Did ebay Buyer Just Play Some Dirty Pool?

[easysurfer]

I put something up on ebay, starting bid 99 cents, no reserve. Item probably worth about $150.

With less than 24 hrs to go, only 1 bid. Though there are 4 watchers.

I sure hope some buyers snipe bid the last moments. Otherwise, somebody is going to win big at my expense .

Maybe I was too bold by not putting a reserve price. At least I didn't offer free shipping .

 

[Starsky]

For me, the deciding factor to block the bidder is as I look at the history, he waited almost 3 days to retract. Had he retracted say after 5 minutes then no harm no foul. But after 3 days either that's very inattentive or something else.

I have had this happen a few times too and have had the same reaction and response. However, in hindsight (and since the reason is always exactly the same) I suspect it may happen because eBay requires you to choose pull down menus to categorize issues; and although it may not be exactly factually accurate, it's quite possible it was simply the best choice when requesting the retraction.

It's impossible to know for sure, but it could be the 'something else'. Thankfully it has always happened well before the auction closes.

 

[euro]

I put something up on ebay, starting bid 99 cents, no reserve. Item probably worth about $150.

With less than 24 hrs to go, only 1 bid. Though there are 4 watchers.

I sure hope some buyers snipe bid the last moments. Otherwise, somebody is going to win big at my expense .

Maybe I was too bold by not putting a reserve price. At least I didn't offer free shipping .

Yep, this is the downside of your strategy - sometimes you get zapped. I'm not an eBay Pro but I have probably sold about 100 items - I always put a in a reserve as well as a buy-it-now. Who knows what ultimately works better - it is probably heavily dependent on the type of merchandise and the price range too

 

[easysurfer]

Yep, this is the downside of your strategy - sometimes you get zapped. I'm not an eBay Pro but I have probably sold about 100 items - I always put a in a reserve as well as a buy-it-now. Who knows what ultimately works better - it is probably heavily dependent on the type of merchandise and the price range too

Hopefully, there will be some last hour/minute bidding. If not, a lesson learned.

 

[COcheesehead]

I put something up on ebay, starting bid 99 cents, no reserve. Item probably worth about $150.

With less than 24 hrs to go, only 1 bid. Though there are 4 watchers.

I sure hope some buyers snipe bid the last moments. Otherwise, somebody is going to win big at my expense .

Maybe I was too bold by not putting a reserve price. At least I didn't offer free shipping .

You say it's worth $150. The market may say otherwise.

 

[COcheesehead]

Dunno. I have been burned when an item sold for so little that after paying eBay their cut, including on shipping, it cost me.


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Don't think that is possible. The eBay costs are a percent of sales, unless you screwed up the shipping cost and under priced it.

 

[easysurfer]

You say it's worth $150. The market may say otherwise.

Yeah. That's why I put down no reserve and let the market price the thing according to who well that sells.

My fingers are still crossed that tonight being Friday, the folks on the auction watch list come home from a long day's w*rk (those not retired ), and are in a shopping mood when they get an email reminder that they still have time to bid on a "steal".

 

[iloveyoga]

I block a buyer when they cancel, retract or don't pay more than one time.

 

[iloveyoga]

eBay also takes a cut of the shipping charges too, so it would be possible to make almost nothing.

 

[Breedlove]

We have stopped using Ebay , maybe us but it seems geared to protect the buyer more so then the seller .
Son bought a new computer for Christmas but my wife bought him the same one . The deal he got on Amazon made it worth keeping and selling on the open market ( Both of these were new packaged ) He sold on Ebay as a new computer ( was never opened ) got his price . Then the customer complained he received a beat up used computer . What my son got back was a beat up used computer , not the one he sold. The customer had placed a used computer in the box the new one was in and said this is what he received . My son argued with Ebay he showed seriel did not match and such but got nowhere . no more Ebay.

 

[COcheesehead]

Yeah. That's why I put down no reserve and let the market price the thing according to who well that sells.

My fingers are still crossed that tonight being Friday, the folks on the auction watch list come home from a long day's w*rk (those not retired ), and are in a shopping mood when they get an email reminder that they still have time to bid on a "steal".

I wish you the best, but Sunday nights are usually the best to end an auction. Friday and Saturday nights don't fair as well. Those are date nights.

 

[COcheesehead]

eBay also takes a cut of the shipping charges too, so it would be possible to make almost nothing.

But if you price the shipping correctly, you won't lose money, which was my point.

 

[COcheesehead]

We have stopped using Ebay , maybe us but it seems geared to protect the buyer more so then the seller .
Son bought a new computer for Christmas but my wife bought him the same one . The deal he got on Amazon made it worth keeping and selling on the open market ( Both of these were new packaged ) He sold on Ebay as a new computer ( was never opened ) got his price . Then the customer complained he received a beat up used computer . What my son got back was a beat up used computer , not the one he sold. The customer had placed a used computer in the box the new one was in and said this is what he received . My son argued with Ebay he showed seriel did not match and such but got nowhere . no more Ebay.

What kind of feedback did the buyer have prior to the purchase?

 

[travelover]

But if you price the shipping correctly, you won't lose money, which was my point.

In my case (above) I set the shipping to be calculated based on the buyer's location to minimize the cost to the buyer. Since eBay takes a cut of the shipping charge as well, if the selling price is too low, you can actually lose money on the deal.

 

[COcheesehead]

In my case (above) I set the shipping to be calculated based on the buyer's location to minimize the cost to the buyer. Since eBay takes a cut of the shipping charge as well, if the selling price is too low, you can actually lose money on the deal.

It's a percentage, even if your shipping is calculated. Sort of why the NFL penalties inside the 20 are half the distance to the goal. You can never reach 0.

 

[OldShooter]

1. I guess I don't see the issue here. If the guy retracting the bid was a shill bidder for you, bidding only to goose the price, that would be an issue. But clearly that's not the case, so you may want to thank him for doing you a favor.

2. My experience with eBay auctions (700+ feedback/15 years) is that for things like photography gear and computer gear at least, worrying about the bidding and the current bid price is a complete waste of time. Those of us with lots of experience don't bid early. All this does is to drive the price up as the amateurs reconsider how much they are willing to pay and then increase their bids. We "bid snipe." I use a very nice package called JBidWatcher. I give it my snipe price and set the bid time to be 8 seconds before the end of the auction. When my bid comes in and becomes visible, assuming it is the high bid, other bidders don't have time to react and I get the item. If my snipe is not high, no harm no foul; my snipe price is the highest I'm willing to pay. I get the majority of items that I snipe.

There are often two or three snipers; you can see this by looking at the bids and bid times after the auction is over. You will usually find, too, that the snipers are new name bidders/don't appear on the bidder list until the snipe.

You can manually snipe, too, but if you make a mistake there is no recovery. Sniping software is more reliable.

 

[easysurfer]

1. I guess I don't see the issue here. If the guy retracting the bid was a shill bidder for you, bidding only to goose the price, that would be an issue. But clearly that's not the case, so you may want to thank him for doing you a favor.

2. My experience with eBay auctions (700+ feedback/15 years) is that for things like photography gear and computer gear at least, worrying about the bidding and the current bid price is a complete waste of time. Those of us with lots of experience don't bid early. All this does is to drive the price up as the amateurs reconsider how much they are willing to pay and then increase their bids. We "bid snipe." I use a very nice package called JBidWatcher. I give it my snipe price and set the bid time to be 8 seconds before the end of the auction. When my bid comes in and becomes visible, assuming it is the high bid, other bidders don't have time to react and I get the item. If my snipe is not high, no harm no foul; my snipe price is the highest I'm willing to pay. I get the majority of items that I snipe.

There are often two or three snipers; you can see this by looking at the bids and bid times after the auction is over. You will usually find, too, that the snipers are new name bidders/don't appear on the bidder list until the snipe.

You can manually snipe, too, but if you make a mistake there is no recovery. Sniping software is more reliable.

I probably should have started a separate thread. The title is for a bidder awhile back. More recently is the topic of how quiet the bidding seems for my current auction.

Since my original post, I've become a snipe bidder using a free snipe bidding program. I've converted my bidding approach to snipe away.

 

[travelover]

It's a percentage, even if your shipping is calculated. Sort of why the NFL penalties inside the 20 are half the distance to the goal. You can never reach 0.

Not so.

Example: You sell an item for $1 with $10 shipping cost. Buyer pays $11 (My take is less PayPal fee of 3%). I owe eBay 10% = $1.10 plus I owe post office $10, total $11.10. So, for all my effort I lost 10 cents plus the Paypal fee of 30 cents.

 

[COcheesehead]

Not so.

Example: You sell an item for $1 with $10 shipping cost. Buyer pays $11 (My take is less PayPal fee of 3%). I owe eBay 10% = $1.10 plus I owe post office $10, total $11.10. So, for all my effort I lost 10 cents plus the Paypal fee of 30 cents.

You're wrong, sorry to say. eBay discounts the shipping cost if you ship through the eBay site. They do this discount to account for fees. So the only way you lose is if you screw up the shipping cost by under charging by overriding the calculated shipping cost. Don't try convincing me on this one. I've been a Power Seller on eBay for a long time.

 

[travelover]

You're wrong, sorry to say. eBay discounts the shipping cost if you ship through the eBay site. They do this discount to account for fees. So the only way you lose is if you screw up the shipping cost by under charging by overriding the calculated shipping cost. Don't try convincing me on this one. I've been a Power Seller on eBay for a long time.

Whatever. I'm done with you.

 

[easysurfer]

Update - I really shot myself on the foot with this one.

My auction that I put up sold for 99 cents with only 1 bidder.

That's the reason why there is a reserve option I suppose, which I didn't use .

The only bright side is in this lesson learned, I found out that there are zero bid websites and apps to seek out auctions which have no one bidding on.

 

[Walt34]

The only bright side is in this lesson learned, I found out that there are zero bid websites and apps to seek out auctions which have no one bidding on.

Last December I bought a camera strobe light (Nikon SB-900) on eBay that had a $200 minimum bid, so I bid that, for that light it's a good price. There were three or four others also for sale at the time with higher bids and I wondered why no one bid on the lower-priced one. Much to my surprise I was the only bidder and got it for $200!

I used no specialized software to do the bidding, I guess I just got lucky. New, those sold for $500 and the current model is $50 more.

 

[pb4uski]

Update - I really shot myself on the foot with this one.

My auction that I put up sold for 99 cents with only 1 bidder.

That's the reason why there is a reserve option I suppose, which I didn't use .

The only bright side is in this lesson learned, I found out that there are zero bid websites and apps to seek out auctions which have no one bidding on.

Don't know remember much about Ebay, but could you have avoided the sale by having a friend bid on it and just paid Ebay whatever commission they were due?

 

[Just_Steve]

Don't know remember much about Ebay, but could you have avoided the sale by having a friend bid on it and just paid Ebay whatever commission they were due?

Very ethical.

 

[easysurfer]

Don't know remember much about Ebay, but could you have avoided the sale by having a friend bid on it and just paid Ebay whatever commission they were due?

True. Actually had someone volunteer but I declined as that would have been shill bidding.

I hear folks do that on ebay, but many wrongs don't make a right. Better for me to learn this lesson to put a reserve next time and not play dirty pool myself.