E-bay tips (seriously)

[Scotty477]

i have just has a slightly dubious thing happen on ebay.

i was bidding on a pedal against someone else , it got up to £27 - a fair price for the pedal but my maximum was about £33.. actually i wanted to pay less than that but i must admit to getting caught up in the bidding.

Then i was slightly dissapointed when the item recieved a few more bids in the last half an hour that took it over my max by about 50p.

nothing strage about that i know but Half an hour after its finished i get a second chance offer message from the seller that says

Hey, thanks for bidding on the pedal. Some bloody new member outbid you and then emailed saying they can't pay! Its still available if you fancy it. If not I can just relist. Regards, Roy

so now i am a bit suspicious.  would someone really change their mind so quickly and if they did would they be so quick to let the seller know?

What i really dont like is that the second chance offer came with a price of my maximum bid of £33 rather than the highest real bid of £27.

I know its not much money but it makes me suspicious that the seller was just trying to push the price up by getting another account to bid on the pedal... anyway i am bidding on some other stuff but if i dont get them i may make him a fair offer of £27... dont see why i should pay more than that since no real bidders offered more

Dont touch it mate.

That's a classic shill bid scam. I would decline and look for another seller with that pedal.

See this link.

http://www.ukauctionhelp.co.uk/shill.php

[Crazy_Joe]

Yeh that happens quite a lot, don't walk into those.

[FELINEGUITARS]

i have just has a slightly dubious thing happen on ebay.

i was bidding on a pedal against someone else , it got up to £27 - a fair price for the pedal but my maximum was about £33.. actually i wanted to pay less than that but i must admit to getting caught up in the bidding.

Then i was slightly dissapointed when the item recieved a few more bids in the last half an hour that took it over my max by about 50p.

nothing strage about that i know but Half an hour after its finished i get a second chance offer message from the seller that says

Hey, thanks for bidding on the pedal. Some bloody new member outbid you and then emailed saying they can't pay! Its still available if you fancy it. If not I can just relist. Regards, Roy

so now i am a bit suspicious.  would someone really change their mind so quickly and if they did would they be so quick to let the seller know?

What i really dont like is that the second chance offer came with a price of my maximum bid of £33 rather than the highest real bid of £27.

I know its not much money but it makes me suspicious that the seller was just trying to push the price up by getting another account to bid on the pedal... anyway i am bidding on some other stuff but if i dont get them i may make him a fair offer of £27... dont see why i should pay more than that since no real bidders offered more

Dont touch it mate.

That's a classic shill bid scam. I would decline and look for another seller with that pedal.

See this link.

http://www.ukauctionhelp.co.uk/shill.php

I had a stupid ex-girlfriend who used to do that sort of thing (having two accounts and bid on her own stuff to push the price up). I told her it wasn't a good thing to be doing but she said she knew better - then ebay banned her under all her accounts, which was the right thing to do...

Ebay got busted for this on TV a while back so they are a lot more vigilent about it

Have a look t the bid sniping programmes like http://www.bidnapper.com/

[Jonny]

Is automated sniping very common? That would just be bloody annoying.. PDT_033

[PoshCollins]

Is automated sniping very common? That would just be bloody annoying.. PDT_033

I have had twice when purchasing guitars  PDT_046.

The first one was a lovely gloss black Godin Multiac and the other was an Fender HM (Phew!).

[WezV]

thx for the advice guys - think i will report it to eBay!!!

I have had people suggest i do the same thing before.. and it has been quite tempting but  i prefer honesty over profit.  It was a bit hard when i sold my vox ac30 ss for £200 less than one that sold a few days before but i know my item was honestly listed and the buyer knows he got a great deal.  I still got more than i payed for it so no real loss

[dave_mc]

Paypal just decided that there wasn't a bank account(source) linked to it.
Kinda handy when halfway through trying to pay, contacted the seller and explained, sent a cheque.

thanks, i figured that's what you meant. :)

If I had your Legra, my life would most likely be complete. Most likely. PDT_006

haha, just because you have some kickass guitars doesn't mean you don't want more kickass guitars...

but thanks! :D

I just bid in the last 30 seconds and you pretty much guaranteed a win, the only thing that can go wrong is that someone else has a higher maximum bid than you, in that case they win it. But i just put a figure as high as whatever i'm willing to pay for the item in, in the last 30 seconds and usually you win.

thanks, joe, those are the tactics i meant. basically bid in the last few seconds, and input the maximum bid you're willing to go up to at that time too?

:)

I have a 99.8% (635) feedback rating, which is split 50/50 selling/buying

I would be very careful about 0 feedback sellers - particularly if they are selling high value items.

Also be aware that there is the issue of Cinese sellers punting fake high end guitars. They're usually easy to spot though. A genuine seller is equally easy to recognise imho.

Never get involved in haggling before or after an auction ends. The price that it ends at is all you should be paying and you should know exactly what the shipping cost will be to your address.

If the seller asks for more money or refuses to sell, simply refer them to ebay regulations and ask when the item can be expected to arrive at your address. If the response is the same leave negative feedback outlining why its a negative.

As a buyer I always let the seller leave feedback first

thanks. the dude is based in the UK. The item looks genuine to me, i'm obviously not an expert though. :)

I've heard not to get involved in the type of stuff you (and wez) mentioned. I have no intention of getting involved in that. :)

Is automated sniping very common? That would just be bloody annoying.. PDT_033

is it legal? don't really want to get involved in that, to be honest. manual sniping, fair enough, automatic, not so much... :)

again, thanks to everyone for the advice, it's helped a lot. :)

[sambo]

Yeah Dave, if you 'snipe' but someone elses automatic bid is higher, you're gonna lose out. So 'snipe' but with your highest bid.


The second-chance thing Wez was on about; I don't see how you can denounce it's a scam unquestionably. Second-chance offers are dodgy because they can come from people other than the seller (or at least they used to be able to; now bidders identity seem to be hidden on every auction). But if it's from the seller, who has a good feedback rep, there is no reason to assume that it's dodgy. Wez, I doubt someone would use another account to push the price up £6 mate. (but of course, use your own judgement; if it seems dodgy, then leave it.).

I may be being too optmistic, I dunno, but if it's a trusted (feedback-wise) seller, ebay can be, and usually is, perfectly safe.

[Philly Q]

As a buyer I always let the seller leave feedback first

I have to disagree, as a seller how do I know the buyer's even received the item until he leaves feedback (unless I e-mail him)?  All I'm worried about is getting my money, the buyer's side of the deal is much more complicated - how quickly did the goods arrive, how well packed were they, were they accurately described etc.

If a buyer leaves me positive feedback, I know the whole transaction's complete - I have my money and he's happy with his goods.  So I have no possible reason to leave negative feedback (except pure malice!).

On the other hand, if I the seller leave feedback as soon as I get my money, the buyer can still come back and claim it didn't arrive, or he just didn't like it, or something.  And there I am having said what a super chap he is for paying...

[dave_mc]

Yeah Dave, if you 'snipe' but someone elses automatic bid is higher, you're gonna lose out. So 'snipe' but with your highest bid.

if i snipe the way crazy joe suggested (i.e. snipe in the last 30 seconds or so, but also put in a maximum bid so e-bay will bid or me), would that counter-act that? that way i'm not paying over the odds to make sure i get it, but i'm covered if someone else is using automatic bidding too?

or do I have that wrong?

[Philly Q]

Oh, and I hate this term "sniping" - it implies it's somehow sneaky to bid at the last minute , when in fact it's the only sensible thing to do.

If something ends in a week there's no point putting in a bid now.  All it needs is two idiots to spend a week bidding against each other and it's putting the price up for everyone else.  Whereas if everyone puts in their maximum bid near the end, they'll put in the most they want to pay instead of an amount to beat the current high bid.  Potentially bad news for the seller, but good for the buyer.

There are only two reasons for bidding early:

- to turn a "Buy It Now" into an auction (waste of time if there's not a big gap between the starting price and the BIN price)
- to "sound out" a reserve price which hasn't yet been reached.

And finally (sorry, I know I'm being really pompous   ):

Don't use an automated "bid assistant" - it places a bid for you as soon as anyone else bids, so it's just forcing the price up early as I said before.

[dave_mc]

thanks philly, that's what i thought. if i were going to use that automated bidding, i'd do it at the last minute anyway. :)

how about sounding out reserves, as you suggested? any tips on that?

[Philly Q]

if i snipe the way crazy joe suggested (i.e. snipe in the last 30 seconds or so, but also put in a maximum bid so e-bay will bid or me), would that counter-act that? that way i'm not paying over the odds to make sure i get it, but i'm covered if someone else is using automatic bidding too?

or do I have that wrong?

You're not putting in a bid and a maximum bid, Dave, you're always putting a maximum bid.  So if the next highest bid is nowhere near your maximum, you pay just enough to win - not the maximum amount you bid.

[dave_mc]

You're not putting in a bid and a maximum bid, Dave, you're always putting a maximum bid.  So if the next highest bid is nowhere near your maximum, you pay just enough to win - not the maximum amount you bid.

ahahaha, i get it now!  :lol:  i told you i was new to this!

thanks philly, much appreciated. :)

EDIT: back to the reserve price thing. If i enter my bid (the most i want to pay, as i now know  :lol: ), if that's higher than the reserve, will that automatically bid enough to beat the reserve if no-one else bids? or how does that work? as i said, any tips on sounding out reserves would be cool (just in case anyone missed it as a few posts have been posted since i asked that). :)

[Philly Q]

back to the reserve price thing. If i enter my bid (the most i want to pay, as i now know  :lol: ), if that's higher than the reserve, will that automatically bid enough to beat the reserve if no-one else bids? or how does that work? as i said, any tips on sounding out reserves would be cool (just in case anyone missed it as a few posts have been posted since i asked that). :)

Yep, when you bid on a reserve price, if you bid below the reserve it registers your bid but says "reserve not met".  But if you bid over the reserve - say £500 when the reserve's £350 - your bid will register equal to the reserve price of £350.  Until someone else bids.

Bidding on a reserve is just a shot in the dark really - if you reckon something's worth £350 but currently standing at £100 with the reserve not met, then try, say, £250. An amount you'd be absolutely happy to pay if you had to.

I say it's worth sounding out reserves because a lot of people have very high reserves, which is dumb because they may receive no bids high enough (if everyone bids late). And having a reserve costs a fortune for the seller in listing fees, because they're based on both the reserve price and the final selling price.

I don't like reserves, as either a buyer or a seller.  I think it's better to just set your starting price as the minimum you'd accept, then hope it goes higher.  Unless you're brave enough to go the "99p starting price" route, which guarantees some bids but it's too risky for me.  :lol: