How To Buy And Sell On Ebay

[daclassicgamingmaster]

yes they could, but bidding early in an auction is a sign of inexperience.

What sort of tight-rope reputation does anybody have that will be shattered by an early bid on an Ebay auction? If you aren't that fussed whether or not you get the item, a medium priced hopeful bid early on in the auction is a fair thing to do.

I've found that most of the time, the person who bids right at the time the item is listed doesnt come back to bid again. And it's usually only an increment or two.

Not to say that I haven't come across an aggressive buyer who kept outbiding me in the final seconds following a bid from 7 days before. But then I wait and they just get sniped

 

[Iorgy77]

I have bid on bits and pieces I didnt think anyone else would want and won.

Depends on the item really, if it is something that is quite rare and sought after then snipping is the best approach. But if the item is common then you can bid early and others will see you are interested and they will bid or snipe on another auction for the same item.

 

[VGballer]

@VGballer: I'm glad you found my guide useful, but please, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't bother posting here. The number of PMs I have received indicate that it is not "common sense" at all. Some people need help. And why pay for a guide when this is pretty good thus far and free??

Fuck you! You can see he went to a lot of effort to vividly describe the processes involved in bidding on ebay. Personally, I found it interesting, and if you don't have anything constructive to say, keep your yap shut.

Your right, I'm sorry

yes they could, but bidding early in an auction is a sign of inexperience.

What sort of tight-rope reputation does anybody have that will be shattered by an early bid on an Ebay auction? If you aren't that fussed whether or not you get the item, a medium priced hopeful bid early on in the auction is a fair thing to do.

Yeah, I think if your just looking to get an item for a good cheap price, it can be a good idea sometimes

A lot of the time people won't see an item, and you can steal it for cheap without paying much or even trying

 

[iignotus]

Okay, so obviously since there are many people that don't understand what sniping is or how it works, I will give you proof positive that it is an extremely viable tactic. I was just in an auction for an item that sells new for about $70 and used/refurbished for around $45-$55. I won the item. Almost every bidder on this item is a different eBay user.

The auction ended at 17:40:00. Here's the complete bidding history; I'll let it speak for itself:

me........................ US $20.50 Jul-05-06 17:39:33 PDT
other bidder..... US $20.00 Jul-05-06 17:39:27 PDT
other bidder..... US $18.00 Jul-05-06 15:54:29 PDT
other bidder..... US $18.00 Jul-05-06 17:39:18 PDT
other bidder..... US $15.64 Jul-05-06 13:07:33 PDT
other bidder..... US $15.64 Jul-05-06 15:33:26 PDT
other bidder..... US $11.51 Jul-05-06 11:27:22 PDT
other bidder..... US $11.00 Jul-05-06 04:20:06 PDT
other bidder..... US $11.00 Jul-05-06 11:26:51 PDT
other bidder..... US $10.00 Jul-05-06 04:19:40 PDT

I put in a max bid of only $27 in at the last few seconds, and look what happened.

 

[sparr]

I put in a max bid of only $27 in at the last few seconds, and look what happened.

So basically you bid against a dozen other people who don't understand proxy bidding. If you buy items like this often then more power to you. But I find it to not be the norm. Had I wanted this item I would have placed a proxy bid for maybe $40 right off the bat.

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

I put in a max bid of only $27 in at the last few seconds, and look what happened.

So basically you bid against a dozen other people who don't understand proxy bidding. If you buy items like this often then more power to you. But I find it to not be the norm. Had I wanted this item I would have placed a proxy bid for maybe $40 right off the bat.

A lot of people don't understand proxy bidding. THAT'S the point

If you bid $40 right off the bat, then you're leaving yourself open to ALLLL that time until the auction ends to be outbid. And people usually bid in increments until they're the high bidder.

 

[iignotus]

I put in a max bid of only $27 in at the last few seconds, and look what happened.

So basically you bid against a dozen other people who don't understand proxy bidding. If you buy items like this often then more power to you. But I find it to not be the norm. Had I wanted this item I would have placed a proxy bid for maybe $40 right off the bat.

A lot of people don't understand proxy bidding. THAT'S the point

If you bid $40 right off the bat, then you're leaving yourself open to ALLLL that time until the auction ends to be outbid. And people usually bid in increments until they're the high bidder.

I guess people either get it or don't, dcgm...

 

[sparr]

If you bid $40 right off the bat, then you're leaving yourself open to ALLLL that time until the auction ends to be outbid. And people usually bid in increments until they're the high bidder.

Right. But I don't want it for $45. If someone outbids my $40 bid then I am done with the auction. It doesnt matter if they do it with 1 second or 1 week left on the auction, I am not going to raise my bid just to beat them on an item I already decided wasnt worth that much. If I was willing to pay more I would have proxy bid more in the first place. You are mistaking ebay for a normal blow-by-blow auction, where you fight to win an auction. Why bother? There will be a thousand more of whatever youre buying. Bid what you'll pay and walk away. No hassle, no fuss, you will win one for what you want, not for double what you want plus a dollar.

 

[Nova]

If you bid $40 right off the bat, then you're leaving yourself open to ALLLL that time until the auction ends to be outbid. And people usually bid in increments until they're the high bidder.

Right. But I don't want it for $45. If someone outbids my $40 bid then I am done with the auction. It doesnt matter if they do it with 1 second or 1 week left on the auction, I am not going to raise my bid just to beat them on an item I already decided wasnt worth that much. If I was willing to pay more I would have proxy bid more in the first place. You are mistaking ebay for a normal blow-by-blow auction, where you fight to win an auction. Why bother? There will be a thousand more of whatever youre buying. Bid what you'll pay and walk away. No hassle, no fuss, you will win one for what you want, not for double what you want plus a dollar.

Yes, but if you place a $40 quid bet straight off, it encourages people to outbid you early, for instance,

Jonny see's a second hand sex doll (unwanted present, only used twice) that he's pretty interested in, but Tom also wants the doll too.

So straight away, Jonny places a bid of, say $40, which tops the previous bid (by Tom) of $10. However, desperate to reclaim his place, Tom bids over $40, say 45. Now, 'cos Jonny only had 40 smackers he was willing to pay for his doll, he trudges out of the auction and Tom wins.

Switch Scenario:

Jonny see's that the highest current bid is by Tom and it's $10. Now, johnny leaves the auction for 5 days, and comes back with 1 minute to go. Tom is still the high bidder at $10. In the last 10 seconds, Jonny places a bid for $40 (Which is the highest he will pay). The auction finishes and Jonny gets the doll for £10.50


Now, which was the better scenario?

 

[LHC]

Or, Johnny sees a sex doll he thinks looks pretty cool but isn't that bothered about whether he wins or not.

He bids £40, doesn't win, and doesn't care. Later on he bids on another sex doll and wins. Johnny is happy.

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

Okay, here's my philosophy on bidding:

We all want the item at the [ spam ] we can get, it's our nature. We know the maximum price we are willing to pay for said item. So if the maximum I am willing to pay is £25, that's all I will bid.

Now if I was to put my max bid on the auction with hours or even days to go, the auction doesn't instantly go up to that amount, it just goes a little higher than what it is currently at. Sounding good so far. But you have just outbid someone, and if they want the item more than you then they are instantly going to place a higher bid, then another higher bid until they outbid you. You just lost the item unless you want to go higher, which has just blown said budget of £25. If however you leave it until the end of the auction, then it's likely that the item is still at a low price as you didn't foolishly bid a high amount early on. With seconds to spare you throw your £25 max bid on, knowing still that is all you are willing to pay, but it's likely that you will get it much cheaper as the auction is still low in bids. Providing other person doesn't do exactly the same as you did with a higher max bid than yours, you usually win the item.

I find this quite fun and I am guessing so do many others. It's one of the reasons eBay has become the huge success it has!

Edit:
On the point of it doesn't matter if you loose a bid as there's lots more of the same item available, I disagree. If it's a common item I can get it from a shop, and probably cheaper as there's no postage costs. What I use eBay for is rare items, my retro computer collection has been built up largely due to eBay. I found a lot of nail art stickers which I couldn't find anywhere else, and those Taz socks I wanted to buy Phil for Christmas couldn't be found anywhere around town.

 

[Nova]

Or, Johnny sees a sex doll he thinks looks pretty cool but isn't that bothered about whether he wins or not.

He bids £40, doesn't win, and doesn't care. Later on he bids on another sex doll and wins. Johnny is happy.

Also a viable option, but if Jonny wants it NOW (Being the horny bastard he is) then sniping is the way to go.

 

[CABBAGES]

Sparr you shoudl really try out this sniping the next time you see somethin you want. if you put a bid in for somethin at £40 and i am willing to pay £40 to then once yuo put your £40 bid on and walk away i will put my £40 then add 25p. £40.25 is just the same as £40 really but i win .
I think its people liek sparr that sellers like as this will make things sell for more but buyers will not like him.
I thought sniping was actually when you used those websites or programs that actually did the biding for you ? i think they ended up makin you have to pay to use them and then they all got closed down ?

ALWAYS check feedback and make sure it is not all 99p things they have been selling or buying.conmen buy and sell daft ebooks and stuff or even sell and buy GOOD feedback for pennies just to get their rating up a bit before they put their con auctions up. Also check the feedback of people who have dealt with them too incase they are dodgy too.

 

[Goity]

I've sniped hundreds of times. Also I have 1053 feedback, no negatives .


Good Guide btw

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

Thanks goity.

Oh and warmfluffy: The whole common item idea is absolutly right, but I've found that dvds I want retailing for $40 in the store, are dirt cheap on ebay, even with shipping.


A few years back I got Dragonball boxed set: Commander Red Saga for Buy it now $10, $3 shipping. 13 bucks, and what's it retail for in the store? $40. And it was brand new. ZING


I recommend that if you're a regular ebayer (like me lol. Im addicted), ALWAYS check out ebay before paying retail prices in the store. If you can save $10+ dollars and you don't need it right away, isn't it worth it?

 

[VGballer]

A few years back I got Dragonball boxed set: Commander Red Saga for Buy it now $10, $3 shipping. 13 bucks, and what's it retail for in the store? $40. And it was brand new. ZING


I recommend that if you're a regular ebayer (like me lol. Im addicted), ALWAYS check out ebay before paying retail prices in the store. If you can save $10+ dollars and you don't need it right away, isn't it worth it?

Absolutly

I never believed what people said about ebay until I went there for my self, you can find almost anything for so much less

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

I recommend that if you're a regular ebayer (like me lol. Im addicted), ALWAYS check out ebay before paying retail prices in the store. If you can save $10+ dollars and you don't need it right away, isn't it worth it?

Well you're right there, but there are some things I wouldn't get from eBay, such as certain computer games as you never know if it's already registered to someone else. As my boss says "It's swings and roundabouts isn't it.", to which I reply "Actually it's an Internet auctioning site!". He usually walks away shaking his head solemnly :huh:

 

[sparr]

Jonny see's that the highest current bid is by Tom and it's $10. Now, johnny leaves the auction for 5 days, and comes back with 1 minute to go. Tom is still the high bidder at $10. In the last 10 seconds, Jonny places a bid for $40 (Which is the highest he will pay). The auction finishes and Jonny gets the doll for £10.50

You are assuming here that Tom doesn't know how proxy bidding works, as shown by his incorrect bid of $10 instead of $40 on day 1. If you are bidding against newbies often enough then perhaps that is the case, but in my experience it isn't. Then again, most of the people I bid against have 1000+ feedback.

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

Jonny see's that the highest current bid is by Tom and it's $10. Now, johnny leaves the auction for 5 days, and comes back with 1 minute to go. Tom is still the high bidder at $10. In the last 10 seconds, Jonny places a bid for $40 (Which is the highest he will pay). The auction finishes and Jonny gets the doll for £10.50

You are assuming here that Tom doesn't know how proxy bidding works, as shown by his incorrect bid of $10 instead of $40 on day 1. If you are bidding against newbies often enough then perhaps that is the case, but in my experience it isn't. Then again, most of the people I bid against have 1000+ feedback.

you're missing the point completely. Read the examples over again. Then go try sniping for yourself.

 

[iignotus]

Or, Johnny sees a sex doll he thinks looks pretty cool but isn't that bothered about whether he wins or not.

He bids £40, doesn't win, and doesn't care. Later on he bids on another sex doll and wins. Johnny is happy.

Condition, price, location, popularity, etc. all play a vital role in the "wantedness" of an item. The fact that store owners frequently buy electronic/computer merchandise also nullifies your point. On many things in eBay, you can't just sit around and wait for something to fall into your lap.