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Ebay Snis some time agopes

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BOXoROCKS

Jedi Knight
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We discussed this some time ago,I said I don't like it and was trying to think of a way to stop it. Well, please see my new ebay auction# 200177959694. Please read my description, and my posted answer to a question.
I like what I have said, but if you think I am being unfair,or breaking some rule let me know. ( I will pretend to listen)
PS, this is not an attempt to get you guys to bid,...you guys don't have any money,except for one of ya.
 
Did you just use a spray can of krinkle from Eastwood?
 
That's interesting.
What about the poor soul who sees this at the last minute and can't live without it?

I generally watch an item until the end of the auction and then bid the maximum amount I will pay. I don't get into bidding wars with anyone, too emotional and not good for my BP. Being someone with a few medical conditions I need to guard against the kind of excitement that sort of thing evokes.
I will usually send a seller a message indicating my interest in the item and asking a question or two.

Besides all that, I think an auction winner would have a good case against you if you didn't sell to them just because they only bid once at the last minute. It is an auction, it is a public sale and I think that Ebay would have a problem with your terms.

Maybe it would be better for you to have a "buy it now" rather than an auction.

If I am mistaken about the meaning of just what makes up an auction then please feel free to educate me. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/driving.gif
 
Conditions such as these drive away a lot of bidders, including me. You obviously don't want top dollar. I think you would be better off putting your stuff on the BCF classifieds and save yourself an ulcer.

Marv J
 
All your doing is moving the end of the auction artificially forward but not letting anyone know what the new end time is. I wouldn't bother biding on an auction like that as I do like to wait till the last few seconds to place my bid to keep the guy who just has to have it at any cost from rebiding. Also keeps me from getting into a bidding war with other bidders.

I lost a few auctions last week when I had to bid a little earlier 10 sec remaining vs the usual 5 as I would have liked as the net was being rather laggy allowing an earlier bidder to come back and out bid me. Good for the seller bad for me.
 
Very interesting. I am the type bidder that wont place a bid until seconds before the ending so I cant get a counter from someone just in case he is outbid.
I obviously bid the amount I will bid up to, but if it means I get it for a rock bottom price because someone didnt set the minimum or reserve high enough, its their loss.
I personally would stay away from this auction if I didnt know the bidder. Box since we know its you, can we over bid for the item?

Newkie

P.S. Good luck!
 
I make it a habit to wait until the last moment to bid so as to minimize the amount of 'interest" out there for a product. Additionally that's why ebay allows us to place a maximum bid so as to bid step by step as opposed to placing the highest bid up front. An auction is a series of bids to buy a product up until the point the highest bid is attained, Ebay dictates that they must have a time limit. You can choose a 1 day limit or a 1 week limit but you can't choose when I bid during that process. JMO
 
Oh, heck no!

You wanna sell it for a fixed price put an ad in the Post or something.

(Edit - Except I didn't say "heck". Big Brother's PC Police changed it so that nobody's eyes are burned by the brimstone. That explains SOOOOOO much. But I digress.)
 
...so you guys are saying I am cutting my own throat? I just think its like cutting in line, I know it "smart" biz, but I just dont like it. Let me think about it.

Viping....no....I have my own process.....been doing them for years. Steering wheel hubs,cowls etc. I hear the powder coat process is quite good,I just dont know that way.
 
Here is a recent example, this might be helpful to you.

A couple days ago someone had an auction for an MGB front valance in great shape. The seller is only about 7 miles from where I work so it would have been an easy pickup for me.
I messaged him and asked if I win could I get local pickup, he responded yes.

I waited until the end of the auction, the current bid was $32. I bid what I wanted to spend on it in the last 2 seconds and lost. The seller got $46 for the item because I bid $45 and the previous bidder had put in a higher amount for his max bid.

My bid caused the seller to get a higher price for his item even though I did not win. I offered the maximum I was willing to spend and lost - I felt OK with that. Had I won I would have been equally OK with that. If the previous bidder was only willing to spend the $32 then I would have gotten it for $33. Had he specified $44 then I would have paid $45 and gotten the item.

Under your rule would you have canceled my bid and taken the $32 previous bid even though the guy who bid $32 had also won it for $46? It gets a bit complicated when you put all the possibilities into the hat.
 
I think Ebay may have a issue with you not honoring the highest bidder, and then there's negative feedback you'd get form a last minute snipe bidder you refuse to sell to, snipe or no snipe they won the auction fair and square. Snipe bids have just became another way of buying on Ebay, as a seller I would think you could care less how people bid, as long as they do bid, you're looking for top dollar, right?

If Ebay thinks snipe bidding is counter productive to Ebay, they will find a way to eliminate it, but as seller, I don't concern myself with this. I've only snipe bid one time on a Skat Blast bead blast cabinet and it worked, but the final bid came down to only a few dollar below my high bid on the snipe, so I could have easily lost the auction. Ebay is a sellers market more so than than a buyers market. I know most of time with used stuff I rather Ebay it than list on a website for sale, no haggling, no buddy deals, and I'm pretty much guaranteed top dollar.

Personally, no offense intended, but I think your mentioning of not allowing last minute snipe bids will cause you more trouble than it's worth, and you're worrying about something as a seller you should not concern yourself with. I've been playing the auction game for a very long time, don't even get me started on the way live car autions work, if most of you knew, it would blow your mind. The auction game has never been about being fair, just learning how to play the game and when to walk away, ultimately the bidder holds the most power, no one makes them bid.
 
...I don't know....the honor system maybe..it just seems unfair somehow. As to why I should care...I don't know that either.

case in point...I sold my TR6 on ebay last year, a last minute sniper drove the price up and got it. During the auction I had been corrosponding with another bidder,he even called on the phone. A nice guy. An Air Force guy, he was out of town when the auction ended and he was high bidder. He called me after the bidding ended and offer me more than the winning bid. There was nothing I could do and I felt bad for him. The winning bidder turned out to be a nice guy also,even if a bit sneeky. I just think that we would not do this to each other on this forum if something was posted in the classifieds.
 
The winning bidder knew how to play the Ebay game, the other guy could have done the same thing. I'll tell you what my dad used to say, business is not personal, I know I know. I struggle with following that same advice as well. There are alternatives on Ebay, you can do a "buy it now" auction, with a make offer, then you can pick your buyer if wanted.

An observation I've noticed on Ebay, is that seldomly do the people who ask all the questions, bid in the beginning and even call you, end up winning the auctions. When I sold cars at the auto auctions years ago. I used to get this potential buyers who would ask me a kazillon questions, worrying the self sick about getting the car for absolute bottom dollar and in the end normally end up up empty handed. On the otherhand I would see far more sucessful car dealer sweat the detail far less, give more money, and in the end make more money. I think this says alot abut potential buyers/bidders including Ebay buyers, everyone is obcessed with getting it for a little as they can, and often this will end up making you lose the auction on something you were really wiling to bid more on. Bid the most you are willing to pay and walk away, you get it or you don't, if you do this enough, you'll get your fair share. Recnetly I needed a repalcement oxegen regultor, I lost three auctions in the final minutes, but I kept looking, realized I was bidding below the average amount for what these units were selling for, kept looking and found one at a good price with a "buy it now" and reasonable shipping, I jumped on it.
 
I'm not sure if I read this here or elsewhere but there is an internet auction system that resets the 'count down' after every bid close to the closing. In other words, if someone places a bid with one second to go, an additional 2 minutes (or so) is added to the auction time so that others can continue to bid. In this way it is more like an real auction with auctioneer that continues the bidding if there is interest. This might have been a version of ebay in another country? For some reason I think a NZ friend told me about this.

This system would be good for the buyers .. not so good for the snipers .. but it still should come down to the max amount that you are willing to pay.

Has anyone else heard of this?

edit: Here's wiki entry on sniping and other auctions ending schemes. auction sniping The NZ auction site I heard about is called TradeMe.
 
This forum is a nice place with nice friendly people, even many who have met here and consider others to be friends.
Personally I've communicated with a few people on Ebay and told them about this place and now they are active members here.

Ebay is not a friendly place, it's just a business.

Your Air Force friend had options, and IMHO was only limited by his imagination. If I were in his position (and I have been) I would have gotten someone to watch it for me and try to win for me or at least would have bid my true maximum.

If I hadn't bid my true maximum (he didn't from what you say) then it would be my own fault that I lost.

When I am doing a sale (auction or not) and it's clear the item will be sold I make darn sure that item is put up so no one can mess with it. I consider it to have changed hands and am only waiting to find out who owns it. I see that as stewardship of someone else's property.
 
Whether you're sniping or not, your last bid should be the max that you're willing to pay. Had the Air Force guy done this, he would either have won it or been satisfied that someone else was willing to pay more than he was.

Marv J
 
BOXoROCKS said:
...so you guys are saying I am cutting my own throat? I just think its like cutting in line, I know it "smart" biz, but I just dont like it. Let me think about it.

Viping....no....I have my own process.....been doing them for years. Steering wheel hubs,cowls etc. I hear the powder coat process is quite good,I just dont know that way.
Click to expand...

Anything you might like to share? I've obtained an exta dash for my 67 and want to get it ready for a swap. I got it from a friend who is doing a bugeye dash and he wants me to help him with the crackle finish.
 
The extending the the auction cut off time is interesting, but it still allows sniping (either manually or software assisted), and sooner or later the auction must end. A buddy and myself talked about this at lunch today, we're both racers so competition is something we both understand too well. Bottom line to our thoughts, in any type of contest or competition, there can only be one winner, and a bunch of losers, life isn't fair and probably never will be /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
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