Ebay strategy

[woodworker2000]

Originally Posted by sapwood

However, in this particular instance the same person bid $26, then $50 and there weren't any other bids an hour before or after or in between . . . including "automatic bids". My guess is bidder did it accidentally when setting up automatic bid or employed a ruse similar to Jeff's comment.
Roger

eBay won't allow you to bid against yourself; however, if there is a reserve, eBay will bid up the lower of: (a) the reserve price, or (b) your maximum bid.

[woodworker2000]

Originally Posted by fernhollowman

On topic though, since Ebay went with the "BuyItNow" stuff littering (no, not littering, actually obfuscating) the private seller auctions, it's such a mess it just isn't worth messing with, IMHO.

You do know that you can filter out the Buy it Now items by clicking on the "Auctions" tab, don't you? That way, Buy it Now auctions won't show up (you can also do the reverse and filter out Auctions and see only Buy it Now items. Funny thing.....sometimes an auction price for a particular item is higher than the Buy it Now price (for an identical item) from another seller.

[Bigdog72]

I like the "Buy It Now" feature. Cuts all the cr...p! If I like the price I buy it. To me, my time is worth more than saving $5 here and there!

[LeftyTom]

What stuns me is items with a "reserve", and the starting bid is, say $10. Looking at the item, like a 12" planer or a decent guitar, you know it will sell for more than $10. It is not until the bids reach what you would pay for the item, in good condition locally, that the "reserve" is met. Then add the shipping on top of that. Almost as if the seller is trying to whip up a bidding frenzy.

I was the highest bidder on several items, but the reserve was not met. Simple enough, I did not win the item. But I would see the same item re-listed a few days later. I think the sellers have to pay for each listing, even if the reserve is not met. Simple-minded me could not help thinking, "Why doesn't the seller start the bidding closer to the reserve?"

[Alan in Little Washington]

Originally Posted by LeftyTom

What stuns me is items with a "reserve", and the starting bid is, say $10. Looking at the item, like a 12" planer or a decent guitar, you know it will sell for more than $10. It is not until the bids reach what you would pay for the item, in good condition locally, that the "reserve" is met. Then add the shipping on top of that. Almost as if the seller is trying to whip up a bidding frenzy.

I was the highest bidder on several items, but the reserve was not met. Simple enough, I did not win the item. But I would see the same item re-listed a few days later. I think the sellers have to pay for each listing, even if the reserve is not met. Simple-minded me could not help thinking, "Why doesn't the seller start the bidding closer to the reserve?"

I have been outbid but ended up getting the item with Ebay's "second chance" seller's option when the winning bidder reneged. I don't know if that applies when the reserve has not been met, however.

[Gotcha6]

You're a rare one to get a 'second chance' that was legit. It has been used as a scam so often most sellers post a notice that they do not give second chance offers. That's one caveat to the site to watch for.

[TBone]

Shill bidding is against Ebay policy but it happens. Also I'll never understand when people get into a bidding war with 4 days left to go. I watched 2 Delta foot operated mortisers on Ebay last 2 weeks. One was apparently made of gold. The bidding war started early and often. It sold for $430 + shipping used. The next one sat idle for 4 days and suddenly there was a bid from a user (member for less than 2 weeks) with 0 history. Sure enough he cranked up the war and with 3 bids doubled the price with 2 days still to go. Item sold for over $313. I checked shipping, UPS from Colorado to NC was $95+.

[jeff...]

Originally Posted by Alan in Little Washington

The deals aren't there like they used to be! Like a few others have said, it does no good to bid early- just stimulates bidding action by others, so I snipe. The only reason to bid early with a high proxy amount is if you really want the item and you will be away from your computer when the auction ends (and don't what to buy a sniping service).

I always add the item to my watch list but always wait and snipe, to avoid driving the price up early- if it has already been bid above the max amount I will pay, I don't even bother. Sometimes I win, sometimes I don't. Sniping keeps me from getting sucked into bidding more than I had originally intended. Last night I won some solenoid valves for my blast gates with a snipe bid 7 secs before the auction ended, but there was only one other bidder who bid early with a low proxy amount. You can snipe easily with high speed internet.

You got Snipe around there Alan - ever tried to hunt them?

[Alan in Little Washington]

Originally Posted by jeff...

You got Snipe around there Alan - ever tried to hunt them?

Mine are all remote controlled- I just send them a signal and they come.

[LeftyTom]

Alan. I've received a few "second chance" offers. Problem is, the seller offers me the item at the winning bid (usually $30 or more than I offered). My last bid on an item is as high as I will go, period. If you offer me something that someone else bought, then didn't pay for, I would expect you to let me have it at my last offer. Silly me....

[Steve W]

For all the negativity going around regardig eBay these days, you can indeed find some worthwhile stuff on there for decent prices. Like anything that is worth doing, you will have to expend some work on it in order to find what you want at a price that you want to pay.

Unfortunately, it has reached the point where scams abound, people are finessing the system to try and gain an advantage and other shenanigans occur.

For stuff that I want to buy, I will watch a number of them for a while to get a feel for what they're going for. I then go to my preferred sniping site (www.stealthbid.com) and set up my bids. With many sniping sites, they charge you a percentage based on what you paid -- reasonable enough. You can queue up multiple bids on multiple items and have them stop bidding once you've won an item. There are other permutations as well that are too numerous to go into here.

I've bought and sold stuff on eBay for over 10 years now and have never been burned. IMHO, the chances of being burned depend on the category of stuff you're buying/selling, with technology/consumer electronics being the most chockablock full of scamsters. Guys peddling tools are usually straight-up but you will have to watch yourself on the "non-collectible" tools to be sure that you're getting what you think you're getting. Just keep your eye on your wallet and resist the temptation of an offer of something for nothing or far under its value and you should be okay.

Steve

[JimmyC]

If you want to know what items have sold for in the past, just check the box for advance searches, that is to the right of the item you have searched for. This brings you to a log in screen, log in. There will be a box where your search item is listed that says 'Completed listings only' , check it and hit search. This will bring up all of the items, that you are searching for, that have sold in the last couple of weeks. This is also helpful as a selling tool, to help you price items.

Jimmy

[sapwood]

Thank you! The responses were chock full of goodies.
I'm mostly lurking the site now. Observing bidding frenzies is good reminder you are in shark infested waters


Appreciatively,
Roger