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Ebay- behavior

#21
When I'm on the hunt for a particular thing on ebay I will search it, then watchlist the items with the best prices. Then I'll go back and take a closer look at feedback, shipping rates, etc., before making a decision on which (if any) to buy. All A lot of watchers means to me is the item is popular with ebay buyers.

Oh and if you want bottomfeeders, sell some radio controlled hobby stuff. I sell quite a bit of it from time to time and certain listings will bring a flood of stupid low offers, offers to trade a worthless worn out item for my NIB item, basically the worst things you could imagine in a personal transaction. I've even had people tell me in all seriousness I'd feel better if I'd just "donate" my item to them. It's mostly broke kids or resellers (like me) looking to score so I just consider the source and don't let it bother me. Unless they are just rude I am generally polite in declining their "opportunities" for me to divest myself of my burden.

As a 4th generation horse trader I can say from experience you must have a good sense of humor, fairly thick skin, and no personal attachment to whatever you are trying to buy/sell/trade. If you are just a casual consumer looking to occasionally off an underused item, or find a deal on a slightly used item, local is always better. It won't cut down on the chaff, but it's simpler to deal with over the phone or in person than it is via email, especially knowing that long distance shipping will be a part of the equation. It's much less traumatic if you can actually see and feel the item before paying.
 
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#22
obimark said:
Riddle me this? Is Ebay full of nothing but "bottom feeders" now?

Why would an auction with 12 watchers! have no bids? Why watch the auction?
Just hopeful the starting price will come down?

Maybe I am different, but if somethings costs more than I am willing to spend I don't usually watch the auction.
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When I've decided I'll buy something, I search a few different terms or a few different ways, change the results sort to Price+Shipping:Lowest First, and then watch all the contenders. That way, when I'm done all my searches, I just pick through my Watch List and read up on the descriptions, the sellers & feedback, etc until I've made my choice. Then I clear my watch list. I don't always pick the cheapest, I pick the best for the price, which is entirely personal of course.
 
#24
I had the same frustrating experience when trying to sell my Mesa Carbine M6 combo on eBay; it took three go-rounds of one week each before someone bid on it, and the first two auctions each had 6-7 watchers. I think people comparison-shop several items, and they mark several as "watch" in order to compare and make up their mind what they want to purchase.
The worst thing you can be on eBay is impatient. Buyers wait for pricing to go down, and you are much better off selling on TB, Reverb, or another reputable site where you will not be charged exorbitant fees.
 
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#25
I bought two 1x12 Hartke Hy Drives...part aluminum, part paper cones and I really like them. They are light but have some ass to them. Also, it has a great feature where you can switch from 8 to 4 ohms and a freq switch for off, hi, or low. Decent price too...around $249 a cab.
 
#27
while the subject of deplorable online behavior is open, i've been noticing something on craigslist happening a lot more lately that pisses me off. i'll see something posted where the person clearly doesnt know what they have or what its worth, it will go down and come right back up a day later at a higher price with different contact info. it seems underhanded and dirty to me. i know a lot of people on here feel like its the buyers duty to make sure a seller doesn't get taken, that not what i'm saying, but to buy something cheap and immediately resell it on the exact same forum just seems dishonest. at least wait a couple hours before you repost the item.
 
#28
obimark said:
Ok- Bottom Feeder might be a bit too harsh- but I've seen this on several of my auctions, get 12-20 watchers- no bids, lower the price a bit, then get 3-4 bids that take it over the original asking price anyhow... go figure. Guess you can't under-estimate the desire for people to feel they are getting a "deal"- whether true or not.

And yes I am well aware of the last minute- one and only bidder scenario... but here I am talking about 12-15 watchers with no bids at all.
Click to expand...

I've found that on any decent eBay item, ALL of the bids that matter happen in the last 1-5 minutes of the auction. I've lost several items by $25-50 in the last 30 seconds - 2 minutes, and simply do not waste my time bidding before then.

Any other actions artificially inflate the price that I will potentially eventually pay, if I win that auction in the last 1-5 minutes. It gives everyone else bidding a change to raise their max, etc.

Recently I watched an item that ended at ~6:00 am on a Saturday. I got up a few minutes early, had network problems and was unable to bid. It's possible you ran into something similar, 15-20 watchers, of them 3 planned to bid last minute, but were all unable to. That seems pretty likely especially when you mention that the same item sold in the next go-around.

Lastly, since eBay is a bit of a PITA from all ends, most folks on there are looking for a bit of a bargain. I personally don't pick up basses there unless they go for cheaper than they would on TB OR if they are just unavailable here due to rarity.

I guess you can call that "bottom feeding" or whatever. Last time I checked that was also called "being a smart consumer" but YMMV....
 
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#29
Tailoring my watch list is like 75% of my ebay use. kinda like an amazon "wish list". My watch list is full of things that i just want to remember exist. A lot of times, I have no intention to buy... but I do buy often. I watch the market prices (of the junk i'm interested in) every day, just to see what/if stuff sells, and at what price. it's a hobby in itself. Sometimes an item I'm watching doesn't sell, and is often time re-listed at a new, lower price... your watch list will show this information. I like to stay educated on prices to be able to recognize when good deals do come along. I'm not a "bottom feeder"! I frequently bid for and buy items well over "market value", because I often value an item beyond it's monetary price.
 
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#30
pharfenagen said:
...i'll see something posted where the person clearly doesnt know what they have or what its worth, it will go down and come right back up a day later at a higher price with different contact info...
Click to expand...

While I like a killer deal as much as anyone else, if I see something on CL I'm interested in at what is obviously too low a price, I'll contact the seller and set up a meet. If after seeing the item and it is as described, and talking to the seller it does not appear to be stolen, I'll tell the seller they can do better and offer them what I think is a fair price while still allowing me some room to makes a little if that's what I'm looking at the item for. I want to be fair, but if I'm looking at say a bass and I've going to do a through cleanup, set up, and fresh strings, I can't afford to lose on it so I've got to get it at the right price or pass it on to someone else. If there are other issues those must also be taken into consideration when pricing or making an offer. I have done this and found the item to be in fact worth less than the stated asking price because of condition, so each situation is different.
 
#31
tbz said:
...ALL of the bids that matter happen in the last 1-5 minutes of the auction...
Click to expand...

Which is why I rarely bid on ebay any more. If I do see something I fancy in an auction format, I'll figure whatever I'm willing to pay for it (including the shipping costs) and make that bid, then forget it.

If I get outbid, oh well, let it go and move on. If I do win, it's almost always less than the full amount of my high bid.
 
#32
fhm555 said:
While I like a killer deal as much as anyone else, if I see something on CL I'm interested in at what is obviously too low a price, I'll contact the seller and set up a meet. If after seeing the item and it is as described, and talking to the seller it does not appear to be stolen, I'll tell the seller they can do better and offer them what I think is a fair price while still allowing me some room to makes a little if that's what I'm looking at the item for. I want to be fair, but if I'm looking at say a bass and I've going to do a through cleanup, set up, and fresh strings, I can't afford to lose on it so I've got to get it at the right price or pass it on to someone else. If there are other issues those must also be taken into consideration when pricing or making an offer. I have done this and found the item to be in fact worth less than the stated asking price because of condition, so each situation is different.
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I don't go as far as to raise the price on myself, but i do what i can to make sure both parties are happy. my last purchase was an ibanez sr250 in great shape, probably worth about $200 but the seller was asking $120. i told him straight up that it was worth more than he was asking and that i'd give him the full $120 and he was fine with it. i would've paid $200 so i was happy. but i have a feeling one of these sharks would've come at this guy with a low offer and then thrown it right back up for $250.
 
#34
fhm555 said:
Which is why I rarely bid on ebay any more. If I do see something I fancy in an auction format, I'll figure whatever I'm willing to pay for it (including the shipping costs) and make that bid, then forget it.

If I get outbid, oh well, let it go and move on. If I do win, it's almost always less than the full amount of my high bid.
Click to expand...

In this case I contacted the seller prior to the auction ending and asked what his reserve was, as the BIN was definitely out of my price range.

He was gracious enough to give me an estimate along the lines of "it's x% of the BIN price", which confirmed I *could* afford it, but just barely, at or around the reserve.

When he relisted it as a BIN/Make an Offer, I offered $50 under what I estimated his reserve to be at.

He accepted. Everyone was happy. I have an awesome bass and he has some sorely needed capital.

Yay!

newbass2.jpg
 
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#36
Like a lot of the folks above, I watch things for several reasons. I may be considering an item, seeing what it sells for because I might sell something similar, or seeing what it sells for because I might want to buy one sometime in the future. For example, I've watched some Ric 4004 auctions lately just to get a sense of the market for when I have the cash to shop for one. And I've watched some items for weeks before hitting the buy button or making an offer.
It can be frustrating to see all those watchers and get your hopes up for lots of bids pushing the price up, but that's the market right now. Lots of people window shopping.
 
#37
Does someone who walks into a shopping mall buy everything that they look at?
If that person in the shopping mall picks up and item but then doesn't buy it does that make them guilty of wasting the stores time?
Maybe they want to buy it but decide to wait until maybe it goes on sale at a lower price. Is that okay? Or does that make them a bottom feeder.
If you decide that it is time to buy a new car, should you buy the first one that you look at or is it okay to go look a 5 or 6 and then take a day or two to decide which one to buy?
That is how most people shop. They compare before they decide.
With regard to buying at an auction, do you think it is wise to place your highest bid 3-5 days before the auction ends or does it make sense to you to wait until the end is nearing so you don't drive the price up. There is always a chance that by bidding at the very last minute you could buy the item for less than what you were willing to pay as you highest bid.
What you are implying, that watching an item that is for sale on E-Bay makes you a bottom feeder, doesn't seem to make much sense.
 
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