E bay whinge!

[Carry Pine]

I know, you have heard it all before. But i guess you have to experience it yourself before it sinks in:

Bidding on an item. as the winning bid at $20 for 2 whole days (while secretly listing $40 as my top bid). Watched the clock ticking down- their clock not mine. Down to the second at 10:00 pm and there it was my bid of $20, 00:00:00 on the clock. Had I won?

No! Next minute (27 seconds to be exact) a new figure comes up- $41.
Checked my e mails and the auction closed at 10:00:27 (not 10:00:00) as listed.

Of course Im p&^%$ed off but luckily it wasn't something that i desperately needed.

Had the online chat with 'Alba' who suggested:

Alba
I know how it feels. Just a tip, I advise you to bid on the item at the last second.
9:35:58 AM
Alba
You will surely win the item.


I felt obliged to explain to Alba that I would never do to someone else what had happened to me. Extending the time?????????? I had heard of it happening from people on the Forum (not saying it happens here!) but i guess you just have to have it happen to you to understand it.

What ever happened to ethics?


Graham

[Pops]

Hi Carry Pine,

I hear you mate. Gee, just as well it was not sometjing really exy and tjat you had your heart set on.

It happened to me too, at least twice on items I really wanted, (before eBay had the countdown showing).

Did an update straight after the end time and there it was zero time, one bid, me. But about a minute later I did another update and then it showed, 'Sorry you have been outbid'. %$&*!!##%%@ Bother.

But mostly I just get outbid on almost everything at the last minute. Sometimes I really dislike eBay.

One trick I have noticed that Sellers do if they do not get the high price they wanted is to tell you some time after you have won the item, 'so sorry but item broke during packing', even had one that said, 'my wife accidently threw it in the rubbish bin, it is now gone'. I can't seem to win. So yes, eBay can be full of dissapointment and the odd crook. Am sure these things are in the minority though.

With eBay you have to be prepared NOT to win an item, (at least for me anyway), so I try to not get too keen on any item.

Cheers
Pops (biggest ebay looser)

[snowyskiesau]

I've found it to be fairly typical the the most bidding happens in the last minute of an auction.
I recommend you get some form of sniping software that can do your bidding for you in the last seconds of an auction. It's certainly helped me win a few items.

[chrisb691]

I can't comment on the extra 27 secs, I've never had that happen. I always wait until the last 30 seconds, before placing my maximum bid. If my max is larger than anyone elses, then I will win at the best possible price. If not, then I will lose. Sometimes this can bite you in the bum, if your connection decides to go slow at the wrong time your bid wont make it in.

However, in respect to your bid, the sell price was over you maximum anyway.

[Old farmer]

I have given e-Bay away after one too many bad experiences with sellers.

[issatree]

Hi All,
I haven't had much experience with Ebay, But I'm sure there is a thing?
called Netbid, Nitbid, Net bid. ?
It costs you, but you always win your bid, so I'm told ?.
It allows you so many bids, for your money, at which they do for you, & not just 1 item but many items. Hope I'm on the right track, anyway someone will pick this up & help.
Regards,
issatree.

[Carry Pine]

I've found it to be fairly typical the the most bidding happens in the last minute of an auction.
I recommend you get some form of sniping software that can do your bidding for you in the last seconds of an auction. It's certainly helped me win a few items.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think you can read between the lines and are aware that I'm not prepared to 'join em' if i can't beatem. Buying software that is guaranteed to snipe the other guy or paying an expert to get the item is not for me. Probably too naive you may say?
If it's a fair dinkum auction, I'm in. If it depends on someone's software or how powerful your computer is, I'm not interested.

Anything else for sale up there, Scribbly Gum?

Graham

[rrobor]

I do a bit on Ebay and there are several tricks. The buy now price X or bidding starting at 99c always has 1 bid and that bid is the sellers low price so you can bid that up slowly to find his low price. The clock issue is you didnt set your clock to world time, make sure you have the correct time. Ebay time is set to world time and is accurate. Never bid with days to go, all you are doing is leaving yourself open. If people start bidding I can open up the bids and have a good idea how you bid. I have my bid ready for the last ten seconds and yes 9 times out of 10, I know how the earlier bidders will act and will beat them. The person who beats me is another new bidder willing to pay more than me.

[derekcohen]

Hi Graham and all

I have been bidding and selling on eBay for over a decade. What you have to realise is that it is an auction. This means that the sale goes to the highest bidder.

If you went to a live auction you will notice that the sale goes to the highest bidder. Strange that! It does not go to the nicest guy, the one with the best looks, or the best personality, or even one that has a "pull" with the auctioneer. It goes to the highest bidder.

So what we come down to is bidding strategy.

It is naive to expect that a low bid will be the winning bid just because no one else has bid for a few days.

Rule one: do your homework and determine the likely selling price of the item.

Rule two: Decide what you are prepared to bid - all the fastest computers and best sniping programs in the world will not outbid a higher bid!

Rule three: Use a snipe program to place your bid at the last minute. The reason why so many do this now is to keep the price down. Bidding early simply drives up the apparent selling price, and thereby the actual selling price. Still, at the end of the day the item will sell to the highest bidder (Where have I heard that before? )

Rule four: there will always be another auction - don't get caught up in the emotion of competition ... that is why a snipe program is a Good Thing.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Dengue]

Excellent comments Derek. I follow your Rules, and I use Bid Scheduler with great success

regards,
Jill

[bluegum30]

all i do is set the price in my mind and stick to that ,very rarely do i bid first ,then i lie in wait to snipe at the last moment if it is still in my price range .had 1 bad experence when i bid 29 dollars and didn't put the decemal point in and bid 2900 dollars instead ,was a long 20 seconds and sure blew the oppersition away ,was a relieved puppy when it pulled up at 51 dollars .is that what you mean by being the highest bidder Derek Lloyd.

[derekcohen]

Aren't you lucky that no one else made the same mistake in the same auction! It has happened before!!

Regards from Perth

Derek

[fxst]

I use a very simple method that has never failed me yet.
I work out what I am prepared to pay including postage place my bid and wait. If I win goodo if not ...well always another time. Even using sniper type programs will only go to your highest bid so if others want to waste their money let em
Pete

[Carry Pine]

[QUOTE=derekcohen;1028304]Hi Graham and all

I have been bidding and selling on eBay for over a decade. What you have to realise is that it is an auction. This means that the sale goes to the highest bidder.

If you went to a live auction you will notice that the sale goes to the highest bidder.


Thank you Derek and others.
Of course I agree with the above coments but at every auction I've attended, someone bangs a gavel(mallet), hits a book or bangs on a pile of folded papers and says 'sold'. When i saw the time run out in my purchase, that's what i thought was happening. When i received the email with a 'revised' closing time- well that is different to most auctions. No one goes up to the auctioneer and says wait a minute I can bid more than the winner after the event.

Anyway, I'm over it for now. it's a it of a pity that some of the Forum members recommend the sniping procedures. I guess it's all a part of modern life.
( and don't get me started on Paypal)

Graham

[Slow6]

I use a very simple method that has never failed me yet.
I work out what I am prepared to pay including postage place my bid and wait. If I win goodo if not ...well always another time. Even using sniper type programs will only go to your highest bid so if others want to waste their money let em
Pete

I have sold a lot of tools on ebay.. and one thing i have noticed is that people with your tactics generally get the tools for better prices than the snipers. It's when you are sitting there with 30 seconds to go and you have $100 in the little box that you have a little heart flutter and think "what the hell $120!"

That said.. I'm still a last few seconds bidder

The real danger is two or more new members "nibbling" at each other for a week... "just another dollar" can get right out of hand pretty quickly.

I joined the ranks and signed up with a sniper service only a few weeks ago. A free service HERE that has worked well and had the better reviews around various forums. Thus far I'd not hesitate to recommend the service.

I have never had (or noticed) the extra few seconds in an auction problem.. is that something that the seller controls? or is it another ebay glitch?
Either way it's not good.. as above "when the gavel falls"
But like any auction there are chaps who keep their hands firmly in their pockets untill that gavel is in the air.. fair game.

fwiw I think ebay is great, I have sold a lot of tools at auction, everything started at 99c and I still get a buzz from watching things go off. and in 700 or so transactions I can think of two that were a pain, not a bad number, certainly better than when I worked retail