Ebay - OT

[sweetheart]

No I wasn't willing to do the same as you put it. But I am now. Thats the game isn't it? I learned . I still think it is reprehensible though.

[Huge]

You don't have to. Decide what you're prepared to pay for the plate. Enter that as your eBay bid. eBay will automatically increase your bid to your maximum whether you're there or not.

[Alan]

In message , Harry Bloomfield wrote

Bid amounts go up in 50p amounts when the current bid price is low, and then in £1 as the amount rises and then in........

Ebay auto-bids the minimum incremental amount to beat the competition.

In this case the OP may get it for £6 rather than for the £100 maximum bid entered.

[Peter Scott]

The best explanation so far, Mike. I use eBay a lot, as I live in the country and don't have easy access to a wide variety of shops. Buying from such as eBay, Amazon and eBuyer I can choose from a huge range of goods and pay less, often far less. I have rarely had a problem on eBay, and those that I have had were settled without having to leave negative feedback. The only loser is my postman, who has threatened to take my computer away!

Sweetheart, don't give up. Once you have really grasped the best tactics (I use late bidding with a sensible maximum bid), it is easy and fun. There is one other bidding technique that is uncommon but I've just used to buy some Access 2010 licences. Some sellers offer a Buy It Now or Make An Offer. The buyer can't decide to use it, only the seller.

The posters are right. It is easy to do the wrong thing at a real auction, until you know the best techniques. You are usually up against dealers there too. eBay is just the same. Learn and then enjoy.

[sweetheart]

Yes, I know, thats what I have done. So if I am outbid, believe me the bloke has paid for it! .

[tim....]

Bidders are anonymous. People don't declare their profession, they just come along and bid like you do.

tim

[sweetheart]

All I want is one plate. I don't want the game. I don't want to go to the BIN as in fact I suspect I will be ripped off ( as its one dealer) . I will get my plate and that will be it. Probably the next one down and its probably a better plate too in terms of description.

But I don't like e bay and thats me finished.

[Gill Smith]

keep an eye on the local paper for house clearance sales

failing that put a Wanted ad inAsda/Tesco

even Freecycle

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[Adrian]

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

So you're a hypocrite.

[Huge]

Hell, you'll regularly find Ebay auctions where the bidding price has gone well beyond the new retail price in a shop.

OTOH, I bought a 'frig thermostat on eBay this week for £6. The same thermostat is for sale in other places for up to £120.

It's worth what you will pay for it.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Exactly the same as buying something in most shops. You pay the asking price or do without.

[Matty F]

Let's say that the auction extends for two days. With a bid every minute that's 2880 bids. Is that likely? With TradeMe a bid has to be at least a dollar higher than the previous bid. $2880 is s very good price for a plate or whatever you are selling. And if someone takes longer than a minute to make a bid, the auction ends immediately. Just face it, Ebay do not handle auctions well, which is why they are not in NZ.

[tim....]

That's how the market in any collectable works. Their intrinsic value is a fraction of the price because it IS an artificial market

tim

[Steve Firth]

Well no it's not, but do continue.

So in what way is this better? It's not achieving anything more than entering a higher bid to start with. I suspect that you don't actually understand how ebay works.

They probably thought of it and decided it was a bad idea. A fixed finish time results, usually, in a bidding fever. If someone is keen to secure the item they can bid a higher value in the first place. The process at ebay is more like a sealed bid (Dutch) auction than a saleroom auction but in practice there's a not a huge difference in end result. Items for sale usually reach about what they are worth. In fact on ebay items often sell for considerabloy more than they are worth.

You seem to feel that there's some sort of natural justice in allowing someone to keep on raising their bid. In truth the OP wasn't willing to make a big enough bid to secure the item of interest.

Nah, it's because the Kiwis are backward. Anyway why should ebay worry? A market of 24M sheep with 6M elligible for the vote at some point in their life is hardly worth working up a sweat over.

That's the real reason ebay won't take off over there. Not enough of a population to fuel the process.

It shows the above.

The OP was perfectly at liberty to outbid someone, she didn't. She entered a bid value that was the same as the initial asking price and expected to win the bid. Several times over in fact. That wouldn't have worked in the system that you are proposing either.

[Steve Firth]

Oh look, you managed to sort out your quoting (sort of), the veil is slipping trolly.

[sweetheart]

But when you look at their hisroty and activity , it becomes very clear.

[Adrian]

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

Sorry - all of your excitability over this is over a whole SIXTY SECONDS? Big wow. That's fairly irrelevant, tbh. I assumed that it was an actually relevant amount of time.

Probably more to do with TradeMe reaching critical mass locally first. After all, if this feature was such an inherent market-share-winner, then either eBay would have taken it on themselves, or TradeMe would have beaten eBay hands-down globally. There are various other countries where local alternatives have beaten eBay - in most of them, eBay have later bought that rival. Strange that they don't appear to have done that in the Antipodes, eh?

[The Natural Philosopher]

And anyone can simply not collect it.

There is for example, a fortune to be made out of fake Nazi memorabilia. Not to mention anything 'gay' or vaguely associated with 'celebrities'

Hmm. where is my collection of 'used underwear from the celebrated gay Nazi, Ernest ROHM'

mind - any old tat is good enough, for ebay.

[sweetheart]

Absolutely, now I am. I learned.

[sweetheart]

I really do not understand what you are talking about. But if thats what you think I 'll go. I don't need to be called things I am not seriously. I said I realize I generate a lot of debate but I don't do it deliberately. But Ill go if it suits.

I could say Its cos I is female innit?