[time-nuts] OT: eBay bidding question

[Don Collie]

Nothing worth having ever came 
easily...............................................Don C.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <SAIDJACK at aol.com>
To: <time-nuts at febo.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2007 11:17 AM
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] OT: eBay bidding question


>
> In a message dated 4/28/2007 15:59:47 Pacific Daylight Time, 
> didier at cox.net
> writes:
>
>>I  believe this is correct, that is where sniping does not work too well
>>(manually or automatically). If you wait for the last second, and your
>>bid is below the reserve, you may not even realize until after the
>>auction is over. It actually still works the way I want it to. I bid  as
>>high as I am willing to pay, and if it's too low, I don't get the  item.
>>Pretty simple. Frustrating, but simple  :-)
>
>
> Well, you can also contact the seller after the auction and offer them  to
> buy the item A) in a private auction B) outside of Ebay (against their 
> rules  I
> think, not sure if this counts for failed auctions as well), or tell them 
> to
> relist it with a more realistic price. One would be surprised how many 
> sellers
> are just itching to get rid of their items, even below their original
> reserve  once they went through an unsuccessful listing... One just has to 
> be a bit
> resourcefull.
>
> Also, a reserve if used successfully is a way to prevent having to sell an
> item well below a pain point to the seller. A reserve with a low initial 
> bid
> is a way to get around human nature and make people start bidding, which - 
> as
> said earlier by someone else - will make the flock go crazy once an 
> initial
> (low) bid has been placed by someone. It's all about human nature.
>
> The most interesting experience about auction addiction (similar to 
> gambling
> addiction in my opinion) is going to a real life Test & Measurement 
> auction,
> and seeing the unsuspecting crowd sit in front and the following  happen:
>
>   * Bidders bid against themselves. This happened so far in  every auction 
> I
> went to. The Auctioneer just loves these kinds of naive folks,  and it 
> makes
> for nice entertainment.
>
>   * Bidders bid against an imaginary bidder, the auctioneer will  call a 
> bid
> from the "back" of the room that does not exist. Who can prove this
> happened. Thats why the professional bidders sit as far back in the room 
> as  possible.
> I have also witnessed this numerous times.
>
>   * Bidders get into an adrenaline rush, and bid up items far  beyond 
> their
> new retail price. One would be surprised, this happens ALL the  time,
> especially for high-desirability items such as laptops etc.
>
>  * Bidders will buy sight-unseen. I went to a recent auction  where there
> were about 12 Agilent Spectrum analyzers for sale. Most of them had 
> stickers on
> them "Repair" etc. I tried them all, all of them broken in one way  or
> another. Again human nature prevailed and folks bought them in a buying 
> frenzy with
> no return right for outrageous prices (far above what one would pay  on 
> Ebay)
> - the pro's were just sitting back and asking themselves what  in gods 
> name
> is going on - LOL.
>
> Ebay is great if you have a good strategy on how to use it. No buyers
> premium, world-wide sourcing, $2K insurance, great prices if you wait long 
> enough.
> I have so far found everything I needed on it at the price I wanted to 
> pay.
> For one item (a 2GHz scope plug-in) this took me over two years to do, but 
> in
> the end I got it :)
>
> bye,
> Said
>
>
>
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