I "Stole" A Denon 3801 for $310 due to idiot Ebay Bidders!

[JeffKnob]

Please elaborate. Yes, Ebay will bid your maximum amount which is good if you can't be at your computer during the final minute ot so but is essentially to me worthless & a bad tactical
move. Let's say I decided I was willing to buy this Denon receiver at $375 maximum & will not have access to the computer the last hour of auction. I then place a bid on the first day of auction. What have I essentially accomplished other than bidding up an item and even then there is no guarantee this will help me win the item. IE, let's say that as a result of my $375 bid, on day 4 of a 7 day auction, bidding is now at $350 with me on top, by day 7 bidding could very well be at $380, As I have no acccess to the computer, I can't up my bid a few more dollars. So all I did was up the price of the auction & didn't win anything. Alternatively, let's say I do win the item at $375. In all likelyhood if I did not place a bid until the last few items instead, I still could have won the auction at a much lower price if I had not bid prices up.

I buy and sell autographs online from a well known large auction place & the way they do things which is the fairest way is that they only permit you to bid in the last 2 hours if you had made a bid prior to this. Ebay could do this but choses not to and it would result in fairer competition. Ebay also permits both deadbeat sellers and bidders to continue on Ebay after an offense which is ridiculous as it involves screwing someone over money.

So if you were to hold off until the last minute to bid on something the other people bidding on it wouldn't have bid on it in the mean time. Using your first example, your bid would have never gotten to $375 if other people didn't bid too, so if you had just waited and not bid until later on the price would have been lower because obviously the other people interested would've know not to bid either so that you could get the good price. That just doesn't make sense to me. I am guessing you mean that if you wait until later in the auction you will be able to find the items that are still at a low price because people either aren't interested or have not noticed it. In that case then I would agree that you could get a lower price.

Alternatively, let's say I do win the item at $375. In all likelyhood if I did not place a bid until the last few items instead, I still could have won the auction at a much lower price if I had not bid prices up.

So if this were to happen would the other bidders have just not existed or would you have just gone to a different auction that was lower?

I just need clarification because what you said doesn't make sense.

[kexodusc]

Guaranteed "sniping" or waiting until the last minute does not significantly alter the final buying price on most of the time. Highest bidder still wins whether they bid 4 days in advance or in a panic in the last minute.
If ebay thought sniping was causing lower selling prices (which ebay profits off of in proportion), they wouldn't be sponsoring sniping sites or allowing it to happen.

You can do quite well on ebay with some things if you know exactly what you're looking for. I bought some Marshall amps and a few guitars within my first 2 weeks of ebay membership. It's almost like gambling - addictive.

[Eric Z]

I agree about someone getting addicted to Ebay- it's fun, but sometimes you need to remember you're dealing with money. In the past, I bid just to see how high I can get someone else's price- that's how I ended up with some extra Def Tech speakers (still got a great deal, more than 1/2 off of msrp, but didn't need them), haha!

I found some great deals on Ebay, but I'm sure I also overpaid on a few things.

[EdwardGein]

"I just need clarification because what you said doesn't make sense.[/QUOTE]

I honestly don't quite understand what you are saying either, no disrespect intended, but I'll try to clarify my remarks.

Strategy 1- You have access to a computer for the closing of an item you wish to get on Ebay.

Let's assume for arguments sake a Denon 3801 has the minimum $50 bid on the first day. Based on its selling history on Ebay similar ones in the same condition have sold for $350-$425. In scenario 1 no one else bids until the final 10 seconds. You bid the maximum you're willing to pay, say $400. A few people do the same but they've bid $300 tops. You then win the auction for $310 (on Ebay you win by an incremental amount over the next highest bidder not necessarily your max).. Scenario 2 The usual idiot Ebay scenario It is now day 3 and there are 10 bids and the highest bid is now $100. You bid say your $400 maximum. Between day 3 and the closing, the odds are good someone will keep bidding up and they reach your $400 or exceed it. You then either win your auction at $400 or you say what the hell and then increase your bid another $20 or so in the finals seconds. You win the auction but this time are paying $100 more than you would have in Scenario 1.

Strategy 2- You Do not Have Access to a Computer for the Closing of an auction

So its now day 3 of the auction and you bid your $400 maximum, the highest bid was $100. Your bid is now listed at say $120 because ebay increases bids by increments over the next highest bidder. Under this scenario you will either get your item at close to your maximum or lose the item to someone who will pay even higher in the last 10 seconds of the auction. If anything your bid may even reflect that.

Buy it Now Some Remarks

If there is an item I'd like say like a Denon 3801 and I can use the Buy it Now Feature and pay say $425 for it instead of taking my chances with a bidding auction and maybe saving $15-$35 or so, if it retailed new for $1200, yeah its worth it to me to just use But it Now then go through the hassels of saving a few bucks especially as I'm saving alot anyway and I've definately won it.