked to general public).

See Also

• How Can I Bulletproof My Account?
• All Known Status Messages