Pi$$ed at eBay .... sorry .. puZZled with eBay

[DrJB]

I understand what you are describing and it really sounds like you are looking at the default view and not the full view of all the bids including the automatic bids. If you look at the expanded view, you will probably see the winning bidder's name earlier in the bidding.

You are right, but here is the catch. On the main item page, eBay displayed the max current manual bid (say $100). I did bid the next increment ($105) ... it did not show me who I was bidding against until much later on, after I tried few times. To me, even if it's an automatic bid, eBay should display (on the main item description page) the max current bid, whether manual or automatic. Displaying the lowest is very misleading.

[Vee]

My strategy with ebay:

- if I want the item so much and it has no bid yet, I will place the first bid at the minimum price just to avoid the seller from removing the listing; while the listing has no bids, the seller can always remove it and I have seen listings being removed quite often which drove me mad because I wanted to try to win the item;

- if there are bids already, wait for the last seconds, no need for an application to help you because you need to figure out what is the maximum value you want to pay for the item such that even if you lose it for 10 cents of dollar, you will not regret. That is what I do. Once I have my highest value, I wait patiently for the last seconds, literally, like 5 seconds before the end, and I will place my bid. If I win, great, if I am outbid, no regrets, decision had been made before.

This is the best way for me because it avoids me from playing the "bidding game", when you lose for some some cents or dollars and you get mad and you just start placing higher bids, higher than you would place in a normal state of mind, just for the sake of winning (damn stupid human nature).

But, usually, what happens is that before the end of the auction, price will already be higher than the highest amount that I was willing to pay so I just give up.

Also, as said here million times, those that bid before the last minute, days in advance, are dumb people that only help the seller and ebay itself by driving the price up (again the damn stupid human nature).

I have seen many zero feedback buyers driving prices up like crazy by placing bids after bids until they are "winning". They are either very stupid dumb people or the seller him/herself artificially driving the price up.

ebay is a great place to buy stuff, you just need to know how to use it and never lose your mind to the "bidding game".

[vaethshuxun]

The reality is that I really don't need more children's building toy's anyways

[TheLegoDr]

^ I've bade on auctions before but still had the listing pulled. I don't think it matters of there are zero or a lot of bids, the seller can still cancel the listing. At least it has happened to me before.

[Vee]

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/end_early.html#fees

"... ... Ending an auction-style listing early once it has received a bid can lead to disappointed and frustrated buyers who may be less likely to bid on listings the next time around, so you may be charged a fee if you end a listing early. This fee is equal to the final value fee (not including shipping charges) you would have paid if the listing had ended on its own and sold for the highest bid received when you ended the listing.... ..."

[CP5670]

I used ebay a lot over 10 years ago to get a couple hundred old (even for back then) Lego sets. It's a quite different and less attractive site today. Sniping is important but not that effective anymore, since everyone does it now. The prices used to be better than Bricklink (especially on mislabeled items, or at certain times of the year) but it's often the other way around now, at least on US ebay, and there are also way too many buy it now items at absurd prices that clutter up the place.

[TheLegoDr]

It may charge the seller a fee, but it can still be done. And it has been done. They can end the listing whenever they want.

[Robianco]

I only ever bid with 5-6 seconds remaining... and bid the maximum I want to go.

If I don't get it then that's fine... another one will be along in a day or two... sometimes only hours later.

It's amazing how many people I've spoken to say 'I only lost it by £1'... erm... no... You have no idea just how much the other person bid... you just didn't bid enough to beat them.

Personally I love bidding on eBay... you win some... you lose some.

There's no reason for eBay to display the maximum current bid. Why would they tell a seller (or other bidders) how much someone is prepared to pay? They only need to display what the current winning bid is and what you need to bid to beat the current amount (or at least move the bid on). That's the point of it being an auction. If you went to a live auction house people don't just shout 'I'll pay £1300 and no more'.. you just bid that you need to beat the other current visible bid.

[feed]

I buy and sell a lot on ebay, so see it from both sides. Generally buying job lots, keeping what I want, and selling off the rest, maybe sorting it into loose sets before, but nothing more. I have lost a number of auctions where I have been winning but the seller ends due “no longer available” or “error in the listing”. And as a seller I get a lot of “what’s your lowest price” and “will you end it early for £50”.

So one can only imagine that there are lots of people who have no clue of the value of their sets, and will sell them off of eBay to the first chancer offering them a few quid more than they expect… So not bidding it up to a certain amount can cost you, but then you don’t want to bid it over your budget. So it’s hard to call. But it’s got to the stage, that if there is something I really want I’ll drop the seller a message telling them to check the value and to complete the auction. As I’m happy to pay a fair price for some rarer / early castle sets.

[Vee]

...But it’s got to the stage, that if there is something I really want I’ll drop the seller a message telling them to check the value and to complete the auction. ...

This is weird...

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

Anybody had problems with eBay coupons? eBay recently gave me a $10 coupon to use on any purchase. I spotted an Aquaman figure and decided to buy it. I went to pay and plugged in the coupon code--nothing happened, I was still charged from my PayPal account. I called eBay customer service to ask what the deal was; they said "Sorry, you already paid, but we can send you another coupon code that will work." What the heck?

[jluck]

Anybody had problems with eBay coupons? eBay recently gave me a $10 coupon to use on any purchase. I spotted an Aquaman figure and decided to buy it. I went to pay and plugged in the coupon code--nothing happened, I was still charged from my PayPal account. I called eBay customer service to ask what the deal was; they said "Sorry, you already paid, but we can send you another coupon code that will work." What the heck?

I got a similar coupon from eBay but if you read the fine print it said "valid on select merchandise". Most coupons are not applicable to every seller.

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

I got a similar coupon from eBay but if you read the fine print it said "valid on select merchandise". Most coupons are not applicable to every seller.

...well that's just great. Wonder how I figure out what "valid merchandise" is? Would have been nice if they warned me that the coupon wouldn't apply before I finalized the purchase.

[Artanis I]

I got a lot of my vintage collection through eBay. I used it a lot between 2007 and 2010 for Lego & musical instruments.

These days I only ever buy computer & electronic stuff, and only "buy it now". The auction system just doesn't work any more, and the feedback system is messed up. The search/browse functions are irritating and very difficult to filter out the rubbish without risking missing out on something that fits what you're looking for. Unless you want to scroll down 100 pages with 200 items per page...

[DrJB]

I figured out what the issue was. I just experienced it again on 2 auctions. What happens is, the Bid history is not updated 'immediately'. You may think you're looking at all the bids up to 'now;, but in fact that list is few minutes behind the bid amount on the main article's page. In fact, something even weirder happened. The highest/current bid amount on the front page went from $220 to $265 to $244 (Yes, you read it right: price went up then down). This was during the last 5 mins of bidding and leads me to believe that eBay's computers are not keeping up ... Essentially, what this means, is whether or not you get that item during the last few seconds is pure/random luck.

[djanscak]

Google 'eventual consistency' - it's likely that eBay has to use a model like this at the scale they operate at. The highest bidder will win but your view of the highest bid may not be correct at that point in time depending on which node in their grid serviced your request.

[somelegothings_]

Eh, I tend to stay away from ebay, it all just seems like an impossible auction. In my personal opinion I'd use Bricklink, if the set is too over priced on BL you can still buy all the parts you need for a reasonably lower price. I did it for an old Batman set and only payed ~$50 other than ~$90-$150

[Robianco]

I just don't see the problem with bidding on eBay. It's not that hard. Just bid what you want to pay as close to the end of the auction as you can. If you win it that's fine... if you don't that's fine too.

BL can be a cheaper way to get sets but sometimes you can pick up a set cheaper on eBay although not normally things that are priced for buy-it-now.

[junktea1]

Ebay sucks! Both for sellers/buyers. Stick with the forum shopping. Everyone is happy.