Ebay - OT

Lets just think about this for a moment.

Ready?

Ok.

You know the original seller? The person who put the plate up on ebay?

Ok?

Right.

Now, this is the important question:

Did he make & decorate the plate himself?

Reply to
Scott M
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The only asking price on Ebay is a BIN - buy it now. Any other is a starting price, and being an auction there is always the possibility of being outbid.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

sweetheart :

I think I can help. Read carefully, sweetheart.

Presumably you're reasonably familiar with real auctions. Roughly speaking...

The recommended procedure is to decide how much you're prepared to pay for an item, and bid up to that amount. If the bidding reaches that amount, and you are outbid, you stop.

No-one cares what order the bids are placed in, or how quickly they are made, or at what stage people enter the bidding. The result is the same.

If you can't attend the auction in person you can send someone else, armed with your maximum price. That's all they need. You don't need to be there yourself.

With eBay it's more or less like that, where you send someone else to the auction room to do your bidding. eBay *is* that person. You decide what your maximum bid is, you tell eBay to bid up to that price, and you leave it at that. The person who bids highest wins, and they pay slightly more than the second-highest bidder's maximum, and they pay no more than their own maximum.

Nothing there to get angry about.

Some people don't understand the above, so they bid a low price, and if they're outbid, they bid a higher price. This is what you see in a real auction, where it makes sense, but in eBay it's stupid. I'm not saying the bidders are necessarily stupid, but their actions are stupid. And that stupidity drives up prices.

Because of that stupidity, the wise bidder saves his bid until the last moment, so that there isn't time for those stupid increased bids. And he/she probably uses software ("sniping" software) to do it, so they don't need to be sitting in front of their computer at any particular time.

You've been sniped. But only because you weren't bidding properly. You put in a bid of less than you were prepared to pay, and you watched to see if you were outbid, intending to put in a higher bid. This was stupid. I'm not saying you're stupid, but your behaviour was stupid, because you didn't understand how things work. It's that lack of understanding that caused the bad feelings that led to your anger.

Rule 1 (essential): Bid right (once, for your maximum price) and you won't have a problem.

Rule 2 (optional): Bid late, to reduce the risk of being outbid by someone else doing what you used to do.

If you don't have a feeling for what prices things go for, you *don't* find out by nudging your bid up. You find out by using eBay's search facility and ticking the "Show only completed listings" box, to see what similar items have gone for in the recent past.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

Matty F gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Indeed. Given the context, I'd have thought that obvious - assuming I was referring to listing the item on fleaBay seems very counter-intuitive.

Because it might not be a few minutes, but could be a few days.

Reply to
Adrian

In message , sweetheart wrote

They all sell on Ebay and you cannot find any elsewhere. The market is active. At the end of the day a dealer cannot tie up money just buying all the stock and not selling anything. The dealer must have a market for the items or else he would stop buying them and as a dealer he needs to make a profit so he is probably paying 30% to 50% of the real active market price. With postage charges and Ebay fees he would need to sell a £5 item for around £8 just to break even so it suggest s that the real market price is around £12/£15.

For something you are willing to pay £100 for why are you surprised that dealers are snapping them up at a fiver?

And at the other side of your argument why are dealers even wasting their time buying worthless "tat".?

Reply to
Alan

I am only obsessed with this one dealer. Anyone else can have any plate I bid on they like.

I am obsessed because what he did was a cheat ( autosnipe). So yeah I will do the same now.

He has bought the plates. I wont buy from him because he is speculating as far as I can see. He has three in his "shop" and hasnt sold them . He has another bunch now. As far as I am concerned he can keep them and rot with them.

There are plenty of other fish in the e bay auction. I would rather buy one of those, no matter what it costs.

I also noted something esle. he has in his "shop" a clock of a companion design to the plate I want. he is selling it a £15.99 Appears perfectly good I guess I dont know. I think its not quite right but it might be the picture.

Anyway there is an identical clock in an auction this afternoon. It has several bidders on it. So why so many after this one clock when they could go and " buy it now" cheaper? Like me are they ? annoyed.

I was looking around the e bay discussions. There is a thread or two or three , all saying what I have said here. I am not alone in being done over in innocence.

Thats a real problem. I dont know what its worth. I say I will pay what it takes ( like an auction - the price is what you can get on the day) . There is no real market outside of e bay for this thing. If I could buy it somewhere else I would have and paid the " market price" for that. The ebay price seems to be at auction around £5.00 with one buyer ( and silly me) .

I saw it in a charity shop a while back ( when my aunt had one on her wall and I was having hers then) at £10 . I would have given them another fiver and thought nothing of it as it was charity. I suspect looking at others in the series which I could get, the plate is worth £10 in a fair market. Its not that rare and it is a bit of 1970's tat right now ( not antique)

I would in a real shop, if I saw the plate and without being angry as I am now probably see it as reasonable if they asked £25 if it was in good condition. So for me the plate is worth up to £30 in a shop and I would be happy to see that as reasonable but I think thats more than most would pay.

Absolutely no point in bidding early; you just stimulate more

So what happens if you make this e bay auto bid and put your maximium in at the start ( as I have) but the bid looks as if its at 99p still. I didnt know you shouldnt bid until the last minute.

Reply to
sweetheart

Well if an auction continues for a few days with a new bid every minute, why would you not be delighted by the incredibly higher price that you will receive? Trust me, an automatically exending auction time works extremely well. Occasionally the time may extend for a few minutes. The result is fair for all.

Reply to
Matty F

I can't be bothered to read this. But £50 says you will metion a car or your late Aunt.

Reply to
ARWadsworth

In effect: I went into Netto today and tried to buy some milk. It said 1.49 on the bottle. I offered them 50p. They refused. How *dare* Netto not operate as I think they should.

JGH

Reply to
jgharston

Matty F gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

But if all those bids would've been received anyway - and the only question is one of the timescale - the end price will be the same.

Reply to
Adrian

You should try to work out how an online auction system works, and that takes time and experience. I often use the autobid feature. Sometimes I wait until the last moment to do that (knowing that a TradeMe auction will extend automatically until pople stop bidding). If someone has bid already and I really want the item I may blow them away with a high auobid, then maybe another autobid at the very end, in case the other bidders have forgotten the time. I look for auctions that finish at stupid times, such as the middle of a working day, or very late at night, and leap in with a bid at the very end. I never buy plates!

Reply to
Matty F

"sweetheart" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Hardly "a cheat" - he bid as high as he wanted to pay. If you'd bid more, you'd have won it. The only time the bid time comes into play is if one bidder doesn't understand how eBay works in terms of automatic bidding to your limit, or if two people bid the exact same amount at different times

- in which case, the _earlier_ bid wins.

But, that apart, if it is somehow reprehensible to do that, aren't you just being hypocritical to then do the same?

Reply to
Adrian

Not everybody is on broadband in NZ. Not yet anyway. There may be delays for people on dialup. Therefore it makes sense to extend an auction until people stop bidding for a minute.

Reply to
Matty F

I have never been outbid in a real auction. Its never reached what I was willing to pay. Mostly I have had stuff for a lot less . So its unfamiliar territory.

Its not though is it? In a real auction the bidding would not have stopped when it did, the auctioneer would have waited for me to say I would go higher or refuse. Then it would stop when either I or the late bidder reached the top price. . My anger revolves around the fact that this bidder did as someone called "snipe" put a bid in right on the last second so I couldnt go higher and out bid him. Thats why I am annoyed. I didnt have the chance to out bid him even though I would happily have paid far more. I just didnt know what I should pay. I played it by ear as it were but the system doesnt allow for that.

I agree its my own naivity. I didnt realise that you had to play the game that way. You dont in real auctions.

But I was there. I could have bid. I didnt deem I needed to leave a commissioned bid. Had I known that was what you do, I would have. Thats why I have put the next one on e bays auto thing but even then people are saying I wont get it because sniping will out bid ..... although there is some confusion. Others seem to think I am going to be paying the full whack of what I have left on commission ? A commissioned bid in an auction room means you will pay UP to that amount. It sems now I am being told e bay expect you will pay that anyway. So I either lose out because I am sniped at the last second or I leave a high commission ( maximum bid) and pay far more than anyone else is willing to pay. In a real auction I would only pay one bid over what the last bidder offered.

Which is it on e bay? So I will learn but one thing is for sure. if this bloke outbids me he will have paid far too much! I dont care. I bet he will though.

. I'm not saying you're stupid, but your behaviour was stupid,

I agree but thats because e bay dont explain the rules.

I cant always bid late. I cant always be there. So I left my maximum bid and I expect it to be enough, if it isnt someone is going to be paying far too much. As I said it doesnt bother me. I have committed that money now. But it will bother someone else I am sure if they want to out bid me.

I did though. Plates have consistently gone £4.99 or less ( except the one I bid on at £4.99 ) and I got sniped and it went to £5.19 but I would have gone much higher time allowing. I have really inflated it out of the arena now just to win because I cant be there the next time and I wont be done over in the last second.

I want the plate. I don't want to keep going after one and another and another to find some plonker coming in at a second to go. If he wants this plate, he pays or its mine. Simple as that. The seller wins either way.

Reply to
sweetheart

Wrong.

Reply to
Huge

No , thats not quite right. The ones that have sold have all gone to one person, who has them all as far as I can see unsold in his BIN? Is that it - in his buy it now shop. It is true I cannot right now find a plate anywhere else although 10 are currently for sale on google. There have been 4 past ones None have had any other buyer than this one dealer ( except for the one where I bid and he paid more for that than the asking rate of course)

At the end of the day a dealer cannot tie up money just buying

The real market price is around £10 according to the couple I saw a few months ago on a real shop! I was not in the market though then. They did sell but it was christmas

I think he is speculating for some reason. As I said, nothing sold, just him buying and placing them in his "shop"

No one else would pay that much. I am stupid. I will not be outbid by him.

I doubt the others ( after I get mine) will go for £100. I wonder if they will sell at all unless this guy carries on buying.

The plate is worth no more than a tenner. Bottom line. I am offering far more for ONE plate. I could sit it out and probably pick one up for £5 or less. Its just its got to me.

Reply to
sweetheart

I've been reading all the posts in this thread. Now put yourself in the seller's position.

There has been one bidder for the entire time the item's been up for sale. You get the amount of the first bid, which you've set low to ensure a sale.

There are a lot of bidders, with the price rising every time. You get the last amount bid, which is guaranteed to be more than the opening bid.

In either case, you may not get your (secret) reserve, which means you lose the cost of putting it up on the site.

It's not unknown for people to get friends to bid up the prices on eBay to above the reserve, as at worst, it will cost them the commission on the item. Other ways of doing things exist, which are generally considered sharp practice, including having two or more accounts of your own, all bidding against each other. If you're caught, that one bans you from the system, though.

In your case, there is a bidder who, for whatever reason, wants a lot of these plates, and is familiar with the way that Ebay works. They may be a buyer for a TV or film props company, or they may be a dealer with a real shop. Or they may just be a 70s freak, trying to decorate their home in 70s style. They may even want the plates to turn into clocks and sell them on a market stall.

You claim to have been in business. In business, you learn the rules before you start, or you go out of business quite quickly. When you bid on eBay, you are up against a lot of people who know the rules, a fair few of whom make their living from it. So, effectively, Ebay is a business marketplace. There is no place in Ebay for emotion, just as when you're in a real auction you should set a limit and not exceed it. I've walked away from a number of items at auction because of it. I've also bought quite a few bargains that way. I've also ended up with some right cr@p, but that's the way it works.

For what it's worth, I've used Ebay once, to buy one item, and apart from the never ending e-mails from Ebay and Paypal offering me special deals on listing and payment methods, I'm happy with the way it worked. If I need to, I'll use it again. Before I made a bid, though, I checked on how the system worked.

Reply to
John Williamson

Not a good analogy though is it?

I offered the £1.49 and accepted that I might need to pay more. I went to the check out and waited . Then the checkout girl swiped the milk from me and gave it to another customer who hadnt been in the queue before just because he said he would pay £2.00 for it. I didnt get the option to offer £2.50.

Reply to
sweetheart

In message , sweetheart wrote

No, they are just stupid. People get sucked into Ebay thinking that items are cheap in the "auctions". Investigate further on easy to obtain goods with tens of sellers and you will regularly find Ebay auctions where the bidding price has gone well beyond the buy it now price offered by someone else. In many cases non-Ebay is cheaper.

I use Ebay as a buyer only and find it convenient for certain items, mainly of low value where you can see like items from many sellers on the same page.

Yes there are people who bid on Ebay who haven't bothered reading the rules and/or have not researched this method of buying or selling. The fact that millions of people use it each week suggests the number of complaints such as yours are rather insignificant.

Or the market is active and you cannot find the item elsewhere because when they are on sale they are sold fast.

Reply to
Alan

I never buy plates ( or anything) either. All I wanted was one plate ( out of 10 or so there). It seems like so much trouble to have to learn a game for one plate. As for looking at auctions finishing at stupid times. I do have to work and wouldn't be able to be at the stupid timed auctions. The next one finishes at 3,00 am. I am going to get up for that ( not)

Reply to
sweetheart

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