How does e bay work?

l'escargot said:
You don't need a sniping tool to do that. Place your maximum bid on day one and go to the pub every day - eBay ups your bid in increments as other people bid, it doesn't reveal your maximum. It then sends you an email to tell you whether you have won or not which you can read when you get back from the pub.
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you might not really want to do that.
sellers watch the action and it's blatantly obvious if someone has done that as the return bids are immediate. the obvious thing is to run that bid to its max using another account. it doesn't matter if you pass the max as most people will bid an extra quid if they think it could be theirs.
if you want, its easy to stop just prior to their max if you are clever.
seems you are happy to just pay your max when it is likely you could get things for much less.
no matter my wealth that would kill me.
 
viago said:
you might not really want to do that.
sellers watch the action and it's blatantly obvious if someone has done that as the return bids are immediate. the obvious thing is to run that bid to its max using another account. it doesn't matter if you pass the max as most people will bid an extra quid if they think it could be theirs.
if you want, its easy to stop just prior to their max if you are clever.
seems you are happy to just pay your max when it is likely you could get things for much less.
no matter my wealth that would kill me.
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You're just being suckered into the auction - that's why old crap sells for more than new. You either have a maximum or not and if you pay more than that the buyer has won. Don't kid yourself there is anything clever about it - sniping is on par with gambling "systems".
 
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l'escargot said:
You don't need a sniping tool to do that. Place your maximum bid on day one and go to the pub every day - eBay ups your bid in increments as other people bid, it doesn't reveal your maximum. It then sends you an email to tell you whether you have won or not which you can read when you get back from the pub.
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you then end up drip feeding your bid against another doing the same thus pay more for an item
 
l'escargot said:
You're just being suckered into the auction - that's why old crap sells for more than new. You either have a maximum or not and if you pay more than that the buyer has won. Don't kid yourself there is anything clever about it - sniping is on par with gambling "systems".
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using sniping tools one still puts in a max bid just the same, the difference is the bid isnt dribbled in, just SAP win or loose
 
sailorman said:
using sniping tools one still puts in a max bid just the same, the difference is the bid isnt dribbled in, just SAP win or loose
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And how is the outcome different? You either get it for your maximum bid (or possibly less if someone elses maximum is less than yours) or you don't - it just takes away the inclination to up the maximum bid for the weaker willed.
 
what happens if everyone 'snipes'?

I stay in control by choosing my price, bid once the amount it's worth to me and walk away, so to speak.

I dislike ebay's terminology.. highestl bidder buys not 'wins' an item.

Worked for me when I bought cars from auctions three times a week.

Nick
 
l'escargot said:
And how is the outcome different? You either get it for your maximum bid (or possibly less if someone elses maximum is less than yours) or you don't - it just takes away the inclination to up the maximum bid for the weaker willed.
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i dont think i made me point very well. what happens when you pre load a bid with your maximum is equivalent to what happens at a live auction when the auctioneer takes bids from the wall.
that is why it costs you more.
doing either what sailorman or i do prevents that.
 
Ive seen people put in a bid exactly one pound lower than mine, quick look at their bidding history with the seller normally tells you all you need to know.
See it quite a bit, they get their mates to bid way to high to see what your top bid is, then their mate retracts their bid, when i see this happening i also retract my bid, balls to them!


Lynall
 
sailorman said:
with a sniping tool that just what happens.
place you max & go down the pub
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Not quite. If you use a sniping tool it puts the bid in when you tell it - say 2 secs beforehand. However if there is another poerson who has bid the same maximum but using ebays system, the ebay guy gets it under the rule that says the oldest successful bid is the winner.
 
TopDonkey said:
Most seasoned ebayers will bid in the last few seconds, I bid with 2 seconds to go on things that i want, this stops me increasing my bid on impulse and paying more than i want, and it also stops other bidders increasing their bid after i have bid, so potentially it saves me money
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Same here-I research item and what is a reasonable price;if I really want it I add a bit more;I watch the bidding and if available the nature of the bidding;then on counting down from 5 seconds I put in my bid.
Either I get it or I dont and feel quite happy either way.
Just occasionally I end up with a "Pig in a poke"
Your maximum bid should be based upon the items value;its description;whether its misplaced-these can be real bargains where someone who doesnt really know what they are selling places the ad in the wrong catagory.
Bargains I have had are a good MAC branded Taymaya sextant without box and need of resetting for £80;A plastic Davis sextant in need of setting up and new mirror for £10;A hunter 14 multi fuel stove selling at about £1500 new for £400 in good second hand condition;
My one "Pig in the poke"-a Seawolf Windlass whose electric motor turned out to be on its last legs!-and only this because I ended up paying more than I really felt it was worth!given the price of a new motor.
 
l'escargot said:
And how is the outcome different? You either get it for your maximum bid (or possibly less if someone elses maximum is less than yours) or you don't - it just takes away the inclination to up the maximum bid for the weaker willed.
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Firstly, as you say it takes away the inclination to up the max, and that works both ways. If I "show my hand" then another bidder (weaker willed as you say) may decide to increase his maximum.

Secondly, Ebay has this stupid system where your bid is binding even if not the highest, so if you put on a bid, and get outbid, you may suddenly find yourself the buyer if the high bidder defauits. Not clever if there are several items you're pursuing, but you only want one.

Finally, I have a few times made bids which as I say are binding on me, but then found the seller pull the plug on the auction - which Ebay says is perfectly fine. Again that's a pain if there are several items to choose between. So I don't make my commitment until it's too late for the seller to renege.
 
One caveat with last-minute bids - you may just be unlucky and lose your connection to Ebay, in which case you may lose out. This can happen if lots of people submit last-minute bids at the same time, they may not all get processed in time.
Best solution for something you really want is, like any auction, decide what the item is worth to you, then submit that as a bid. If you're lucky, you'll get it cheaper due to Ebay's automatic system. If you get outbid, you avoid overpaying.
However, there's a certain excitement in placing bids at the last second!
 
l'escargot said:
Does it, don't you think that the seller can have friends who use a sniping tool to push bids up too? ;) Sniping tools become ineffective when everyone uses them.
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yes a sniping tool could be used to push bids up but most of the time you would over estimate the worth of your item and set your sniping bid as such. (we all think our stuff is worth more than others do)
the consequence would be that most of the time you would end up buying your own items.
 
I havnt used a sniper for years, and prefer to find a bargain the may be listed wrong, like i found a Mercedes E320 listed under Peugeot.
Or another good one is 'sailing yatch' i picked up a Valliant 19ft trailer sailor for £75 this way, used it for 18 months, then sold it for just short of £800.
Keep your eye out for poor advertising (ie blurred images and poor descriptions) some punters wont bother looking.
I just picked up an 02 reg Merc E320 in mint condition for £1700 !!
Keep looking and you will find what your looking for.
 
I use a sniper as I decide my top price and stick at that. If I put a max bid in early then it would be revealed by other bidders pushing their bids up until they passed my maximum. By sniping my top price is not revealed until the bid is placed and therefore the price has not been pushed up previously. If there are only a few bids then the last minute snipe will often surprise the other bidders and keep the price down. If my top price is passed then I wouldn't want the item anyway. It's more like a sealed bid than an open auction.
 
kevink 6771 said:
I havnt used a sniper for years, and prefer to find a bargain the may be listed wrong, like i found a Mercedes E320 listed under Peugeot.
Or another good one is 'sailing yatch' i picked up a Valliant 19ft trailer sailor for £75 this way, used it for 18 months, then sold it for just short of £800.
Keep your eye out for poor advertising (ie blurred images and poor descriptions) some punters wont bother looking.
I just picked up an 02 reg Merc E320 in mint condition for £1700 !!
Keep looking and you will find what your looking for.
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There is actually a programme available that searches eBay for miss spelling in the titles. I don't have it but a friend of mine has had success with it. Yatch is a good example of miss spelling for yacht. With the programme you type in yacht for example and all the usual miss spelt words for yacht appear like a spell checker in reverse.
I find searching in associated areas results in a few gems that don't get bids. People list sailing dinghies in the sailing gear section for example instead of sailing boats and end up with very few viewers.
 
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