E-Bay question

[TerryH]

Originally Posted by Dottore

I hear you on this.

Suppose though, that you and two other bidders really wanted an item. Let's suppose you want it really badly, but the other two also want it—but perhaps not quite as badly as you.

Wouldn't it be better to "probe" how high these two are prepared to bid earlier in the auction, rather than wait for the frantic last few minutes?

I mean, aren't there situations where its better to smoke out the competition earlier on—rather than risk losing an item in the last few moments?

The biggest competition on eBay besides other bidders is the clock. Unlike a real auction, there is a deadline involved. Not only do you have to be highest bidder, but you have beat the clock. I can almost guarantee that if you try to incrementally beat other bidders, you won't win the item. Of course this depends on the interest in the item. When it comes down to a minute to go, just bid what you are willing to spend.

One other very important last minute bidding rule. Make sure you are logged into ebay prior to the last minute/second bid! Log in again if it's been a few hours since the last time. I felt damn sheepish to completely miss a bid because I forgot to login prior and time ran out.

[porsche4life]

Use e-snipe and tell use your max bid there. Tell it to come in with like 10 seconds left. You will likely get it cheaper that way and you dont have to sit and babysit the auction.

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by the

The way you avoid that is to bid the absolute highest you are willing to pay. It is then impossible for you to "lose out" on the item. The only way you will not get it is if it sells for a price higher than you are willing to pay.

What someone else is willing to pay should have no effect on what YOU are willing to pay.

That is fine in theory.

But in practice, if I am willing to pay say, $25,000.- as a top price—I would of course also be prepared to pay $25,500.- I mean what's 500 bucks right?

So finding that top limit is practically speaking almost impossible.

It reminds me of that old canard about Churchill and Lady Astor at a dinner party.

Churchill: My dear lady, would you sleep with me for one million pounds?

Lady Astor: ...why yes, Winston, I think I probably would.

Churchill: Excellent! But I don't have that much. How about 100 pounds?

Lady Astor: You despicable beast! What do you think I am?

Churchill: We've already established that. We're just quibbling about the price.

[Dottore]

Update:

OK. Here's where we are.

24 hours left.

I'm the current high bidder, but the reserve has not been met.

Just now, 24 hours before the close, the seller adds a "Buy It Now" price that is 3 times the price I have just bid. There is one other bidder that appears to be serious.

The BIN price is very, very high for this kind of car BUT the car does appear to be perfect, and the BIN price can be justified by reference to collateral factors (other than normal price guidelines)—for this car.

I would be interested in your more experienced comments on the rationale for introducing a BIN price 24 hours before close. It's a bit like fishing with bacon instead of worms. Maybe that's the point.

I'm thinking, in E-Bay terms, 24 hours before close is an eternity right? I mean this thing could triple or quadruple easily in the next 24 hours.

So what advice do you have for this E-Bay virgin on the simple facts I have posted?

[TerryH]

Originally Posted by Dottore

That is fine in theory.

But in practice, if I am willing to pay say, $25,000.- as a top price—I would of course also be prepared to pay $25,500.- I mean what's 500 bucks right?

So finding that top limit is practically speaking almost impossible.

The clock is going to find the limits very abruptly. There isn't a gavel slamming. There is a quiet "Auction Ended" note when the clock runs out. You need to submit a bid that your comfortable with before the final seconds. You have the right during the auction, at any time, to raise your own maximum bid if you desire even if you are currently the winnner bidder.

Again, if the item is desirable there may be a flurry of bids in the last moments. You may or may not get a second chance or third chance to bid.

[JavaBrewer]

If you saw the car locally for sale at the BIN price would you still think it was a good deal and bite? Is the car local to you or do you have to have it shipped?

[TerryH]

Originally Posted by Dottore

Update:


So what advice do you have for this E-Bay virgin on the simple facts I have posted?

He likely has received a few inquiries and tossed out a huge BIN price to see if any nibblers want to swallow the hook. Hopefully his reserve hasn't changed and it's considerably less than the BIN. You will have to increase your bid if you want to meet the reserve.

Does the seller have perfect feedback? I would closely watch and scrutinize each tactic like this sudden BIN offer so late in the auction.

[Dottore]

So out of curiosity, what's to prevent a seller from ramping up the price by having eg. his wife send in competing bids from her email address?

I assume nothing, right?

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by Dottore

So out of curiosity, what's to prevent a seller from ramping up the price by having eg. his wife send in competing bids from her email address?

I assume nothing, right?

Pretty much nothing

You can have updates sent to your phone to bid as well, just in case you are out at the end.

Good luck & I look forward to seeing the Mystery Machine

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by Dottore

So out of curiosity, what's to prevent a seller from ramping up the price by having eg. his wife send in competing bids from her email address?

That's called shill bidding, and ebay will shut them down if they can establish it is going on.

In any regard, that's why it's important for you to come up with your absolute top price... for example, in the hypothetical you gave, it wouldn't be your $25K, it would be the $25.5 figure... or even $26... and throw it in at the one minute to go point.

Then if the guy shills it up past you hoping he can sucker you into a hypothetical $27-28K, you haven't been suckered.

And he's stuck with his item. I don't know how ebay sniffs out the shills... I'm sure they don't get them all, but if the same item shows up again and the guy claims the buyer backed out, that would probably flag him as a possible shill.

[DARISC]

H*00v-3?

[89911]

If any of the bidder are from the same area, that is sometimes a tip off that its someone the seller knows.

[Dottore]

Thanks all for the advice.

I now understand EBay—sort of.

I didn't buy the car in the end, for unrelated reasons. (something even more interesting on the horizon)

But I followed the auction closely, and made a few half-hearted bids.

Somehow though the whole thing was over very suddenly, even though my screen still said "4 minutes 50 seconds remaining". WTF? I guess another lesson is, make sure you have a timer for the last 5 minutes of the auction.

[Rick Lee]

I use a stopwatch for sniping.

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I use a stopwatch for sniping.

On my "to buy" list.

[jeffgrant]

Originally Posted by Dottore

On my "to buy" list.

eBay has a few listed.