The Ebay Experience

You have to love the last 10 minutes of an ebay auction when you think your getting a pretty good deal, and no ones been battling with you.. :-D

tcharron said:

You have to love the last 10 minutes of an ebay auction when you think your getting a pretty good deal, and no ones been battling with you.. :-D

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And of course, in the last 5 seconds, have some one beat you out by one cent as your rushing to increase your bid. :-(

Ebay designed a clever system. On the service, it is supposed to be big your highest bid one time and sit back and relax. But in practice, you really have to manage your bids right up to the wire if you even want to tip your hand and bid early which I only do if I definitely have an absolute maximum. The system essentially encourages people to second guess each other and push bids up with last minute emotional building and then re-bidding when someone beats you. I lose more auctions than I win by far because I won't play into that game and even when I snipe, I do so at what I consider to be less than an average price for the item. I win most of my auctions that I win because other people are not watching the auction.

riverc0il said:

I lose more auctions than I win by far because I won't play into that game and even when I snipe, I do so at what I consider to be less than an average price for the item. I win most of my auctions that I win because other people are not watching the auction.

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Yea, I was sniped in the last 20 seconds. It was a bad time to be updating the server. :-D

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=190325078719&showauto=true

I'd emailed the guy selling them, and he sent me a bunch of other pics, they where in good shape from the look of things.

*shrug* Must.. Find.. Good.. Twintips.. Under.. 100$. :-D

Worse yet,
do you ever find yourself fearful of missing out on something so you bit with a bit too much enthusiasm in the last few seconds, finding yourself bidding more than you really should have?

Trekchick said:

Worse yet,
do you ever find yourself fearful of missing out on something so you bit with a bit too much enthusiasm in the last few seconds, finding yourself bidding more than you really should have?

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Yup! :-D Years ago when my oldest son was around 5-6, I wanted to get him a remote control car like I used to have. They usually cost 100+ bucks, so I figured I'd get a used on eon ebay on the cheap. By the end of the week, I'd 'accidently' bought like 4 of them at like 80-90 bucks each.

tcharron said:

Yup! :-D Years ago when my oldest son was around 5-6, I wanted to get him a remote control car like I used to have. They usually cost 100+ bucks, so I figured I'd get a used on eon ebay on the cheap. By the end of the week, I'd 'accidently' bought like 4 of them at like 80-90 bucks each.

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LOL! Funny....

it's like playing poker when you almost know for sure your opponent will fold to your wager...JEA!!!!!!

I only ever snipe on eBay at auctions. I decide far in advance what the maximum is that I'd be willing to pay for the item. I put it on my calendar and set the alarm clock on my cell phone for 5 minutes before the close of the auction. I drop in a bid with the maximum I'd be willing to pay with 10 seconds left. With that strategy, I don't ever overpay and I don't get caught up in that whole auction frenzy. I don't think I've ever bid twice on an item in all the stuff I've bought on eBay.