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Other Stuff => General Wargames and Hobby Discussion => Topic started by: Centaur_Seducer on November 13, 2013, 09:31:38 AM
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So, it has happened once again - 20 seconds before auction ending, someone raised the bid with 50p.
And once again I find myself in the situation of being a bit irritaded and still baffled.
This might just be me, but if I want a thing, I have a upper price in mind. So, when I bid, I put down my maximum bid directly. Either I have the highest bid, or not. It's rather simple.
However, I seem to be in a minority. Rarely have an item gone through the whole process without being upped and slammed the last five minutes. Usually with me being the highest bidder for five days...
So, my question;
Do you prefer to bid in the end, or are you fine with just putting down your max bid and letting it go on?
I know that a bid war is a classical past-time hobby for oldhammer collectors (or so I have percievef it), but the rest of you lads and ladettes?
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Oh dear. You're talking about me I'm afraid :D
I don't buy much off eBay, but if I do, I always bid at the last second.
Seems to me that's the way to get the best possible price, without pushing the price up much earlier in the process. Just seems logical to me.
The downside, of course, is that if you go in with 2 or 3 seconds to go, and don't bid high enough to gazump the existing highest bidder (who may well have already registered a higher bid, in order to stave off such an ambush) you have no chance of winning the item.
The other downside, is that it pisses off people like you, that have placed their bid and assumed they were in a winning position. Not very nice, I admit - but that seems to be the way the thing's set up...
::)
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If I really want the item, I will lurk for a last-minute bid. Not because I like doing this, but because it's the best way to ensure you get it.
An auction is not always a logical exercise, it's a competition, an emotional and confrontational head-to-head. People who get caught up in the bidding war can bid a lot more than they originally wanted to. It happens all the time. Why? Because humans are illogical and emotional creatures.
I even got caught up in a bidding war for something I didn't even want, because by the time the auction came close to ending, I'd already bought it elsewhere! It's nonsense. It's like road-rage, there's just no excuse for it, but it's entirely natural behaviour.
So yes, in an ideal world I would chose £10.00 as my maximum bid early on and be happy with that, not getting upset when scooped at the last second with a bid of £10.02. That extra 2p is more than I was willing to pay, right, so I shouldn't be upset?
If it's just something I kind of want, but I'm not that bothered, I'll stick a bid down and leave it. If you look at when the auction is ending you'll get an idea of how busy it's going to be for those last-minute bids. If it's Sunday teatime, it'll be like rush hour on the Tokyo underground. If it's early morning or late night, things will be a lot quieter.
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I tend to put a bid on something at a price I am willing to pay, or if tentative a lowest bid to start it off and log it on e-mails.
However I will snipe if just outbid and worth the extra few pennies. So yes not quite a nija, more a tactical sniper :D
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Im a bid stalker ::) when everything you watch makes your mobile go berserk 15 mins before it ends might aswell take a snipe. I tried to last minute bid yesterday only 15 seconds to go bang down a nice round number and lost by 2p serves me right for trying to be cockey lol
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It depends. Sometimes I stick a bid on and leave it. However, experience teaches me that this is a poor way of actually winning bids, so I have learned to snipe at the last second if I particularly want the item and can be around when it ends. It isn't especially nice, but it is how the site is set up.
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yup same here,i start bidding 8 seconds before an Auction ends :D
and i really hate when a Price goes silly 6 Days before the Auction ends...
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I am the same, I normally bid just before the end. Remember though that although you may be outbid by 20p etc the actual amount bid by the last person may be a lot more, it will only go up as high as to beat the highest bidder. I remember many years ago staying up on a US auction and frantically rebidding as I kept getting outbid...I pictured a US bidder sitting there as frustrated as I......didn't realise at the time it was just the fact that their top bid was higher and I would have to beat that to get the goods!
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I know the frustration of being bid sniped, but I know the glorious victory of sniping a win at the last second. It is the nature of eBay, and really the only way of getting stuff at the best price. With no auctioneer to use his hammer of power and quick tongue to regulate it, it's down to users to be aggressive and/or sneaky to win.
As a seller I prefer it when the price bumps up over the course of the auction, but you can guarantee if it's watched by a few people that the biggest jumps go in during the last minute.
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I know the frustration of being bid sniped, but I know the glorious victory of sniping a win at the last second. It is the nature of eBay, and really the only way of getting stuff at the best price. With no auctioneer to use his hammer of power and quick tongue to regulate it, it's down to users to be aggressive and/or sneaky to win.
As a seller I prefer it when the price bumps up over the course of the auction, but you can guarantee if it's watched by a few people that the biggest jumps go in during the last minute.
Oh yes the last minute hyke is a glorious thing to behold as a seller ;D I have had some jump to mad levels compared to what I consdier the true value :D
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yup same here,i start bidding 8 seconds before an Auction ends :D
and i really hate when a Price goes silly 6 Days before the Auction ends...
I'm an 8-second man too (for Ebay sniping anyway lol).
It lets you put in a bid with no chance of retaliation. Often you'll get something (especially if you study the bid history), sometimes you don't. Sometimes someone snipes YOU with a couple of seconds to go.
The numbers you put in are important too. People often put in round numbers - £1.00, or £12.50. So years ago you could win an auction by putting in £1.03. That has crept up, so these days my favoured bid is £1.68 over the current price.
Lots of folks do it - I was watching one auction, and it went from £42 to £122 in the last two minutes!
Bidding wars are daft, and people do get carried away. People don't just forget their "top price"; I've seen plenty of GW auctions that go over the retail price (and then you add in postage when it's free from GW...).
So there you go - "Secrets of an Ebay sniper" :D
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cant you get software that does it all for you?
Yes. Loads of them from day one. I've never bothered to set up one, though. But because anything else than last-second sniping would be inefficient and I find old-fashioned real time alarms stressful too, my solution is not using eBay at all. lol (:?, :(, :'()
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I don't see any other option, frankly, if you want to buy something for a reasonable price.
Auctions have been invented especially for the profit of the seller, and limiting the time allows for a gap that can outsmart others.
It's as simple as that.
I usually set my maximum price (to protect my budget), and confirm five seconds before expiring. This way I managed a good compromise between bidding success and budget preservation
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cant you get software that does it all for you?
Ebay used to have their own and I bid on something that I would not budge on the price. 3 weeks and about 25 auctions later I won on my terms but it was tough to resist.
I do wonder if ninjas sometimes put in silly bids to ensure they get top bid. I always hold out the hope that one day 2 such ninjas collide and one of them pays a ridiculous amount for a single figure. >:D
Selling on ebay is fraught with danger as I makes you more aware of what is up for auction and I generally spend any profits within a week.
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I just put down the maximum I'm willing to pay in the last 30 seconds or so. The E-Bay machinery only bids you to an increment above the highest bidder, so it's not like you actually pay that amount... unless someone else has done the same.
If I bid for something I want it... it's an auction after all. If you go into it with a bargain whore mentality it's a recipe for failure.
;)
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Like the rest of you, I snipe as well.
The really crucial trick is to absolutely determine what the very maximum you'll pay is. Don't bid to beat the current bid, but imagine you are paying through the nose. If later you find yourself saying "Well, I could have gone 50p higher..." then you didn't rightly determine your own maximum.
Usually my maximum has me thinking "Ugh, that's a bit of a ripoff at that price... but a few extra dollars will be worth it to stop having to look for this stupid thing". If you're lucky, you won't pay anything close to that price.
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Oh dear. You're talking about me I'm afraid :D
I don't buy much off eBay, but if I do, I always bid at the last second.
Seems to me that's the way to get the best possible price, without pushing the price up much earlier in the process. Just seems logical to me.
The downside, of course, is that if you go in with 2 or 3 seconds to go, and don't bid high enough to gazump the existing highest bidder (who may well have already registered a higher bid, in order to stave off such an ambush) you have no chance of winning the item.
The other downside, is that it pisses off people like you, that have placed their bid and assumed they were in a winning position. Not very nice, I admit - but that seems to be the way the thing's set up...
::)
You are working within the contractual framework with people you do not a have a personal relation to. I don't see what they can allow themselves to be annoyed with any one bidder. Frustrated, sure, but it is all fair.
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No longer... did a bit in the past but I found it is was too much like work. ;)
Now, I try and compute the max I will pay (way more than I "should," I suspect,) and bid it. If I lose, C'est la guerre !
Reducing for pending retirement/less storage space has helped me to determine what is important (Der Kriegspieler dwarf and goblin, 1970's Ral Patha dwarf,) and what isn't (eveything else in 25+ mm size.) lol
Gracias,
Glenn
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I'm one of those evil people that always uses a sniper program...works great for me. I can set up a snipe as soon as I see an Item I'm interested in and then walk away...either I get it or I don't. Some feel this takes the thrill out of the "game"....but I'm still often watching an auction when it ends I just know that my bid will only go in in the last 5 seconds...so I find it still exciting....and it works well.
Cheers,
Blue
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So, it has happened once again - 20 seconds before auction ending, someone raised the bid with 50p.
And once again I find myself in the situation of being a bit irritaded and still baffled.
This might just be me, but if I want a thing, I have a upper price in mind. So, when I bid, I put down my maximum bid directly. Either I have the highest bid, or not. It's rather simple.
However, I seem to be in a minority. Rarely have an item gone through the whole process without being upped and slammed the last five minutes. Usually with me being the highest bidder for five days...
So, my question;
Do you prefer to bid in the end, or are you fine with just putting down your max bid and letting it go on?
I know that a bid war is a classical past-time hobby for oldhammer collectors (or so I have percievef it), but the rest of you lads and ladettes?
Mate, you got snipered.
This is my ebay strategy. I dont bid until literally the last 30 seconds of an auction. If I cant I generally pass it up unless it looks like it will have no bidders at all.
I want to pay as little as possible, so if I bid earlier, I show interest, which can really only drive up the price. Why pay more?
Bid the last 30 seconds. Kick it up to 50 seconds if there is competition and your 'top' is negotiable...
That's my best advice!
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I snipe with a few seconds to go. Any other approach is usually just needlessly driving the price up.
The really crucial trick is to absolutely determine what the very maximum you'll pay is. Don't bid to beat the current bid, but imagine you are paying through the nose. If later you find yourself saying "Well, I could have gone 50p higher..." then you didn't rightly determine your own maximum.
Thats my thinking too.
I dont use a sniping program, but I buy from Ebay infrequently enough for it not to be an issue.
Some feel this takes the thrill out of the "game"....
Some people are in it for the thrill of the chase and the "win" (why else would there be an "ending soon" button?), but I use Ebay as a way to get (usually old) things that I want, rather than as a recreation in its own right. Whatever turns you on I guess, but I just want the stuff rather than the "thrill".
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When I was buying things on ebay (last things were Britains Guns a few years ago) I used to use Harvex (I think that's the name) sniping software.
What was good was you could link a series of auctions together and if you won one of them it wouldn't bid on the others
Mike (owner of more than 10 Britain's firing guns...)
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I figure out the max I want to pay for something then bid a extra 25 cents with 9 seconds left.
Its a duel purpose.I don't bid more than I should because there isn't time to rebid if I get beat and it keeps others from bumping the bid in 1 dollar increments till they just barely win it.
Pete
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Oh dear, so many people I used to respect ;)
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lol
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Oh dear, so many people I used to respect ;)
Truth be known... these are just 3D counters (aka toys) we use in games... ;) :o lol
Fancy (and expensive in some cases) counters/toys 8) but still just... :)
Gracias,
Glenn
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Silversixx I am a victim as well....interesting thread
:(
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Ditto - it's why I tried doing last seconds bidding but sometimes the auction would be scheduled to end when I was at work/should be sleeping and it seemed like too much work to set up sniping software. If I was going to put that much work into it the option of figuring my true maximum bid seemed far more rational and less costly...
Gracias,
Glenn
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I only have sold on eBay; when I did I was always amused by early high bids, but the excitement really was in the last 10 seconds. Clear sniping going on. Great for a seller!
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Buying on Auctions. If I see something I want I calculate what I'm willing to pay for it, including P&P, deduct the P&P the seller is charging, then bid the difference.
I see it, I think it's worth a fiver, P&P is £2.50, I bid £2.50 - it's that simple.
That said, I have no problems with people bidding in the last nanosecond or using sniping software. I don't care as I will only ever pay what an item is worth to me. ::)
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afters years being sniped I finally joined the sniper club, but I find it so stressful that finally I stopped using ebay, just to save the pain bidding in.
Currently I only use it as reference for prices or buy it now auctions
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If you want to save a bomb on ebay and 'win' more often than not, Google the bloody thing you are going to buy. More often than not you can pick it up off a hobby stores website for less.
<snip>
Well, if it still being cast by someone somewhere, yes. OOP stuff is just that - OOP.
A lot of the old "OOP" stuff to fill out small units has always been my main effort.
A lot of stuff is not really OOP so much as is implied. I just discovered that research is the "location, location, location" of EBay.
It got much easier when Classicminiatures.net start making legitimately a lot of the stuff I wanted - now if he would only rehab the old dwarf molds... and give up his real life just to cast the figures I failed to buy when I had a vastly smaller (proportionally) income at the time...
And seriously modern metal he uses is vastly superior to the old "nearly solid lead" stuff.
Gracias,
Glenn
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If you want to save a bomb on ebay and 'win' more often than not, Google the bloody thing you are going to buy. More often than not you can pick it up off a hobby stores website for less.
THIS! Many sellers even list the item on both ebay and their own website, just for the exposure and for the multiple sales portals. But the item is almost always a higher price than in their website store because they need to also cover ebay fees on ebay sales.
Although, that's usually only for buy-it-now items.
Also many many many buy it nows can actually be had for crap tons less if you hit the contact seller button and state a good case why they are not going to get more than X for it and you will give them that amount right now.
Eh, sometimes, but I've given up banging my head against stupid sellers who are selling an item that 20 Euros, because it USED to go for $20 USD months ago in North American sales, even though the same item is now only $5 USD. When I try to tell them this, they ignore the message or offer something absurd like "Oh okay, I'll lower it to 18 Euros". Even when I send them recently ended auction links, they still won't budge. Many of the euro ebay sellers I've dealt with seem to be bad for this and I just cannot fathom why.
The other thing I have noticed about ebay over the years is its getting more full blown retail as the years go by. Especially when postage is added to figure out the actual cost.
For sure.
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especially if its been hanging around for a while.
Ah, the 'dusty label' tactic. If you see something in a shop with a really elderly label, it's been there for a looong time and chances are the shopkeeper will want to get rid of it and is open to offers. The same applies to online auctioneering.
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No, I don't bother with sniping.
I just bid what I'm willing to pay and that's it. If someone else is willing to pay more, it's theirs and I've no beef with that.
The automatic bidding system always makes it seem like they only outbid you by 50 cents or whatever, but there is no way to determine how high they really would have gone. It's designed to feed the bidding frenzy.
If you feel you lost because of sniping, it means you didn't set your max price realistically.
Here's a fact of life: if the bid is already at your max long before the auction ends, the only way you are going to win is if no one else is interested in it.
Not too long ago, I needed a part for my car. I located an auction that was going for about $30. I really really needed the part so I bid $200 for it (which was still around 25% of the price in Europe). I ended up getting it for $30 because no one else needed it. Plus about $70 in postage... but still a steal compared to authorized dealers in Europe.
If I'd been outbid, I probably would have immediately upped to $500 or so. Above that, figuring in risk with used parts etc. just buying locally would have been a reasonable fallback option.
In a real auction (which I also occasionally go to), you might want to drop in a high bid early to scare others off. On eBay that doesn't work quite as well.
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<snip>
The other thing I have noticed about ebay over the years is its getting more full blown retail as the years go by. Especially when postage is added to figure out the actual cost.
Most of the stuff I have sold on Ebay had postage as the biggest cost factor... Same with a lot of OOP miniatures (99 cents or $2.99 might be "reasonable" for the cost but add another $2.99 or $4.99 postage per figure and people draw back like it was attached to a ticking clock and stick of dynamite.)
I have had people complain about the postage cost on Ebay as if I was committing a mortal sin when I select how I want to ship it. I could send it in an padded envelope still attached to the Litko base like they want but if it breaks do you think the buyer won't want his money back? And that Paypal/Ebay won't insist they get their money back?
There is a reason Ebay encourages people to post a starting price of 99 cents and free postage - and it's not really for the buyer's reasonable expectation of profit.
Gracias,
Glenn
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Well kharma, and a sellers inability to spell, finally arrived. 6 lovely citadel minis for a mere 6 quid.
I just assume that this will never ever happen again.
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Well kharma, and a sellers inability to spell, finally arrived. 6 lovely citadel minis for a mere 6 quid.
I just assume that this will never ever happen again.
I search eBay for "rouge trader" regularly, got some nice finds from it!
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In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only make-up!
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In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only make-up!
lol lol lol
Gracias,
Glenn
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In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only make-up!
Coincidentally I picked up some Darkest Africa while searching for Coppertone lol
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I'm a sniper too, and have been done myself in the last two seconds. I have got some great bargains though. THE CID.
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Changed the topic title a bit. I've spotted a lot of different auctions where the sellers has a UK only text. I know that some of these sellers can be persuaded to actually send to europe if you ask them (apparently, ebay has a postage setting that people forget about). But on quite many occassions, I've stumbled upon a seller that just refuses to send to europe. Is there an issue of people frauding, or just the seller being lazy and unsure when he needs to do the address tab?
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Changed the topic title a bit. I've spotted a lot of different auctions where the sellers has a UK only text. I know that some of these sellers can be persuaded to actually send to europe if you ask them (apparently, ebay has a postage setting that people forget about). But on quite many occassions, I've stumbled upon a seller that just refuses to send to europe. Is there an issue of people frauding, or just the seller being lazy and unsure when he needs to do the address tab?
I've had the same exact experiences....
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I rarely go anywhere else. Perhaps the german one. But there is a lot of language barriers there, both for me (being fluent in Swergman isn't the same as being it in German), and the sellers sometimes lack language skills.
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At least when I need stuff from the States I order it, send it to the rents house and pick it up over the holidays. My fiance has a stroke every xmas that I need an extra suitcase for toys and supplies...
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I will ship to some European countries, but others have somewhat shaky postal systems, and sellers have a pretty rough time of it on Ebay as it is so it is hardly surprising that they limit risk.
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In my experience most UK sellers ( and even some US ones) will send to mainland Europe when asked.
However with the 'new' Customs charges I don't often buy anything from the US or Australia anymore.
As for being a 'sniper' on Ebay. Take a look at my avatar.
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A lot of sellers wont post to here, but I am not altogether surprised since one item in every 6 or 7 disappears into the aether. I have given u claiming because there are some people who will immediately offer a refund if you mention it didnt show up and others who will just wash their hands, and so if i take the generous people on their offer it just seems like i am punishing them for generosity so now i just accept that i will loose my money every so often as a buyer. If it is something valuable i will contact them and ask for registered post. I think normally people will be willing to do that if asked. There used to be a prce calculator on Royal Mail website which you can direct them to if they are unsure about it, assuming its still there.
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When I was selling on ebay, I only sold to Canada, US, and the UK. I did make a mistake with one of my earliest auctions and missed restricting countries and I sold to: Italy, Spain, Japan, Australia, Bulgaria (yes!), South Africa, and the usuals. I was selling a lot of vintage Volkswagen memorabilia then. The buyer from Italy wanted it shipped to Spain because he said the postal system in Italy was so corrupt. He was an airline pilot and picked it up on his next leg.
On LAF, interestingly, I have primarily sold to New Zealand. lol
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My daughter lives in Japan, so I've got used to the ins and outs (and horrors) of international postage. I've posted games-related stuff to Europe, the States, Australia, NZ.
On my last eBay sales, I forgot to change the "UK-only" default, but provided quotes to German and Portuguese buyers.
Couple of exceptions. Everything I've ever sent to Italy or Spain by normal post has gone missing, so it's courier-only to those countries. Sorry guys, it's just bad personal experience.
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I will ship to some European countries, but others have somewhat shaky postal systems, and sellers have a pretty rough time of it on Ebay as it is so it is hardly surprising that they limit risk.
I will normally post over seas if asked but it can be a pain as it means extra trip to post office to work out postage etc based on package sizes, types of postage. There are some such as Italy etc who have a poor reputation so I always put a caviat of the type of postage with insurance etc to more remote or dodgy locations. There are or I have hear of scams where they say damaged, not received so it can be a little bit of a gamble
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I will post anywhere the buyer wants, so long as they cover the cost and it's recorded. I will also put some international sample quotes (usually US, Canada, Australia, NZ and EU) on the listing for anything I expect to go for a decent amount (ie. over £25-ish) because it generates much more interest and thus pushes the price higher.
A little time and effort on my part can result in a lot more money. I've lost count of the amount of times an auction price has been pushed up and up by international buyers trying to outbid each other.
For small stuff I am willing to post abroad, but the fact that I insist on recordable delivery will usually mean the postage cost is prohibitively expensive for buyers outside the UK.
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For some statistics, I've ordered hundreds of packets to Finland, 90% of them in standard, unregistered mail. I can recall exactly four of them getting lost over years. Interestingly, all were from the UK but that's also the most common country of origin so it doesn't prove much yet.
- A heavy parcel of minis was torn open and the content lost/stolen, most likely by a temp worker during a Royal Mail strike.
- An order which was paid but I never got any confirmation nor managed to contact them afterwards so possibly never sent in the first place.
- An Amazon order which bounced back to them from somewhere after two months or so. I had already received a replacement so no real loss of any kind.
- Exactly one parcel which was certainly shipped but vanished without a trace.
Meanwhile, I've received everything I've bought from Italy, Spain, ex-Yugoslavia and other strange places. No matter how you count it, the loss rate has been less than 1%. Despite all the usual mudflinging, our post is generally very reliable so don't treat it like Italy. You can quite happily send stuff unregistered with the only notable risk being inexplicable multi-week delays. Heck, despite all price increases even registered mail from the UK is usually cheaper than sending the same stuff from here to the next door. lol
(No, wait, it's actually quite sad. Usually I don't even bother trying to sell any physical items larger than a single mini in a letter as the postage would be outright crazy. Want to compare rates? :'( )
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Changed the topic title a bit. I've spotted a lot of different auctions where the sellers has a UK only text. I know that some of these sellers can be persuaded to actually send to europe if you ask them (apparently, ebay has a postage setting that people forget about). But on quite many occassions, I've stumbled upon a seller that just refuses to send to europe. Is there an issue of people frauding, or just the seller being lazy and unsure when he needs to do the address tab?
I'll ship to anywhere, but only ever do postage options for the UK just to save time, but do mention my willingness to ship anywhere, message me, etc. in the item description. Calculating postage to everywhere is complicated, for the UK I always over calculate and then partial refund on it. Folk always like to get a little cash back, not so much asked for a quid more. :?
I have heard poor experiences from some with Portugese/Italian/Greek/Spanish buyers, I always assume it's a poor postal service than anything else, some don't. I tend to always send recorded anyway, then everyone's happy.
That's one of the superior things about LAF, we're all over the place, and we trade happily between ourselves with the minimum of problems. Hurrah for us!
Do think hate in the title is a little strong...
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I quit offering selling outside the USA, Canada, and UK because every time I research the (horrific to outright banditry) postage costs to other countries involved I get no reply or a gentlemanly question about a misplaced decimal... ;) but seriously, international postage does seem to be a big damper on buying second hand miniatures (not going to talk about postal/customs inspectors and those costs.) Recently I sent some single miniatures to Europe and I almost killed the sales because I was not ready for the cost involved.
I reserve to reflexively grumble/complain/whine about postage from recent items shipped from the UK and Australia (it is traditional to do so I believe) lol but seriously it almost seems like the assorted postal services are competing to discourage private transactions over oceans. I know that isn't true but it sometimes seems that way.
Gracias,
Glenn