Whats with some people selling & buying on Ebay and other marketplaces?? (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

You win better by being the high bidder the entire week.

 

[RichP]

Without question. Here's a favorite recent example:

I saw on eBay that someone was selling codes for free songs on iTunes, not a Gift Certificate but just codes... 1 code = 1 song. This guy was selling 10 codes.

As I'm sure we all know, 1 song on iTunes costs 99¢, so 10 songs cost $9.90 if purchased directly from iTunes.

The auction ended at $12.66

 

[Mark-W]

My favorite personal eBay resell story:
I sold off my used (albeit in top condition) Star Trek DVDs, and, in most cases, the auctions ended with the final bid being higher than one would pay for a new one at Amazon...

But it doesn't end there...I sent one loosing bidder a comment saying,
"Well, you'll get the last laugh, look here:" (and I included a URL to the NEW DVD on Amazon.).
The guy still responded, "Yea, but I really wanted to win the auction."

Uh...okay...so his competitive urge was stronger than his need to get a good deal???? He wanted to "win" on eBay.

 

[todd s]

Here is another funny example at the Amazon marketplace....

Walker Texas Ranger season 2....
New from Amazon....$34.99 free freight.
Most of the used sellers....$27-$30 plus $2.59 freight charge
One seller's used copy....$54.29 plus $2.59 freight charge!!! And it's USED for over $23 more than a new copy. C'mon!

 

[Greg_S_H]

 

[MarkHastings]

I'm starting to wonder about andrews comment about 1st editions. I wonder if this $55 copy is a first edition? I wonder if you can tell? Does he say?

EDIT: I just saw the used copy and it does not say whether it's a first edition or not. The killer is, there is a $54 new copy as well as a $54 "like new' copy from the SAME dealer! :rolleyes

I'm surprised Amazon allows people to sell items for more than they do.

I'm sure this company sells a lot of 'regular' priced items, but probably throws one or two of these $55 items up just to see if people will buy them.

 

[Jay Taylor]

Greg, I'm LMAO!

Winning on eBay; so simple a caveman can do it!

 

[Greg_S_H]

I was actually thinking of his, "Next time, maybe do a little research," but that works, too.

 

[todd s]

So Greg...Your assuming Cavement are idiots. Your a bigot.

 

[Greg_S_H]

No, no. See, he was the one mocking the bidders I quoted.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> I'm surprised Amazon allows people to sell items for more than they do.

Why? It's a free market, and why would amazon want to always have the highest price?

The flip side of this discussion is also sometimes true- I've put stuff for sale at bargain prices and had no takers.

 

[MarkHastings]

But Amazon doesn't sell used items directly. I'm not saying people always have to sell for less than Amazon, I just find it peculiar that Amazon allows used items to be sold for more than new items that Amazon sells.

And besides, free market or not, these people are selling via Amazon, so Amazon should have the right to create any rules it wants as far as resellers are concerned.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Why? I'm pretty sure that for items that can be found both on the Marketplace and Amazon proper, they'd rather you bought directly from them, and the Marketplace sellers having higher prices would encourage that. Wouldn't they logically have more problems with Marketplace sellers severely undercutting their price?

 

[cafink]

I don't see that it's any dumber six days before the auction ends than six minutes before it ends. I've never understood these "bidding wars" in the first place. Just enter the maximum amount you'd be willing to pay for the item and be done with it. Ebay's proxy bidding system is in place so you don't have to enter higher and higher bids over and over again. Why enter a low maximum amount if you're just going to enter a higher one later?

 

[todd s]

The reason you wait until the end is to save money. Just say an item has a bid for $6. And you are willing to pay $20. If you put the max bid in early. The other person doesn't know your max. So they will bid until they either quit or beat your bid. So either way your bid is going to be higher. But, if you wait until a minute or so left. Your bid may show as $7. If he has time to match he may only go to $10...which makes your bid $11. And then the bidding ends. So you win and you don't have to worry about having to pay the max. And even if the other bidder would have beaten your max bid. Most people jump up in smaller increments. Not necessarily their top bid. And before they realize they are still short...the bidding ends. I have won and lost many auctions this way. I hope I explained this correctly.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Short answer: sniping is good.

The reason bidding wars happen is that people don't know how much they want to pay, and they have to be on top. So, person A sees something they want that starts at $.99, and they decide that $20 would be a good thing. Person B comes along and bids $10 and panics. They then go on a bidding frenzy until they are the top dog. At that point, person A says, "Hmm, I want it more than I thought I did! I'll bid $30." Person B counters, etc. etc. That's just human nature, and it's silly. If person B had a little discipline, they could come in at the last minute and put in $30 and win it for $20.50, or whatever the increment would be. Now, if they want it, they have to bid over $30.

Look, I've been there, early in my eBay career. I bid early on a record I wanted, and this other guy came along and outbid me. I topped him, he topped me, etc. He ended up taking it for $78. An old record that nobody else on eBay even wanted. He admitted to me that he was following me around, bidding on things I bid on first, because he didn't feel like searching for things, and I was a better searcher. I not only created a new account on the spot to get away from him, but I learned right then and there to not signal interest by bidding early. If people think they are the only ones interested in something, they relax and keep their proxies low. I know sniping and waiting pisses people off, but it's the only smart move.

By the way, using my strategy, I was able to score a couple of copies of that LP for far, far less than he paid for the one (between $5 and $11 a copy). One even turned out to be signed by the artist, who was the guy who wrote "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky." Kind of neat, and a last laugh at the other guy.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> So, person A sees something they want that starts at $.99, and they decide that $20 would be a good thing. Person B comes along and bids $10 and panics. They then go on a bidding frenzy until they are the top dog. At that point, person A says, "Hmm, I want it more than I thought I did! I'll bid $30."

Meanwhile, another seller will have the same item and the high bid will be $15. It's crazy how it plays out.


I once sold an item by auction at about $43. I had an identical item to sell, so I sent the #2 bidder a second-chance offer to buy the 2nd copy for his bid of $1 or so less.

He turned it down. That made no sense, considering that it was the exact amount he had already committed to pay.

So I put the 2nd one up for auction & it ended up selling somewhere around $35. That other bidder didn't bid on it. (And no, nobody else had the same item for sale during that time.)