Who else buys from ebay?

[Wild Dingo]

So Im wondering who else buys veneers from ebay?

Come on out with you!!... you closet veneer over bidders who constantly outbid me for the better veneers offered by Matrix!!! :mad: Just knock it off alright? boostin the price through the roof does no one any favors!! :mad:

grump over ;) I just really wanted some of that ruddy Bubinga stuff is all and missed out cause some friggin nutcase was all over every lot on offer :( ah well as said grump over ;)

So anyway... there I was wandering around doin this an that on different sites and somehow wandered into the US ebay site... mmm found their veneers and shat kittens!! I mean holey friggin doolie mates their prices are as cheep as flamin chips and the sizes are bloody HUGE!! sending emails to sellers comes up with some very "creative pricing" on postage and packaging I can tell you one bloke quoted $95US UPS for a 14lb lot!! Now that is creative considering the others I contacted went to $35US UPS taking 6 - 7 weeks for delivery and $55US for 7 day delivery by air for the same size lot

Now the BEST thing about their veneers is the size... sorry Matrix ol mate Ive gotta do this... the lot Im presently bidding on is 69sqft in total has 18 sheets of veneer at 64 inches long by 8 1/2in wide 1/38" thick!!! present bid is.... ooh lookit that!! :eek:

I won!! :D :cool: So how much $21.96AUD so add the postage of $75AUD for a total of $96.96AUD Ive got shyteloads of Hickory on its way!! :cool:

Whew... so who else does the ebay dance? :D

[Ausworkshop]

So Im wondering who else buys veneers from ebay? http://woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

I am guilty. I brought some a while back, still havent done anything with them yet (need to make a vac bag system). I think her name was Anne in Tasmania.

ebay can get out of hand when people start bidding, Ive seen things go for huge prices when I've seen the same items at Bunnings for far less plus you dont need to pay postage at bunnings.

Depends what your after though, there are some bargains but alot of people are making money off impulse buyers as well.

I heard some stat once about how many million US dollars ebay make every 10mins or something and it was hard to imagine. Even more scary is the rate at which people are discovering it and the amount of new members everyday worldwide - its a snowball effect and its gotta effect the world economy especially the size this thing will become and the amount of money moving from country to country through private sales rather than large corporations and previous business methods.

Anyway i don't understand world economics and don't really want to but I'm just trying to say that e-bay is growing and growing, its a very big thing that will have to have some repercutions, if they are good or bad is yet to be seen but in my opinion whatever they are they will be BIG.http://woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/smilies/confused.gif

[Robert WA]

Ebay can be a trap.

I am a photography nut in my other life and I keep an eye on what is up for offer in that area. Saw a lens, Minolta AF zoom 75mm to 300mm, about 10 years old, sell for 10% higher than its new price.

You have to know the value of the item you want, and you have to know when to stop.

Rob.

[Wild Dingo]

Exactly so Robert... its okay to have a bid but you gotta know when to fold and stop take a reality pill walk away and think... its like a real auction only without the voices encouraging you... you make your decision on how much your prepared to pay based on what you know or "think" its worth to you... then stick to that price if it goes over walk away... I like to sit and watch if it goes over even at a real auction I will sit back have a fag and watch as the excited ones go hammer and tongs in their efforts to get the item regardless... they must win!!

I watched a bloke at an auction in Carnarvon years ago go totally nuts to get this surfboard ended up paying $700 for a board that was worth maybe just on $100 and at the time he could have had a board made for him personally for $400... I stopped at $120 and spent the rest of that lot smiling at him and the other bloke going for broke win at all costs.. dont think the other bloke was impressed should have heard the swearing coming out of his mouth at the end of it! Amazing and stupid

Great thing but as in all things control and stopping power is needed

Cheers! :cool:

[Harry72]

Ding best think to do is not bid too soon... wait to the last few minutes!
It'll save you a fair amount of dollars.
I've been patroling the building materials section to find bargins... 50x 50mm brass double ball catches $30.50 p&p included, 5pr of 450mm/35kg overextension drawer slides $32.00 p&p included... several lots of screws and even a brand new 2hp elec motor... $193!

[DavidG]

With EBay I price around for what I want.
Take 70% of the best local price and deduct the cost of freight.
That is my max bid.
Have picked up some bargins with last second bidding.
One bid only.

I have also had some fun just bidding over some people and watching them bid again. Still never break the 70% inc freight rule.

[Iain]

I recently bought 7 Titan chisels for $12.50, needed a bit of cleaning up but are good, flea markets want $15 each for the same thing, you can get lucky.

[Ausworkshop]

I recently bought 7 Titan chisels for $12.50, needed a bit of cleaning up but are good, flea markets want $15 each for the same thing, you can get lucky.

I got a dovetail jig for about $45 and some cheap forstner bits, work ok though had a little surface rust but were still brand new and cleaned up with a little camilia oil.

Heres a pic of a drawer I made with my ebay cheapy dovetail jig, I was most impressed even though the jig's comb itself seemed a little innacurate.

[Gumby]

If you don't want to be beaten by a last minute bid, use this:

http://www.auctionsniper.com/

[echnidna]

I get the odd thing but I must be too lousy OR theres a lot of wood ducks out there who pay too much.

[Waldo]

G'day,

SWMBO was a big seller and buyer of kids books up until a year ago when everyone started doing it. She had two great sales: sold an old Gumnut babies book for AU$200 and a rare Golden book for about US$116.

But the question answered is I'm looking. Looking while I'm saving for an Abbot & Ashby 8" b/grinder, planes and a thicknesser, t/saw and chisels. I'm not in the market for most of that stuff now but I like to look as the $ slowly acrue in a spot in my wallet.

[JDarvall]

I'm now caught in this E-bay thing as well. That Auctionsniper as well. But still the program says that I've been 'Out snipped' all the time.

Whats been said about prices getting out of control, because of the competition bothers me too. Because, that means over time all prices would go up, wouldn't they ? .....Cause to determine my maximum bid, I refer to previous auctions. And if their overpriced, then, gradually the value of any particular item will go up, won't it?, cause everybody works out prices this way as well, right?..........:confused: maybe not.

I do enjoy looking at incredible range of items that come up for auction though. Can give you quite an education. Well at least prompts questions, that you find the answers for latter. The pictures that are often given, from all different angles, is great. Its all very clever really.

I'm finding myself saving the pictures of handplanes that are sold to my harddisk, to a file thats named with the name of the plane and the price it went for. So, I've got this lovely little gallery of planes. Takes the anxiety out of deciding on prices on the future.

Still haven't won anything yet. A lot of the planes I like are from overseas, where postage sort of kills the final price a lot.

[Wild Dingo]

It doesnt bother me loosing an auction... quite simply I usually wait till its getting near the end make a bid and sit back if I win goodo if not no loss... I think there seems to be some who are pushin the price up either intentionally or simply because they want the item and hell will freeze over before they will walk away... THEY WANT IT NOW and only this one will do...and this then "forces" a seller to push the starting price up thinking theyre on a good thing then when it is seen to be too high and the bids start to drop off then forcing the seller to rethink their initial knee jerk reaction and lower their prices again...

Its interesting watching some bidders and the "frenetic" behaviour of having to win the item no matter how high it goes.

I think in some auctions Ive watched and been involved in that the excitement gets the seller as well as the buyers... suddenly they are making a whack of money that wasnt really expected and whaaahooo they up their prices hopeing to make even more money... bit of a circle really

But as has been said as a buyer if you get your price down and stick with it dont over stretch it or get totally involved you will be right

Often I will bid once a day before it ends then not go back on till after I know its ended and get quite a shock when I find Ive won it! ;) if I havent I shrug and move on... nothing lost nothing gained sorta thing

Bit hard to know which are rip offs and which are not... best idea is to look all over Aussie USA England etc and see whats being sold elsewhare send some emails get prices for frieght etc and make your choices... dont worry I guess most of us get caught in that initial frenzy or lust or whatever its called over buy or over spend then sob into our teacups THEN we become smarter more aware and generally more careful of what we buy

Ive always been interested in gem and semi precious stones and my first forays on ebay were for them, where I found I had my first problem was the size that aussie sellers sell little itty bitty stones minute and only one! anyway I bought a few in the first weeks then sat and waited till they started to come in I was honestly shocked at how tiny they were... but then I dont work anything in mm as its bloody confusing to me so as the wife says I "was always going to get caught" then I looked further afield and came up with opals in parcels of a dozen larger stones for less than what I can get them on aussie ebay diamonds from sweden at less than half the price malachite for 1/4 the price including postage and 3 bags of it rather than one single peice... now for the stones I go overseas the wife goes overseas to get her fat quarters for her quilting the same deal gets 100 peices plus a bonus 50 peices for less than 1/3rd the aussie price for a half dozen peices... in the tool line which I will admit Ive only glanced at over a month or two Ive seen little difference in price to say Bunnings so dont see the worth as well as that I always feel the need to hold the tool feel it see it in 3D before I pay for it sorta like a car

Amber is one thing I now am a bit more careful about buying as I won one auction of a naked lady made of amber supposedly from Tibet with scorpions and snakes in it when it arrived it "looked" very much like amber but the "added bonus amber" peice that was in the package definantly had that pungent smell of acrylic when cut with the dremel... it was a bloody massive necklace and I decided to try to cut it down then well... ah well it only cost 50c :cool: ... oh plus $20 postage!! :eek:

ah well back to the auctions!!! :D

Theres some seriously good offers Im sorta watching curly figured cheery black walnut several different oaks oh and theres that canadian maple Ive been glaring at for a couple of days now while holding tight to my wallet and keeping my fingers well clear of the keyboard!!!...

hi ho hi ho its of to spend the dough hi ho hi ho hope the missus dont catch on! :eek: :D

[Schtoo]

No consoling from me about any near misses. Sorry. :D

Here, they don't do Ebay, it's Yahoo auction, and as you might suspect it's a tad different...

Firstly, no sniping. The finish time is fairly open so even if you try to snipe, there is often a little bit of time to get another bid in, but that's not the only thing.

There are 'rules' that say you should put in your final bid 10 minutes before the end of the auction, but that's not the worst bit.

There is an option the seller can take where there is 10 minutes added to the end time if someone does a last minute bid. Great for the seller I guess, but it's just not cricket to me.

Also seems to be a lot of underhanded dealings going on. Wether that's true or not I can't honestly say, but in a culture where most everyone believes everyone else in on the level, if you employ a little trickery you can con massive amounts of money from some people. Some of the scams that go on here (and continue!) are amazing.

Anyways, I tend to steer clear more often than not. I have only got a few things, and done ok there. So I can't really complain.

Oh yeah, the feedback is usually given by the seller as soon as they have the money. Notice how I said about 'trusting'?

Nice thing is, it usually works. :)

[Ausworkshop]

If you decide the maximum bid your willing to pay then type that in and you won't have to worry about being sniped.

The only reason people get sniped is when someone else bids above your maximum amount. If sniping bothers people why not just set the maximum amount a little higher at the last minute??

If someone still snipes it from you above your maximum why worry? The sniper is then paying too much anyway so your the winner in the long run.

It annoys me when selling that people don't set a higher maximum when they really wanted an item, I've had people ring and complain that they missed out because they were away from the computer in the last mins or whatever.

[Wild Dingo]

I've had people ring and complain that they missed out because they were away from the computer in the last mins or whatever.

Really? hells bells! I mean get a life people! Its amazing the lengths some people go when they feel theyve been slighted or wronged... in this case to ring you when they missed out on an auction item?? man thats amazing

Ive missed some things I really would have liked to have won and missed them by mere seconds... dialup verses adsl I guess... but then so what? never mind move on but to ring the seller up and complain? what did they expect you to do? If it wasnt so pathetic it would be increadible

Yahoo sounds interesting... mmm if I had more time I would have a gander... nah! buggar it Ive got my hands full with whats already on the plate!

Cheers!!

[derekcohen]

If you decide the maximum bid your willing to pay then type that in and you won't have to worry about being sniped.

The only reason people get sniped is when someone else bids above your maximum amount. If sniping bothers people why not just set the maximum amount a little higher at the last minute??

Hi Andrew

Winning the item is really only one part of the deal. If you really want to win at all costs, just bid higher than anyone. You can do this at any time - at the start or finish of the auction.

On the other hand, keeping the price down and winning as well is really what it is about. There is no gloat in winning and paying the Earth.

Bidding early with your maximum will drive prices UP. If someone wants that item, they will have it. And even if they do not go as high as your maximum number, they will bid the price up.

Sniping at the end is also not the answer since if many do this too, then the winner is the one who has bid the most (which is fair). Still, the price will not have been bidded up and the final price may be lower.

I generally snipe at the end. I do not use a programme to do this for me, so the time of the auction ending is quite critical. I also only have a dial up connection so my bid is usually about 30 seconds from the end, and a slow connection may put paid to a week of watching something. I know the value of the things I bid on. I do my homework, not just on the item, but also on the seller (is he/she reliable - there are many who do not mail in a timely manner or misrepresent the product) and, if the item is very desirable, on the other bidders (what are their bidding habits - do they bid big once, which means I must expect a big jump in price over what is shown, and do they sneak in another bid at the end as well?). Just be strong about the amount you are willing to go to. I have walked away from many auctions. Like WD, I have seen prices go through the roof on ordinary items because two bulls are trying to show each other who has the biggest dick. It happens a lot more than you realise. There will always be another one to buy on another day.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Clinton1]

I buy from ebay. I treat it the same as an auction in relation to putting on bids. I am wary though, if I can't touch it I can't really tell if it is what I think it is.
I've been bitten, and I've got some good deals.

It can be entertaining though - watching an item go through the roof when if the item were googled then the bidders would see it is just not worth it.

I have not done it, but sometimes I'm tempted to throw a bid in between "the bulls" to push them even higher. :)

[Bodgy]

I go with the concensus:

Only bid in the last 15 minutes
Research the item and have a rigid $ limit
Find out postage etc and include in your pricing
Be aware that the item may not be as described, your 'impression' of what you're buying may be false. Check!
There'll always be another similar item come up, so you'll get a second chance, no hurry.
It's not a contest as to who's richest or got the largest testicles.

Unlike the others, I only bid at a bargain level. IE about 1/3 of what I think its worth.

Also, good to search on missspellings or incorrect category listing. That way there's no competition.

I also agree that the EBay phenominum has the potential to radically change commerce. Not really EBay, but the ongoing rise of E business, I guess.

[echnidna]

What other online auctions are there?

[Bodgy]

What other online auctions are there?

About half a dozen, mostly specfic to category.

Google 'online auctions'

No current, workable alternative to Ebay tho.

[Jon]

I have bought a few things and watched a lot of interesting items. If I am going to bid on something that is fairly common I will do a search on completed auctions to see what others have had to pay.
As others have said, know what the value of an item is and bid with your head not your heart.

Jon

[woodcutta]

I have had some good buys and some bad. I won an auction, sent off the money and didn't receive the item. When the seller was contacted, he said he hadn't received the cheque. I had the cheque traced and found it had been put in his account, but he claimed it wasn't. Another time I bid on an item that was worth about 90 dollars. I won the auction with $66. When I hadn't received the item I contacted the seller and he said the money order hadn't arrived within seven days so he relisted the item and sent my MO back.
So now I am careful about reading feedback and figure in the chance of losing money must be taken into account.

woodcutta

[Greg Q]

I blow hot and cold on eBay. I have purchased some great items at good prices, some so-so, and in one instance got stung for $415.00. eBay would not give me the seller's details without a court order. At least their fraud protection kicked in, but they charged me US $75.00 fee,(for three items total from same seller) and no refund on the shipping. All in all I was still out $150.00.

Oh well, at least I got the police interested after constant whingeing, and the seller (NSW) was charged with "obtain property by deception".
(This has taught me to focus on buying tools and leave the fine china alone)

The advice to figure in shipping and used values is worthwhile. By the time you pay new price to replace any missing bits and postage, about 45% of new price is my max. Lately though, more and more people disagree. Its amazing how many folks think it fair to pay 110% of retail for L-N planes.

[Iain]

I have sold a few items on ebay with good results but only one purchase to date.
I am wary of no pick up and being stung for $20 freight on a small item that is local.
7 Titans from SA were good though, $12.50, needed work but the seller posted pics that were a fair representation of the goods so I was pleased with the purchase.

[Clinton1]

Its amazing how many folks think it fair to pay 110% of retail for L-N planes.
110% = fair :D <!-- / message -->

[Sturdee]

I may be a bit oldfashioned but I won't buy anything unless I can see the goods, touch it, feel it and take it with me immediately I paid for it. Thus I will not buy through E bay.

Or maybe I'm not oldfashioned but too cynical to trust someone who I have never met to accurately and fully describe the goods and then not rip me of by not sending it.:D

Peter.

[schaf]

I have tried looking for good quality wood on ebay but can never find anything
Under which section should I look,
Terry