Silly eBay bids

[DOUGLAS]

Winning and loosing is part of the game Bud. I usually bid high and I have never sniped.If some one beats me at my game then I will fold and wish him good luck. I have been lucky as of late, getting most of what I want for less than I was willing to pay.

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

Winning and loosing is part of any game. Winning or loosing is not the issue as far as I am concerned. The potential of shilling is another issue. Even eBay finds this to be an issue or there would not be rules against it.

 

[rcinlv]

Hmmm...

Although new to both the FL and Ebay, I gained a wealth of experience (along with 7 hats) over the last 2 months. Started out having never even looked at ebay, bidding on a hat against a fellow FLer (that was one sweet Stratoliner); found that I was the subject of a thread because I "wasn't doing it right." Sort of the same thing you're describing. I was upping the bid a dollar or two at a time, only to find that I had been outbid. Learned my lesson- set your bid at the HIGHEST price you're willing to pay. If someone out there wants the item more than you, so be it. I put bids in on around 10 hats, set the price where I was willing to go, and ignored it. Looking to get 3-4 hats, I ended up with 7. Found myself "sniped" on one of the hats by a FL member, and smiled, knowing that he "beat my price" and that someone who would really appreciate and wear the hat got it (it was even the source of a recent thread; Grey Stetson Whippet).

So I guess my point is this: if there is a hat you want, and decide you're going to bid, put your maximum bid and expect to pay it. If you pay less, you got a great bargain. If someone bids more, so be it. There will always be more hats listed, and more opportunities to buy!

And now that I have my 7 hats, I'm no longer bidding (although I do occasionally do searches, looking for a magical chapeau)!!!

Regards,

RC

 

[Marc Chevalier]

You have a very healthy attitude! Congratulations and welcome!

.

 

[ideaguy]

Trying to wean myself off evilbay; too darn frustrating if you take it really
seriously and have to deal with the nickel-dimers, and tough nuts if that sleeper
of a hat gets "discovered" by Mr. Deep-pockets. We all tend to take things like this too personally, and look at all the responses to this thread-Rather than bid
where I can't, I sometimes ask the buyer if he/she would consider a Buy-it-Now
if there are no bids after a few days-perfectly legit.,sometimes works, most often not, but circumvents spending hours in front of the screen; sometimes the seller doesn't know what they have, and you win-most of the time they do and
you lose. Shills,shields,retractions,mistake bids, all are so much smoke&mirrors by people you can't confront, making it all the worse for "fair auctions". After a
long time at auction, getting tired feet from standing in the back, I was reminded each time by an old friend-"there are no friends at auction". Before-during-or after. Stop dwelling on the past auctions and remember-it's just stuff!

 

[DOUGLAS]

I get your point Bud. I just assume that there will be dishonest people and some that will skirt he rules so I try not to get upset. Not always easy for sure. All I can do is try to follow the rules and not skrew anyone.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

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.

You're right. Those "small bids" we sometimes seem to see are the result of one bidder putting in an initial high bid on an item that has a relatively low opening minimum bid. Happens to all of us sometimes I think. :eusa_doh:

 

[deanglen]

I agree with Bill, "shills" are not acting in good faith and should not exist. What can be done? I don't know, beyond the e-bay rules, perhaps there could be refinement of those rules to preclude this poor practice. Register bidders in some fashion as declaring bona fide status? Again, I'm not sure how this could be done.

dean

 

[John in Covina]

Shills

Don't forget though if the shill gets their bid too high and they win, the seller loses out and winds up re-listing.

I'd be nervous shilling, how do you measure when to stop bidding?

 

[Kilroy]

If I determine what a hat is worth to me and bid that amount at the last minute, what is unfair
about that? If I put my bid in five or six days before the auction ends, all I am doing is encouraging
a shill or a scab to pick at my bid. Why would I want to do that? Why don't I just shoot myself in the foot
while I'm at it?

It may have already been said here, but waiting till the very end of the auction accomplishes two things. It
doesn't allow the shills time to pick at a bid, and it doesn't allow the bidder time to get emotional and bid higher
that he/she originally planned.

My 2 cents worth.

 

[Prairie Shade]

Kilroy

WOW Your here also!! Your advice is worth more than 2 cents.

 

[Orgetorix]

If I determine what a hat is worth to me and bid that amount at the last minute, what is unfair
about that? If I put my bid in five or six days before the auction ends, all I am doing is encouraging
a shill or a scab to pick at my bid. Why would I want to do that? Why don't I just shoot myself in the foot
while I'm at it?

It may have already been said here, but waiting till the very end of the auction accomplishes two things. It
doesn't allow the shills time to pick at a bid, and it doesn't allow the bidder time to get emotional and bid higher
that he/she originally planned.

My 2 cents worth.

I heartily agree. I snipe auctions without remorse or apology, and I don't think I'm being rude to anyone, especially when they have equal right to do the same.

 

[John in Covina]

Can they do some sort of "Sealed Bid" type auction? Those seem to work out where everybody considers it fair. (not that the regular ebay style is un-fair.)

 

[Orgetorix]

Can they do some sort of "Sealed Bid" type auction? Those seem to work out where everybody considers it fair. (not that the regular ebay style is un-fair.)

What is that? Do the bid amounts stay private until the auction is over?

 

[John in Covina]

What is that? Do the bid amounts stay private until the auction is over?

Yup! This style of auction tends to keep people from getting emotionally out of hand, so their egos do not go nuts in a bidding war.

You can evalute the item make a judgemnet of worth, write it down and submit the bid. The auction guys open all the bids for item # 266 and the highest biddder wins. They announce who won and that person pays up.

No counter bids or lively bidding war so it is pretty simple.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Exactly.


eBay does offer this kind of auction. Here's an example: http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/10...tegoryZ28221QQihZ006QQitemZ160046713618QQrdZ1


.

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

I am sure ebay is more than happy to leave things the way they are. The more the price goes up, the more both parties (ebay and the seller) make off of the transaction. The reality, is that we will continue to make our purchases, as there is no other alternative. Sad truth is where else can one find the assortment available on ebay?

 

[mtechthang]

I agree-

The reality, is that we will continue to make our purchases, as there is no other alternative. Sad truth is where else can one find the assortment available on ebay?

Bud-n-Texas- I'm new to the hats but I couldn't agree more with what you said. I do think we forget sometimes that the "shills" may just be newbies- a few times I've found something I didn't even consider might be on ebay and that tends to lead to "Why did I buy that syndrome?" That includes a 950.00 bicycle that I wouldn't trade for three times that!

In the excitement of the moment it is pretty easy to "outbid yourself" as it were. But I also think some folks have identified a different animal. When they spoke of the same person who bids up every 7 1/4 or 7 3/8 (stretch and shrink- now that's stingy) they may not appear to be playing fair. But I don't have that collecting bug that some do (I've heard of folks with 200 hats and they said it proudly!). I do what's been suggested by the wise folk on FL- I decide what something is worth *to me* and I bid that at the last moment possible. Win some, loose some. It keeps some of the adrenaline out of the picture but I still like it when I get something I really wanted- I just don't feel so bad because, a) I lost or b) I way overbid. :cheers1:

 

[Marcus Brody]

I actually just had this happen to me on my whippet win. Even though I won the hat for a steal still (20 bucks), there was only one other bidder and he actually tied my max bid which was 20 bucks, but he stopped right there. So in other words he went far enough to make me pay my max bid, but not high enough to win. When things like that happen I'm always suspicious that somehow my max bid was fished out by the seller, or that the other bidder was just not very knowledgeable about bidding on ebay.

 

[metropd]

I just save alot of money up and bid an amount that no one would want to spend as much. It just scares people away. Yes, sometimes I pay 5,6,7, maybe 10 times as much as it could take to win but at least It comes on my head at the end of the day.