Silly eBay bids

[deanglen]

Isn't all this frustration the result of the nature of an auction? Auctions are, to make the tired comparison, a double edged sword. I know others can outbid me, and they have, back when I was in the game. I'm also sure I outbid others, not because I had the most resources, because I know I do not, but for a host of reasons I may never know. I only wish I hadn't burned out on military hats about a year ago, otherwise I'd have a nice collection going of the hats I like. I just can't seem to get too troubled by auction dynamics. I'm sure they were in my favor on occasion, as they were for someone else's advantage over me.

dean

 

[herringbonekid]

in trying to win a pair of 30s trousers once, i incrementally pushed the bid up from $60 to $200. i had to stop because it could have gone way beyond what the trousers were worth. of course the seller would have been very happy with me. the buyer less so.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

You will always win an auction if you are willing to bid extremely high.


You will sometimes win an auction if you are perseverant.


You will sometimes win an auction if you have the time, skills and knowledge to search thoroughly and wisely.


You will sometimes win an auction if you are lucky.

.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

... the seller would have been very happy with me.

You would have been my hero!

.

 

[Orgetorix]

You will always win an auction if you are willing to bid extremely high.


You will sometimes win an auction if you are perseverant.


You will sometimes win an auction if you have the time, skills and knowledge to search thoroughly and wisely.


You will sometimes win an auction if you are lucky.

.

You will sometimes win an auction if you snipe.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

True.


.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

You will always win an auction if you are willing to bid extremely high.


You will sometimes win an auction if you are perseverant.


You will sometimes win an auction if you have the time, skills and knowledge to search thoroughly and wisely.


You will sometimes win an auction if you are lucky.

.

Or if you accidently bid $4,000 on a pair of vintage swim trunks. lol

 

[Wild Root]

No Tony, it was $2,500... get it right! Hahahahahahalol

Well, my view is, if you want something bad enough, you have the money, snipe it for what you feel it's worth to you and let the chips fall where they may!

I've been very lucky on most of the items I've bid for... I figure out how much it's worth to me, or how much I can afford... I'll place a snipe bid to snipe within the last 7 seconds... If the item is at $20. I'll drop about $100+ If I know what it is and want it bad enough... in the end, I win it.

I also know some who sell on ebay have friends of theirs bid on their items to drive up the price... this is called "shielding" which means the auctioneer's trying to make sure his item isn't sold for peanuts. It happens a lot on ebay. I recall a suit I won off of ebay, I wanted it more then anything! It was at $160 for 90% of the auction... then, I figured I had to have this suit and knew it was going to go up! I felt I could afford $400. so, I sniped it for that and won it for $320.

Don't sweat the small stuff, heaven knows there's way more important things to get upset about.

=WR=

 

[Harp]

Showdown Poker

I recently bid for a beautiful leather hand-crafted briefcase listed
from an estate. The case had-by appearance and description-never
been used but improbably seemed to have been custom made in Britain.
I set my maximum price; beyond which I seldom, if ever go. However, in
this instance another bidder and I raised each other several times, before
I folded, and two others jumped in at the last minute, raising the price to
well over three hundred dollars. My opponent prevailed at the last second,
outbidding the others--the nature of the auction game, and no hard
feelings. It is easy to become disappointed in bidding. Just set your
maximum price and follow a disciplined course. Unfortunately, fools can
jack up the price, but that's eBay Showdown Poker.

 

[scotrace]

Strategy Schmategy.

I really think these are folks who don't understand, or perhaps don't "trust" the eBay system of bidding. They think if they plunk down a $20 bid, then the thing is at $20 right away.

I'm convinced that they log in, bid a dollar higher, and "rats. Not enough." So they bid again, another dollar, and so on, until they are high bidder. Then they watch it and start "bidding" again if they are topped, a dollar at a time until they say "Whew! $16! Too rich for my blood..."

I used to see them in my computer classes. The same folk who picked up the mouse and used it against the monitor screen.

 

[J.S.Udontknowme]

Ebay's auto bidding system can make it look like someone is bidding 1.00 at a time. If you look at the date and time of the bid it may be the same as their first bid. I thought all bids drive the auction price up, not just the small ones.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I also know some who sell on ebay have friends of theirs bid on their items to drive up the price... this is called "shielding" ...

I've heard it called "shilling". The friend who does the sham bidding is called a "shill".


.

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

I've heard it called "shilling". The friend who does the sham bidding is called a "shill".


.

He he, I have another name for them

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I hear ya! lol


"Pieces of shill"

"Shillheads"

"Shill-for-brains"


.

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

Now there is a choice. How about zip-shill

 

[scotrace]

.

 

[jake_fink]

I recently bid for a beautiful leather hand-crafted briefcase listed
from an estate. The case had-by appearance and description-never
been used but improbably seemed to have been custom made in Britain.
I set my maximum price; beyond which I seldom, if ever go. However, in
this instance another bidder and I raised each other several times, before
I folded, and two others jumped in at the last minute, raising the price to
well over three hundred dollars. My opponent prevailed at the last second,
outbidding the others--the nature of the auction game, and no hard
feelings. It is easy to become disappointed in bidding. Just set your
maximum price and follow a disciplined course. Unfortunately, fools can
jack up the price, but that's eBay Showdown Poker.

Treating ebay like a game is dangerous bidness kids. Ebay is a powerful tool that puts oten unscrupulous sellers within e-proximity of often severely mentally unspectatuclar buyers and if you get caught betwixt'em it can annoy the life out of you. So always wear protective clothing and remember: the house always wins.

 

[Twitch]

I know what you mean Bud. People seem to be trying to escalate in the smallest amounts possible thinking they'll get it cheaper I suppose. They should simply deceide their max price they want to pay and bid it!

On the flip side of that is when you see an item, any item, and know about what it's going for or valued at and seeing some idiot that put in a super stupid high bid obviously simply becasue he just has GOT to have it no matter how high the cost. Never mind is it is 2-4 times higher than the same item that sold last week!

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

This reminds me of playing Blackjack at a table with players that have no idea of what they are doing. Nothing can ruin a table quite like a player that hasn't a clue about what they are doing ie (hitting a hand of 15 and busting on a face card)

 

[Wild Root]

Some bidders we must remember are young men who don't have a job, who would like a hat and they try and bid because it's something they want and they hope and pray that the item doesn't go to much higher. I wont bid if I haven't the money... I don't bid until the last hour because that's where it gets real serious.

There's different kind of bidders on ebay. There are people who want the item so, they know how to get it... then, there's the one's who are poor collage students who place small bids in hopes to win an item for a song and then there are those who will just get bid happy to win... it's a game and they really don't care for the item in which they bought... it's about winning to them... you'll then see the same item for bids in the next month.

Now, the two bit bidders aren't really the guys to get sore at... it's dealers who don't send you your item after you won! They pack up and get the heck out of Dodge! They take your money and run! Or there's the ones who use a very bad photo and poor description... end result, unhappy customer! Also, there's bidders who don't pay for items... just sad.

I'm sure most of the people here who sell on ebay don't mind these small bids because they see their item going up in price! Have to look at both sides of the coin!

Cheers,

=WR=