Ebay - OT

[sweetheart]

This is possibly a rant but someone may be able to help this naive stupid female here. I have to say I don't like the concept of e bay anyway but I have little choice .

I want to buy a decorative plate. I tried all the charity shops and auctions and car boots locally ( I work cant travel forever) and cant find one . I looked on the internet and I keep being referred to e bay, so in desperation I decided to buy there.

Now I haven't managed to get a plate yet! Thats what annoys. Ebay seems to be a rip off full of dealers buying up things and selling them in their " shops" at what I suspect are inflated prices. Now I might normally go to such a " shop" but now I am miffed and wont!

Long story. I saw a plate ( there are four or five available in fact). Five days ago I put a bid in for the asking price which was £4.99 . Most of them are around that on e bay. This was the first to finish. So I waited. No one else bid over me and I actually went to the site to wait it out so I could up the bid if anyone did come. I watched it count down . Then right at the last second literally some b u .... came and put in a bid

50p higher. I didn't have time to over bid.

Now I might have chalked that to experience except I then watched the next three plates go down. Each time they went to this same buyer. He ( or she) is obviously a dealer!!!!! You don't need four tatty decorative plates on your home wall ( believe me I am female I know)

If I could buy new I would but this plate was made in the 1970's. I was too young then to even afford the £15 a new one would have cost.

I am annoyed now. I still want a plate and it still seems e bay is the only place I will get one but I refuse to pay a dealer now on principle. My problem is though, how do I know what is a reasonable bid for something? If I bought this tat in a charity shop I would pay ( probably) £5 - and I would rather do that but there are no plates in the charity shops! If I go to a private buyer ( someone like myself selling it off my own wall) I would be happy to pay them a decent price but I don't know what that price is so how can I a) find out what a reasonable price is to put it on the goods? b) make sure I am not being ripped off by a dealer?

If I miss the next plate I go for it will be two weeks before the next "auction" finishes and I can see myself in this position every time beaten by a dealer at the last second. The next one is three days time now. I have put in a bid but I need to know how much is too much for a dealer but not a rip off for me?

I wouldn't mind but this seems common now. I had a similar experience with my aunts house that I have just put on the market. These dealers and builders etc. are dishonest in that they pretend to be ordinary buyers which looking into it they clearly are not.

Rant over. Any help on the little problem would be appreciated.

[The Natural Philosopher]

there is an auto mechsnism tha allows you to do this.

do bid until the l;ast 30 seconds and then outbid everybody

[Tabby]

its called bidding or sniping software

get knowledgeable on the subject

is there a newsgroup for antiques? might be worth trying alt.antiques rec.antiques Of course if you ask them about the value of something on ebay, someone else will then take it.

know your subject

It sounds like you're expecting too much from ebay, This kind of stuff is minor compared to the troubles you'll experience buying this way. If you cant deal with it, buy somewhere else than online auctions.

NT

[sweetheart]

its called bidding or sniping software

get knowledgeable on the subject

How? I have looked across the internet for prices. As I said, nowehere else to buy except e bay. Obviously no one wants to sell via a paper or a second hand shop anymore.

is there a newsgroup for antiques? might be worth trying alt.antiques rec.antiques Of course if you ask them about the value of something on ebay, someone else will then take it.

Its not an antique. Its a tatty decorative plate produced in the 1970's. dead popular then and obviously with so many on e bay, not so popular now ( except with dealers who are buying them all up). Its probably not worth more than a tenner at best ( which is what dealers are selling them for on e bay ( on that " buy it now" thing).

know your subject

Al this just to buy a tatty plate? The only reason I am having to buy is my aubt had one and a relative nicked it off the wall before I was able to nick it off the wall! I had always liked it and wanted one like it.

.

How? Since that's where everyone seems to be going now? As I said, if I could go elsewhere I would. Local charity and second hand shops haven't got one. Tried a few auctions, nill. It seems e bay is suddenly it for all such tat. I don't like the idea because frankly I might not get the thing once I buy - another issue with e bay of course but what can one do?

Thanks anyway for the information.

[Andy Cap]

There are a number of sites that will bid for you, up to the maximum you are willing to pay, in the last few seconds. You can't win by manually bidding an a single increase each time. If what you say is true, that a dealer is buying them to sell on, then presumably the going price is a bit higher than the £4.50. If you *really* want this particular plate, then enter the maximum price you are prepared to pay in the last 30 seconnds, say £8.70 - I like to add the extra pence - and you will probably get it for some intermediate figure. That's how auctions work !

[Alan]

In message , sweetheart wrote

Most Ebay bids occur in the closing minutes of the auction and there are mechanisms to increase the bid automatically up to the maximum you are willing to pay.

Supply and demand. The dealer obviously thinks the product is worth more than you have bid. Don't be fooled into thinking that Ebay is cheap place to buy goods, it may be more a convenient place to buy the odd item but watch the prices. I've regularly seen people in an auction pay a lot more than the "buy it now" price offered by another seller.

Are you by any chance the only bidder so far? Try next time to wait until VERY near the end of the auction, put in a bid and then take up Ebays offer for automatically increasing the bid (in 50p or £1 increments - the amount depends on the current price ) to the maximum you are prepared to pay.

For instance if the starting bid is £4 and you indicate that you are willing to pay up to £10 then anyone bidding less than £9 will be immediately told that they have been outbid by you. If they only bid £5.50 you would get it for £6 or £6.50. However if they have done the same and their maximum bid is £10.50 they will win.

Builders etc. are ordinary buyers.

[Matty F]

I don't know how Ebay works but in NZ we have TradeMe, where if a bid is made in the last minutes the auction is extended indefinitely until there is no bid for a couple of minutes. Doesn' t Ebay do that? In addiion there is an autobid facility.

[Andy Cap]

No, an auction ends at a fixed time.

[Tim]

It sounds like you desperately want something but aren't prepared to pay the "going" rate. Clearly others are prepared to pay more and you just have to accept that on ebay at least, you'll have to pay more if you want those plates or else get lucky. It's nothing personal, it's just market economics.

Tim

[sweetheart]

No, that's not quite how a real auction works at all. I can stand in the room and wave my little number around until the gavel falls - I can get it on the going going..... because I am there and so is the other bidder! Unless of course they leave a pre bid. But pre bids ( commissioned) are not shoved in with a second to go and stopping a come back.

I would go well up. In fact I have bid on a plate now with a silly price. I doubt any dealer would go near it BUT what angers me is I would prefer to deal with someone genuine. I cant be sure the person I have offered my next bid to isn't a dealer. I don't think they are since they offered the plate at 99p ( most dealers are asking about a tenner in their shops. Watching whats going on now I can see they are trying to buy the plate ( the one I want) at around £5 ( the one I lost went to the bu for £5,19).

I wouldn't be so angry had it not been in the very last second. I left a bid days ago and no one else showed any remote interest over that time so I had no idea I needed to offer silly money to ensure it.

I would give a lady silly money to take her plate off the wall I don't like the dealer buying from under me and then trying to sell it on to me. I object.

The thing is unless you are an " e bayer" I doubt you will have realized what is going on there. Like me. I learned the hard way and I am very angry. If I were selling on e bay ( as a person) I would be very miffed at finding out a dealer was buying up all my stuff like this. OK so I dont get e bay. My problem.

[sweetheart]

No. Had there been I would have out bid the bu g..

Being naive I didn't know about this. I now have used it. But I don't know if it will work for me or not.

[sweetheart]

I was not aware of this. I was genuine. It looks to me as if this plate is just going round the dealers - looking at the selling histories.

I am not sure there is genuine demand from someone like me. They are a bit like real auctions - dealers selling around, sometimes taking a loss.

For the next one I have left a maximum which I think will outbid any dealer ( they wouldnt make a profit given what I can see about prices its being exchanged for. The trouble is I cant always be there for the end of the auction. They obviously can being as they make a business out of it.

No they are not, not when they think they can offer daft money for something and " pretend" they are first time buyers looking for a starting out home. Its the deception I object to. If you tell me you are a builder ( dealer or whatever|) Fair game. The problem is dealers on e bay pretending to be ordinary buyers ( yeah tell me you are an ordinary buyer when you have 600 buys and buy up anything that comes even when its a duplicate of what you have.

Dealers can do as they like if honest. As a buyer ( and if it came to it as a seller) I would prefer to sell to someone genuine. If I want to give something to a dealer, I would go to a shop and sell it to them or ask them to come and give me a price. Not put it on e bay for them to prowl around .

[sweetheart]

I would have paid if I had known and understood it. I have now put in an auto bid for £100 - this for a plate which should go for around £6 seeing what dealers are paying. They ask £10 themselves, so I doubt I will pay above £20. There isn't a real demand. Its being created by e bay dealers.

But I am angry as I said because they come in at the last second. Its not clear on e bay what its about. They should be dead clear and I think it needs to be clear who the dealers are too. Its the dishonesty.

[Peter Crosland]

The simple answer is to use some form of sniping system. Unless you want to leave your computer on 24/7 by far the best answer is

I have used it for years and am delighted the results. it costs a few cents per item and you can try it for free.

Peter Crosland

[sweetheart]

The trouble is I only want one thing and e bay has put me off forever now! Is it fair of me and can I actually use this for free for one purchase only? I am only looking to get one ( naff) plate and then I am finished with e bay. I am not a buyer and seller type person.

And daft like, I put in an auto bid on the next one in the hope it will outbid the dealers.

Having said that, there is another thing I have seen but had left alone because there was another bid already in ( me being fair and all that , not over bidding someone else). Now I am thinking, if they do it to me, why shouldn't I do it back?

I haven't put in any bid , I was going to wait until the last second this afternoon and then shove in my best high price and hope it would top whatever the other bloke has offered. I am being as nasty as the e bay dealers now. ;-(

What I would much prefer is to find a shop ( a proper one, even online) I could go and buy from. I cant even find what should be a market price in a shop. There are tons of plates, all on e bay! Its silly. Sorry for the rant and thanks for the link.

[Bob Eager]

That's eBay for you. I don't often buy there, only when I have to. I always bid at the last minute/second, because it usually works out cheaper.

Get over it...sorry.

[Alan]

In message , sweetheart wrote

A lot of Ebay auctions start at 99p but that doesn't necessarily mean that you can ever get it for that price. The seller has an option to put a minimum reserve price on the item. Ebay caters for many types of buyer and often the same trader will have an item listed in three or four different ways. He may have an auction starting at 99p but with a reserve of £10, he may have a buy it now at £10 with free postage or he may have it listed as buy it now for £8 but with £2 postage.

I assume you can pay in the way the seller specified in the auction?

[Bob Eager]

Why shouldn't a dealer bid? They are just as entitled as you.

[Bob Martin]

I buy tons of stuff on eBay - in fact it's my first port of call for many things

- but I gave up on the actions years ago and just go for Buy-it-Now items. Good prices and fast delivery - often within 24 hours.

[Alan]

In message , sweetheart wrote

Not the last second, Ebay can be slow at times especially as many sellers time their auctions to end when the system is busiest and more people may be looking for last minute bargains.

No, that's how the system works for EVERYONE. If the other buyer wants the item he will have put in higher bid and will be expecting someone to make other bids if an item that has interest to multiple buyers.

But a shop selling a plate for a fiver will have ripped off someone when they bought it. Sites like Ebay take out the middle man