Why are people on eBay so obnoxiously stupid? - Page 4

I never bid on an auction until there are 10-5 seconds left. Saves me from getting attached and in a frenzy then regretting overbidding.

Not smart zombies. They'd build zombie ladders and find their way in.

Then we're all F'd anyway. Also a concrete-reinforced stone walled castle wouldn't withstand any sort of modern military, but the ARMY wouldn't waste their time attacking me (as I don't have any oil, or enough food to be worth their while). But zombies (Dawn of the Dead or 28 Days Later), looters, mobs, hurricanes, blizzards, and packs of wolves should pose no threat.

*Note: I wouldn't waste my time building a castle that didn't have an artisan well or a wind turbine..... go ahead and collapse society. I dare you! (after the castle is built of course).

I'm in the moat busines, mesself. I'm hoping things will pick up soon.

The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.

Vimto came out of my nose! That's a genius plan! Now where should I build my castle....

I've been bidding for a Zune on Ebay in the last couple days. Bid my maximum over a day in some cases, a few hours in others. No bidding wars took place. It only took 4 tries (from the same seller) but I got my Zune without paying a penney more than I was willing to pay, no "snipe" programs or bidding regimes necessary.

To "003": Stop thinking you have the "right" to a bargain on Ebay. The Ebay market has developed in a way that, i agree, doesn't make sense. Getting angry and throwing insults is not going to change the bidding habits of the millions of Ebayers. Well, its damn sure not going to change my ways!

Ooh, its late!
Beddybyes from me ...

Eurghh! I cringed at the mention of both those films! I know they're just films, but why do they shove the characters stupidity down your throats?
Btw, Dawn of the Dead was much worse in this respect than 28 Days Later.

You definitely don't want to watch Romero's Land of the Dead in that case...it was terrible...even for a zombie movie.

A lot of these posts don't make much sense. For anyone who has used eBay for any period of time, it is pretty obvious that with the exception of a very few situations, you should always bid your maximum amount in the final moments of the auction. If you do this, there is a greater chance to win the auction and save money. If people are not interested in those two things, then that's fine. But I doubt there are any legitimate arguments as to a better method to bid/win auctions on eBay.

I agree.

I think many of us forget that whether you're a buyer or seller, it's human nature to want to get the best deal for yourself. Worrying about a "fair" price for everyone involved may be noble, but impractical.

Sniping may not guarantee you'll get the item for less, but it definitely increases the odds. Take a situation where someone's already winning an item which now stands at $5. Let's say I bid $20 and through that, discover that the other person's maximum proxy bid was only $10. Now I'm winning the auction at $11. Many times I'll see the other person come back and bid again, sometimes with a large single bid but on many occasions they'll make several bids at only $1.00 at a time. Sometimes they'll give up before reaching my $20 maximum proxy bid and sometimes they'll keep going until they pass it. Either way, slowly or quickly, the price has been driven up. Assuming the other person was the only competitor I had for that item, had I waited to the last minute to bid, chances are I would have won the item at the next increment past their original $10 bid. Giving them a chance to reconsider what the item's worth to them, or for their competitive nature to kick in (some people simply don't like to lose....no matter what), only means I'll wind up paying more than if had I sniped the auction, or worse, I could wind up losing the auction completely. Sure, if there are others sniping as well, there'll be a last minute battle and whoever made the highest bid will win. IMO, that's fair and more like a real auction where the action happens all at once, not spread out over days.

I use esnipe when I really want an item and want to be sure i don't miss the last minute bidding. To save the esnipe cost, if I'm certain I'll be around when the auction's ending, I'll simply cancel my esnipe bid and snipe in person.

No, you win because you were willing to pay more. If everybody just made one bid of the maximum they are willing to pay, then nobody would complain about not getting a deal. Well, people would still complain

??? Is this in response to my post? If so, I don't follow. What are you saying "No" to? For clarity, it helps to quote whatever statement you're responding to.

Perhaps, but everybody doesn't, and everybody won't ..... so we have to deal with what does happen.

Here's another real-world example of why bidding at the very end of the auction is important for some of us. I've been collecting post cards of specific topics for several years. After many, many, purchases I not only wind up buying from sellers I've dealt with before, but wind up competing with several other collectors I've competed with several times before. Because of this, we get to know each other's bidding habits. We get to know who'll bid low ... just in case nobody else bids and they get a real bargain that can be resold at a profit ... and who'll bid high because they too are collecting the same thing and really want it badly. If I see bidder X has already bid on something, from our past history of competing, I'll often have a good idea of just how high this person tends to proxy bid. ( and vice versa ). If I really want that item, I'll make sure I bid higher than what their past history has shown them to bid ... sometimes more than I would have bid had I not known in advance they were also after the same card. But the real kicker is, and I know this for a fact because someone has done it to me more than once when I used to simply place my highest bid in advance .... if you're a spiteful person, even if you don't want the card .... having a good idea how high another bidder usually proxy bids, you might nudge the price up by putting in a higher bid, knowing you won't win, simply to make sure the other person pays more than they have to. You shill the bid, not to benefit the seller but to spite another bidder who's won something you wanted in the past. Like I said, I've had someone do this to me more than once. At first I thought they were simply also after the same items as me, but eventually they actually sent me a message boasting how they'd screwed me over. It was after that that I decided only to show my hand at the last moment possible.

Sniping and buy it now are the only ways to buy in ebay.

Unless they've changed their fee structure, eSnipe charges 1% of the final price of the auction if they placed the winning bid. There is no charge for losing auctions. Minimum charge is $0.25.

You should have two goals in bidding on eBay:

1) Buy an item for your estimate of it's value, or below (assuming you've done your homework)
2) Avoid buying an item that will sell for greater than it's actual value.

Sometimes it's better to lose an auction. If you're not willing to let something go to someone who's willing to pay more than you, eBay is not for you.

If you get upset at not getting a bargain, and actually paying your estimate of market value, eBay is not for you either.

Think of bargains as a happy accident. They can occur because:

1) Nobody but you is looking for that item at the time of the auction
2) The seller misjudged the market, and used a low Buy-It-Now
3) The seller misdescribed the item, so that people who would normally be looking for it won't find it.
4) You've overestimated market value, and the "bargain" actually isn't one. Try to avoid this one

Don't expect these situations to happen all that frequently.

I see no reason to drive an item's price up early in the auction, or to let anyone know that I'm interested in an auction prior to the close. If I decide to bid, I set a price I'm willing to pay, and enter it in eSnipe. If I win, great. If I lose, the auction went at a price higher than I was willing to pay. Also great, if disappointing. At least auction frenzy didn't push me into paying something silly.

Of course, the above doesn't apply if I'm selling something. If you see an auction of mine, please bid early and often

DITTO... everybody go search eBay and bid on my auction!

Unless you have money to throw out the window (good for you), then I can't see hiking up the bid so early on, IMO, it isn't being consumer smart.. . It just builds up the price. If i see that I  usually move on and look for a better deal. . If I see something I really like, I will add to my watch list and keep an eye on it. if nobody bids, great. I'll grab it at the last minute. works foe me.. as I said most people esp in these times want a better deal and not willing to pay an arm and a leg for a dish that I know cost $2.75 in 1960 or a wall sconce ect.., it doesn't make much sense to bid right away, and all respect to the seller but hey, like you, I gotta look out for myself too. Love the product but like you, I too am looking to land an awesome deal.