eBay - why can't I win on that stupid site - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Gougoushu · 04-19-2010, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

...Ebay will take your highest bid and engage in a furious bidding war so that you win!"<----this is literraly what they once had on their site pusing automated bidding. Why on Earth would you ever want to be part of bidding war if you can avoid it?? It guarantees that Ebay gets its maximum commission and the buyer's probability of getting a good deal vaporizes. Great for sellers and Ebay but terrible for bidders willing to put in the effort to scratch out a great deal. And those paypal fees are so high that automated bidding is seen as a necessary evil by sellers on no reserve auctions. Nice how Ebay set that up... They win both ways...

Agreed. I love ebay as a concept, but hate the way it's being run. Seems like every change ebay makes is some sleazy way for it to make more money, rather than to improve the service. Another example. Used to be, search results automatically came up in time-ending-order. Now, the default order is something called "best match," which seems to place items in order of which ebay makes the most money on. Another: when creating a posting, Ebay often will send a "warning" that your shipping is too high - because they don't get a cut of shipping. Craig Newmark should get a Nobel Prize for fighting off ebay's attempts to takeover (and destroy) craigslist.

jmatta · 04-19-2010, 04:43 PM

As mentioned, enter your highest bid, but don't enter round numbers. If your maximum bid is $100, enter it as $100.51 or $100.76. With over 600 transactions, I've taken many an item in the last seconds by .50 to .75 cents.

chitowndad · 04-19-2010, 06:08 PM

So you're the guy that sniped my Leinies Red Tap Handle! LOL

)

RandallNeighbour · 04-19-2010, 06:17 PM

When I really really want something off eBay, I wait until there's ten seconds left and put in my first and only bid. None of that automatic bidding for me.

And it's for $500 more than I am willing to pay. I kid you not!

Yeah, I know I could get hammered if some other village idiot like myself is doing the same thing, but frankly, I think I'm the only one with balls big enough to do it because no one has made me pay far more than the item's resale value.

And man, it pisses off the snipers. I even get hate PM's from them.

Now I don't do this every time I bid on eBay items. Only when I want something badly.

For example, the wife collects a discontinued pattern of china by Christian Dior and the coffee mugs are simply never found for sale... anywhere. So when they came up for auction near her birthday (rare timing), I did this and got them for $12.56 more than I thought the final bid might be on the auction.

Perfectlap · 04-20-2010, 10:27 AM

^ I know two village idiots who did the same thing and ended up paying more for a used item than they would have for a brand spankin new item with warranty. That was a very happy seller. That's why if you do go with the nuclear option it probably makes sense to bid the maximum retail value and no more. Also, ten seconds is an eternity. That's just asking for the snipers to drive up your winning price. pointless! I don't think I've ever entered a bid with more than 30 seconds to go and I'm rarely the only one to do so. But you are correct a bidder that knows what he is doing adheres to the strict code of one shot one kill.

chitowndad · 04-20-2010, 04:01 PM

For what it's worth I finally won what I was looking for on eBay and I only paid $9.99 for it but it does have a few scratches. oh well...

Thanks for all the comments and tips!

-Steve

My Kegerator is complete!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110519342269&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

RandallNeighbour · 04-20-2010, 06:13 PM

Congrats chitowndad...

Perfectlap, those coffee mugs were worth $125 each to me to see my wife's face light up on her birthday... horribly overpriced for sure, but they do not make them any longer and those who own them are hoarding them.

I'm quite selective with my nuclear option

I've settled on the 10 second rule because I've had computer operator errors as well as "you are not logged into ebay" <-- oh crap! or my internet connection goes limp and well, ten seconds is about as close to the end as I am comfortable with right now.

You're right though... snipers wait until there's ONE second left to do it.

coreseller · 04-20-2010, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chitowndad

For what it's worth I finally won what I was looking for on eBay and I only paid $9.99 for it but it does have a few scratches. oh well...

Thanks for all the comments and tips!

-Steve

My Kegerator is complete!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110519342269&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Mmmmmmmm.......Kegerator....If I had one of those there would be problems.

The Vrane option has proven effective for me, put in your max bid, forget about it. If you get an email congratulating you on being the high bidder, pay. If you get nothing, move on. I'm pretty fortunate in that there's not much stuff out there I gotta have, not much of a collector either. I have sold things on ebay that buyers asked me specifically not to leave feedback on due to better halves' ramifications, seriously. People went GAGA stupid for nos muscle car parts a few years back lol. In the end they're just things.