Buying on eBay - Fun or not?

[*Brum6y*]

Is there any fun left on eBay?

Below are a couple of offerings from my efforts of the last few days - but have you any experiences that made the effort a little bit more enjoyable than just buying something online?



I was after a desk and a filing cabinet - so I had a bit of a poke around eBay to see if there was anything suitable - not toot far away.

Well, there were the usual issues with categories, spelling, inadequate descriptions - but I did find a couple of things listed and decided to make a concerted effort, which involves (amongst other things) minimising bidding war risks.

Yes... OK... I am talking about sniping, but below are the bidding histories on two items I won.

The first was a desk that was of the right size and construction for the location I had for it - so I made a little extra effort and put in the first bid, to give the seller a clear indication that there was interest. Then came the snipe - where I rode the clock right down to the wire. All the refreshes before were quick - but this one took its time and I sweated until it came back. It is my personal snipe record.

The second was for a filing cabinet and in watching a newbie nibble away at the first bidder, I had a good idea how their last bid would be pitched.  I gave myself a little more time with this one - for the reason that will be fairly obvious. My first guess was wrong, but my second was spot on.



I know it was as cheeky as hell, but I hope the newbie learned something.

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[*Ubbie Max*]

Good one Brumby. I see you were able to get another bid on in 11 seconds. Did you have a second window open or was $30.01 your maximum bid. I assume it was your max as you won by one cent & normaly Ebay would reject a higher bid if it wasn't to the higher allowable amount. If this was the case you picked the other bidder like a dirty nose. A good learning curve for the other bidder though.

[*Brum6y*]

No.  When you are immediately outbid, the screen reloads telling you this - together with a 'bid again' box.  All you have to do is type in your bid, click once - and then click again on the 'confirm'.

[*Ubbie Max*]

Yeah Brum6y I knew that. When I bid I set the highest amount I'm prepared to pay & hit the bid button with only a few seconds to go. If My highest bid wasn't high enough so be it. It is sort of like self regulating so I don't bid foolishly & end up paying more than I wanted to.

[*Brum6y*]

The Newbie's thinking stood out like a neon sign.  The only reason they wouldn't have bid $10 was the fact that such a bid had already been made and the system would have forced them to bid at least $10.50 - so they made it $11.

Their subsequent bids were by $5 steps - so it seemed they just loved nice 'neat' figures.  I had a high suspicion that their undisclosed max was $25 - hence my bid of $25.01, but when that wasn't enough, it just HAD to be $30 - any more would have been paying a premium. Winning at $30.01 proved me right.

[*Ubbie Max*]

It's hard to find the gear I like being auctioned on Ebay these days. Most of the gear is Buy Now and a lot is from the Asian countries.

I'm afraid the old days have gone.

[*Brum6y*]

My real maximum was around the $30 mark - but there was this scent of a 1 cent victory in the air, so I just HAD to go for it.

Going up against an (apparent) newbie, I would not have expected them to be ready to respond to last minute bidding, so I gave myself a little extra space and tried for the 1 cent victory at the lower price - but, having got it wrong, still had time to try again.


Successfully - on both the win ... and the margin

[*Ubbie Max*]

Good one Brum6y. It is a good feeling knowing one has won an auction using guile & cunning. I always came away with a very satisfied feeling after winning in the same manner you just have.

[golden]

All good points Brumby and Ubbie.  For me, the fun went out because the sellers left the site. (I'm a coinee ) Not because the auction system didn't work.  I've been told it was because of paypal by multiple sellers.  I have to believe that is NOT the whole story.  With a combination of unfair feedback, scamming Chinese, and an option that OZTION may work and stuff ebay, etc..  I still think it comes down to too many people jumping on the gravy train.  On this subject I have to go with BNWT.  If everyone took the system seriously and only ran a store as if they were running a professional B and M store, then the turkey dicks who destroyed it for all have ruined it for all. P.S. I don't always get my point across, as a properly constructed argument. BNWT saying he would refund the left handed purse is a great example of people who put up with buyers with NO IDEA, yet could destroy your business.  On a follow up note, the NSW, Govt (councils?) are trying to put an A,B,C,D, on the front door of reataurants. Comparring each to their cleanliness, regs, etc..  I would enter a kitchen that had the highest recommendations and walk past one that failed.  So feedback on a B&M would work for me.

[bnwt]

the difference between the 'feedback' score on restaurants and that given on eBay is that the restaurants are judged by an independent arbiter

I have seen so many .. (maybe 80%) ... unjustified negative feedback remarks given by buyers ..... saying things like "looks bigger in the photo" - yet the dimensions are shown in the listing or "clip broke after two days" on some junk chinese product they bought for $2.13 ..... to me it's more a insight of feedback about the buyer rather then the seller. Like my most recent kook who gave a neutral "nice quality leather but a different wallet to the one I had before"

contrary to popular belief you can have negative feedback removed but it's a major hassle .. I think eBay should devote staff to act as a judge to see if the feedback is justified if a seller appeals ...... of course this will never happen ... eBay wants less staff not more

[golden]

the difference between the 'feedback' score on restaurants and that given on eBay is that the restaurants are judged by an independent arbiter

I can agree with all that.  If they hadn't eaten at the restaurant and seen the waitress run her fingers through her hair, stand around whilst you were waiting to be served, wobbly table, fly in the soup, etc.. then NO they shouldn't be allowed to make those judgements.

[bnwt]

if the ratings were given by customers they would read like

"I only got two prawns in my Tom Yung Gong"

[shyer]

... eBay wants less staff not more

100% correct ebay is always looking for a points system or an equation that reduces staff, a server costs some 20 cents a kilowatt hour about 2 cents per hour is cheaper than the dumbest monkeys at dollars per hour.

The customers left on ebay are now much dumber than the average person in the street. It is no longer fun, you have to spoon feed the mentally retarded, that is the averge buyer now. They will dribble, scream and spit fact of life. They will put batteries in the wrong way, they will drop things in water. They are bad intelligence genes mixed with an outcomes based education. Final equation ;  Outcome = Moron.

Ebay and paypus do give false expectations. You will never get a new BMW with each $10 of petrol you buy. Selling I am bombared with pick up option questions. Adelaide resident Morons thinking SA means near adelaide.

 I only buy about 5% at bins the other 95% is auctions that were bargains. And still 10% never arrive or badly flawed. Paypus the lifeline.  Ebay is on slow death slide, Paypus I think will survive but as a bank playing by bank rules.

[*Brum6y*]

the difference between the 'feedback' score on restaurants and that given on eBay is that the restaurants are judged by an independent arbiter

Ah - that magic word that engenders the concept of objectivity: "Independent".


Unfortunately, on eBay it is not even within the realms of dreaming ... eBay has made repeated efforts to promote subjective opinion - and to encourage it to be as critical and negative as possible.


It would be an "entertaining" thought to see the reaction if eBay were assigned the responsibility of rating restaurants - based on their current practices. They would be lynched in a week, but members on the eBay sites have to put up with it for years....