ebay bargains

[Proto]

Recently bought a Campag Centaur front mech, 10 speed, in mint 'as new' condition for £1.04p

And today the postman brought me a Mavic Ellipse rear track wheel, brand new. Mine for £45. They're £180 at Parkers Mail Order

 

[swee'pea99]

Yes, I see what you mean now. So no one was playing silly billies.

Indeed. And this kind of illustrates the point of sniping (ie, automatic systems that bid for you in the last few seconds).

Say you & I both want the same thing. I'm prepared to pay as much as £20, so I set my snipe limit at £20. I do this rather than bid £20, because if I bid £20 and you come along prepared to pay up to £19, you might bid £10 - ebay immediately bids £11 for me (because ebay already 'jknows' I'm prepared to pay anything up to £20). You think, right, and bid £12 - ebay bids £13 for me. And so it goes, till I win in the end - but at £20. Whereas if your £11 bid is the highest right up to the last few seconds, my sniping site comes in when it's too late for you to counter-bid, with a bid of 'anything up to £20' - and since £12 is enough to beat your £11 bid, I get it for £12, not £20.

Basically, by only bidding in the last seconds, you avoid encouraging counter-bids that drive up the price.

 

[Speicher]

I think I can safely assume Swea'pea that we do not want the same items. In my case a chocolate teapot, a Swedish tablecloth, and a keyring for a Swedish castle .

Thank you for your explanation. 9 times out of 10, I am probably the only bidder, so had not noticed this late bidding before. I am now reassured that nothing fishy is going on.