Ebay question

[OldNSalty]

Hi all,

First, I just bought my first item on ebay -yea me (a SEA4 reg) but haven't gotten it in the mail (but I expect it today or tomorrow)

I was wondering-I am watching another item and I noticed that the same person bid on it several times in the space of a few seconds over the weekend (sent the price from $20 to $50). could this be the seller trying to push up the price? I just don't see why someone would be outbidding themselves unless maybe it was that electronic bidding system-I don't know.

 

[John512]

It might be somebody putting in a bid, say $20, then seeing it was not enough then putting in even more. I will often not put the max amount I want to bid right away.

In terms of automated computers system, those usually bid in the last 5-10 seconds of the auction to "snipe" the auction and not allow anybody else to bid on on it.

 

[mike_s]

It could have been the seller bidding with a fake 2nd account.

It could have been somone bidding against you with an "automated bidding system" that bids up to a pre-set limit in the last seconds of the bids. You can use these also. they are available for anyone for a fee.

Or, it could have been that the items was bid at $20 bucks and you bid lets say for exmaple $45 bucks, but your bid only beat the last bid by $1 buck. But then someone "stalked out" the item and waited until the last few seconds to bid $50 bucks... well that would have run the bid up past your highest bid limit.


A lot of folks don't bid on the item the want until the last minute. Why? because if they bid early, then someone else might come in a bid after them, raising the price and they want to get it as cheap as possible. So they wait to the last few seconds and put in their highest bid and hope for the best. Sometimes you win that way, sometimes you loose, especially if someone else is doing the same thing and has a higher price threshold.

 

[Hoomi]

When I bid on eBay (a rare occasion any more), I figure out what the maximum I want to pay for the item is (figuring in shipping as well - I don't bid on anything until I know what the shipping will be), put in that amount, and then ignore it until the auction is over.

I've found that if I watch an auction, it gets too easy to fall into the "I gotta win" mentality and end up bidding more than I want to pay. If the price goes over my maximum, it doesn't really matter to me whether it does so early or at the last minute. In fact, if it does so early, I can go looking for another item right away, rather than waiting several days until the end of that auction.

 

[reefduffer]

I've been using eBay for 6+ years, several hundred transactions, exclusively as a buyer. A couple of comments: First, I second what Hoomi said in terms of strategy, but tactically, I would strongly recommend sniping (what mike_s was describing), and specifically the use of https://esnipe08.esnipe.com/
Except foy Buy-It-Now tems, I almost never bid other than through esnipe.

eBay is designed to maximize selling price. There are three parties to any eBay auction: The seller, the buyers, and eBay. eBay, who make the rules, prioritizes their interests as: (1) eBay. (2) Sellers, who directly pay eBay and form the "community". (3) Buyers, who are generally the least informed and least involved. They're just there to provide funds to the other two, both of whose interests are served by higher selling prices.

Sniping levels the playing field for buyers in several ways, the most significant of which are: (1) Removing the emotional fallacy eBay promotes of "winning" a competition, which Hoomi mentions, and (2) Hiding the information of the buyer's interest in the item, and maximum bid, from other potential buyers, most importantly the naive ones who do get caught up in the competitive fallacy, and the occasional "shill" buyer who is actually an agent of the seller.

You can snipe manually, and I used to do that, but it's a PITA. IMO, it's well worth the esnipe 25 cents or 1% fee, which you only pay if you win the auction.

Read the info on the esnipe website for a more in-depth explanation.

As for what happened in your auction, there's not enough information here to say. It could have been a shill, but I think they're actually not that common. It could have been a "semi-naive" buyer, one who tries to use eBay's proxy bidding system to avoid emotion, but without sniping. This is generally a loser's game IMO. They will bid to "get in the game" (never understood that) then figure out their top price, and outbid themselves, then wait until the auction is over.

If you post (or PM) a link to the auction I'll look at the bid history and see what it looks like.

 

[OldNSalty]

Thanks for all the advice and I have a follow up question. I bought another item last week and the seller didn't have a long history (maybe 2 or 3 sells). After I sent payment I asked when and from where the equipment was coming. He responded that he would send it out Friday and it was only coming from MS which is just a few hours away. He said I should have it no latter then Monday. Monday he emails and says he had a family emergency come up and didn't get to the post office but would do so latter that day. I told him fine, just email me when it is dropped off with a tracking number. He responded with a tracking number but the post office (on line system) can't locate the package this morning.

How long should I wait...I am getting a little worried-of course, I used a CC so I am not too worried.

 

[John512]

I think the post office normally takes 24-48 hours before the tracking number is in the system, i have had plenty of packages that are only put into the tracking system AFTER I receive it.

I would not really worry about it for now, it probably is ok. If he says it shipped I would probably give it 3-5 days before starting to worry.

 

[reefduffer]

Here's an interesting study about auctions and irrational behavior:
Scientists discover why we overbid for old junk on eBay

Assuming you'd prefer to behave rationally (I really do wonder sometimes ...) understanding how we're wired to be irrational is the first step to overcoming it.