Ebay Seller Reported
- Thread starter fossyant
- Start date
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CopperBrompton
Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
- Location
- London
Life is too short to sit at a PC counting down the seconds. As Tom says, sniping is the way to go. I use bidnapper and pay 25p per successful bid (and nothing if it's unsuccessful).
Rhythm Thief
Veteran
Proto said:
And me. Doesn't sound fishy at all to me.
Mortiroloboy
New Member
marinyork said:On the other hand I'm still waiting on some new batteries after a week. Fed up of slow dispatchers and royal fail.
And I'm still waiting to be paid for my Truvativ power spline.
Unfortunately a lot of people on ebay completely and abjectly fail to understand the difference between the terms "bid" and "maximum bid".
I genuinely do not understand what people's problem is with simply inputting the maximum price they are willing to pay for that item, safe in the knowledge that they will only have to pay slightly more than the next highest maximum.
The numerous 'auction sniper' and 'auto bidding' sites exemplify this confused cynicism, and my take on it is if they fail to understand how something simple like ebay works, what hope do they have of properly understanding how something complex like software and web security works - and thus why would I want to entrust my sign-in details with them...?
I genuinely do not understand what people's problem is with simply inputting the maximum price they are willing to pay for that item, safe in the knowledge that they will only have to pay slightly more than the next highest maximum.
The numerous 'auction sniper' and 'auto bidding' sites exemplify this confused cynicism, and my take on it is if they fail to understand how something simple like ebay works, what hope do they have of properly understanding how something complex like software and web security works - and thus why would I want to entrust my sign-in details with them...?
OP
OP
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Thanks for the offer for the Sora STI, but 7400 DA pulls a different amount of cable than the rest of the groupsets, so needs DA. Don't really need STI as my SIS downtube shifters work 100%
I always keep a look out for mint ones - didn't really have the spare cash, so was probably best not to bid...
I always keep a look out for mint ones - didn't really have the spare cash, so was probably best not to bid...
Over The Hill
Guru
- Location
- Ridden off into the sunset
bonj said:
Unfortunately a lot of people on ebay completely and abjectly fail to understand the difference you make by bidding one day before the end and one second before the end.
One second and competing bidder will have no time to decide to go the extra pound, give them 24 hours to think it over and competing bidder (supported by extra confidence in item by your bid) WILL out bid you.
Do you send a message to the world that it is a) not worth much or is
worth a lot?? If you want
bid early if a) bid late. 
Night Train
Maker of Things
- Location
- Greater Manchester
I usually decide how much I am willing to pay for something and then stick in the maximum and leave it like that. If I lose it for a pound then so be it. To chase it at the last moment can mean I just push the price up and up and still not get it or get drawn into paying more then I would have done with a sensible head on.
Sometimes I look at the bidding and if there is a bidder who has put in several repeat bids then they obviously want it a lot and has been increasing their maximum bid, or has been raising the bid at intervals then I don't bother with it, someone clearly wants it more then I do.
Sometimes I look at the bidding and if there is a bidder who has put in several repeat bids then they obviously want it a lot and has been increasing their maximum bid, or has been raising the bid at intervals then I don't bother with it, someone clearly wants it more then I do.
Over The Hill said:Unfortunately a lot of people on ebay completely and abjectly fail to understand the difference you make by bidding one day before the end and one second before the end.
One second and competing bidder will have no time to decide to go the extra pound, give them 24 hours to think it over and competing bidder (supported by extra confidence in item by your bid) WILL out bid you.
Do you send a message to the world that it is a) not worth much or isworth a lot??
If you want
a) PUt simply, you don't bid on ebay. eBay bids for you.
"One second and competing bidder will have no time to decide to go the extra pound" - you're assuming that everyone else fails to understand ebay in the same way that you fail to - by assuming that they're going to up their maximum bid if they know yours beats them. IF they were rational and understood how the system worked and trusted it, then they'd have put the maximum amount they were willing to pay up as the maximum bid as soon as they saw the item and left it at that.
gbb
Legendary Member
- Location
- Peterborough
You can't rationaise ebay bidding in any simple terms. Its a lottery. Some you win, some you lose...there is no right way...no wrong way.
One way will work for you one day...the next day it may not.
Last minute bidding wont help if the previous bidder has already commited more than you with an early bid.
Early bidding wont help if someone comes in at the last minute with a bigger bid.
Sniping, bidding manually early, bidding late....you do it the way you like...some you win, some you lose. You all know that.
One way will work for you one day...the next day it may not.
Last minute bidding wont help if the previous bidder has already commited more than you with an early bid.
Early bidding wont help if someone comes in at the last minute with a bigger bid.
Sniping, bidding manually early, bidding late....you do it the way you like...some you win, some you lose. You all know that.
Mr Pig
New Member
- Location
- North Lanarkshire
red_tom said:
Me too. I decide what I want to pay, bid it and if I loose too bad. Bargain or nothing, fine by me.
Over The Hill
Guru
- Location
- Ridden off into the sunset
bonj said:
You are assuming (wrongly imo) that the maximum they were willing to pay is a set figure.
Their maximum can be influenced by the bidding activity.
Example
See an item you think is worth £100 with two days to go.
It is now on £10, you may be tempted to bid £100 (most people may give it a go at less than their maximum but we will go with you) but you are tempted to revise your estimate downward.
But if it is now on at £98 you may revise your perceved value upward and go for £120 as by now you know your £100 is unlikely to win it.
SO if you push up the price early you will get bidders going for a higher price as the item is re-valued in their mind having seen lots of other bids at or over their maximum value.
The trick is to get you to up your value estimate. Listen to an auctioneer that is what they are doing. On ebay bidders listen to the price others bid.
Tis the nature of bidders.
it can, but it shouldn't be.Over The Hill said:
If you go into an antiques auction at christies, or a car auction, then the golden rule is to decide how much you are willing to bid at the start and not go above it. ebay makes that easy, you just put that figure into the system.
Over The Hill said:
Get this, and really TRY HARD to understand it:
You DON'T BID
Other people DON'T BID
ebay bids FOR you. It is called proxy bidding. It is the way ebay works, and it is the only option that you have for bidding on ebay.
You should decide the maximum amount you are willing to pay for the item regardless of other bids. You then ensure that you win the item if no-one else is willing to pay more, and ebay ensures that you only pay one pound more than the maximum anyone else was willing to pay, i.e. that your bid that wins the item is only as big as it needs to be.
