Buyers beware of E-bay

[rekees4300]

Thats cause someone is using something like Bid Sniper.. You should try it.

Don't really buy enough stuff from Ebay to justify paying for a specialized bidding program. Besides it seems deceptive to me that the highest bid shown isn't. At a real auction you know what the highest bid is, it's all out in the open and one can act accordingly instead of speculating.

 

[Midniteoyl]

No you dont.. How do you know what the next guy is willing to spend? Its a secret kept to themselves in their head. Its not like they go "I'll go to the max of $501!" right at the start. They start as low as they think they can, then work up in small increments from there until either the max they are willing to spend is reached and they bow out, or they win. Sames as eBay...

I dont understand your statement?

 

[rekees4300]

No you dont.. How do you know what the next guy is willing to spend? Its a secret kept to themselves in their head. Its not like they go "I'll go to the max of $501!" right at the start. They start as low as they think they can, then work up in small increments from there until either the max they are willing to spend is reached and they bow out, or they win. Sames as eBay...

I dont understand your statement?

It's really rather simple. At a real auction, the auctioneer states what the high bid is, everybody knows what it is. On Ebay they deceptively display a high bid but what they don't tell you is that there are hidden snipe bids waiting in the wings. We have a real auction house near us with a real human auctioneer. Imagine this - you place the high bid and the auctioneer says "going once, going twice, SOLD" then he points to someone who placed a secret bid nobody else knew about. Imagine how long that auction would last before there was a riot!

Hope this analogy helps your understanding?

 

[bcp]

Ebay doesn't know about those waiting "sniper" bids. They are bid at the last second by a separate company the bidder is using. It is just like a live auction, but a computer somewhere is making the bid at the last second, after the "going twice" but before the "SOLD!"

It is never a problem if you will just bid your maximum at the start. Ebay will only raise your bid if someone tops it, until your maximum is reached. You will buy it at the starting bid, no matter how high your maximum, if there are no other bidders. It is NOT like a mail-in auction.

Ebay is not like a live auction you are attending and bidding. It is like you sending someone to bid for you, with instructions to not bid over a set amount.

If you are entering a bid more than once on Ebay, you are doing it wrong. (unless you just like to play at it )

Bruce

 

[rekees4300]

Ebay is not like a live auction you are attending and bidding.

That's the bottom-line and the problem.

 

[PILOON]

Don't really buy enough stuff from Ebay to justify paying for a specialized bidding program. Besides it seems deceptive to me that the highest bid shown isn't. At a real auction you know what the highest bid is, it's all out in the open and one can act accordingly instead of speculating.

SURE, yeah and then the auctioneer says they have a reserve and some times they have absentee bidding managed by the auction house which is just like a bidding program.

 

[Pixguy]

I use an auction sniping site that charges nothing for up to I think 5 bids per month. Great way to set your max bid without getting into a bidding war with anyone.

 

[Midniteoyl]

It's really rather simple. At a real auction, the auctioneer states what the high bid is, everybody knows what it is. On Ebay they deceptively display a high bid but what they don't tell you is that there are hidden snipe bids waiting in the wings. We have a real auction house near us with a real human auctioneer. Imagine this - you place the high bid and the auctioneer says "going once, going twice, SOLD" then he points to someone who placed a secret bid nobody else knew about. Imagine how long that auction would last before there was a riot!

Hope this analogy helps your understanding?

Still dont understand...

How does the auctioneer know what you are willing to pay? What your highest amount is? He's only telling you what the other guy has said, not what he's thinking. Its the same concept on eBay.

What do you do when YOU have reached YOUR max amount, the auctioneer says 'Going twice' and someone out bids you then? What about phone bids? Third party buyers?

Its all the same thing..

 

[Sysop]

Actually, you can go enter a $500 bid on a $10 item and it will only go up the incremental bid amount to $11 or whatever. When someone comes along and places a $12 bid, you retain the highest bid and it goes to $13 automatically... They will never end up with the highest bid until they bid higher than $500. If they wait until the last second, place their $500 bid against your bid while it is $11, you still win the auction because your max bid of $500 was in at ebay before theirs. If you want it, bid high and bid early...

 

[/pine]

That's the bottom-line and the problem.

My observation (from reading your posts on the subject) is you do not really understand how e-bay works...

The only advantage of bidding aps (bid sniper etc.) is you do not have to time your bids...

after the initial offer (bid)...buyers can enter the highest amount they would offer for an item auction...the "highest bid" displayed for an item is the current "high bid" ...the bidder that currently holds the "high bid" may have set a higher maximum bid but it will not be effected unless another bidder offers more...there are NO HIDDEN bids...they do not display the maximum a bidder will go...that would be like "indian poker" at a live auction where you could see the maximum a bidder would go before the fact...