The Official EBay Discussion Thread

[Tom Geiger]

Here’s something I posted on my stamp collecting board. It illustrates why you shouldn’t bid until the last few seconds.

Imagine you are bidding on a great old kit and this guy is nibbling at you $1 a bid…

[BlackSheep214]

LOLOL!!! Nice win!

[peteski]

I've been a sniper since I joined eBay in 1999. Back when members could freely communicate, I got some nasty emails about my sniping from disgruntled losers.

What they don't seem to understand is that I snipe with the highest amount I'm willing to spend on the item (not some outrageous top amount like a million dollars that would guarantee my win). If those nickle-and-dimers aren't willing to put up the money, it is their loss. But I will not have them drive the selling price up by me not sniping. Even sniping, I don't win every item. There are bidders who earlier bid higher amount than my snipe amount - eBay automatic proxy bidding feature doesn't show their highest bid until I bid my amount. I'm not angry at those winners.  They had more money to spend that I do.

[Rob Hall]

I've been on eBay since '97,  in recently years, though mostly only buying Buy it Now items (resin and diecast, mostly)....once in a while I bid on things, and usually do the last second sniper approach...if the auction ends at a convenient time.  Usually successful.   That's how I bought a lot of old kits back in the 00s...

Edited August 13, 2021 by Rob Hall

[peteski]

10 minutes ago, Rob Hall said:

I've been on eBay since '97, mostly only buy Buy it Now items (resin and diecast, mostly)....once in a while I bid on things, and usually do the last second sniper approach...if the auction ends at a convenient time.  Usually successful.   That's how I bought a lot of old kits back in the 00s...

But it Now (and Best Offer) are fairly recent features on eBay. Well, probably in the last 10 years, give or take few years.  If you were active since 1997, then you must have been a regular bidder.  There used to be regular auctions, reserve auction, and who remember Dutch auctions, and BillPoint for payments?

[Tom Geiger]

4 hours ago, peteski said:

There are bidders who earlier bid higher amount than my snipe amount - eBay automatic proxy bidding feature doesn't show their highest bid until I bid my amount. I'm not angry at those winners. 

And some of those bidders complain that you are a friend of the seller, boosting up their end price!   😆

[Rob Hall]

2 hours ago, peteski said:

But it Now (and Best Offer) are fairly recent features on eBay. Well, probably in the last 10 years, give or take few years.  If you were active since 1997, then you must have been a regular bidder.  There used to be regular auctions, reserve auction, and who remember Dutch auctions, and BillPoint for payments?

Yes, my post should have read 'mostly only Buy it Now recently.'     Yes, I did a ton of regular auction bidding the first 10-12 years I was on the service.   The last decade, I've bought fewer old kits (I have most everything I want) and mostly new and resin items as Buy it Now purchases.  I remember having to pay with postal money orders from buyers that didn't take PayPal, but that's been at least 10 years or more since I've done that...I vaguely remember BillPoint..don't remember the Dutch auctions. 

Edited August 13, 2021 by Rob Hall

[peteski]

1 hour ago, Rob Hall said:

I vaguely remember BillPoint..don't remember the Dutch auctions. 

BillPoint was eBay's own payment system, competing with PayPal (back then PayPal was a separate company, as they are now again).

I didn't participate in many Dutch auctions, but as I remember them, the listing was for multiples of the same item.  Multiple bidders were winners, but the selling price was not the highest bid, but one of the lower bids (second highest?).  I don't remember more than that, but I always thought those were a bit weird.

[BlackSheep214]

On 8/13/2021 at 11:54 AM, peteski said:

I've been a sniper since I joined eBay in 1999. Back when members could freely communicate, I got some nasty emails about my sniping from disgruntled losers.

What they don't seem to understand is that I snipe with the highest amount I'm willing to spend on the item (not some outrageous top amount like a million dollars that would guarantee my win). If those nickle-and-dimers aren't willing to put up the money, it is their loss. But I will not have them drive the selling price up by me not sniping. Even sniping, I don't win every item. There are bidders who earlier bid higher amount than my snipe amount - eBay automatic proxy bidding feature doesn't show their highest bid until I bid my amount. I'm not angry at those winners.  They had more money to spend that I do.

I gave up on bidding anything on eBay a long time ago because of that reason.... too many snipers and I hated them.  Still hate them now. But, I never send nasty emails to snipers. What it is, is what it is.

I’d rather use the “Buy now (or Best offer)” feature. I do like the Best offer because you have the opportunity to give the seller a fair and reasonable counter offer. It doesn’t hurt to ask if you don’t try.

[mchook]

I've been selling on ebay from the beginning and it's had its ups and downs over the years. Lately it's been awful. I've been selling some vintage Transformers and I've had so many people not paying it's ridiculous. I sold one item 4 times and even offered people second chance offer with nothing. It doesn't seem that ebay cares if people pay or not. Yes, I block them from bidding again but they should be removed all together. Especially when you look at their feedback and they have a bunch of it saying NON PAYING BIDDER. Of course it's under their positive feedback because sellers can't leave negative feedback for buyers anymore. I find myself making my listings "Buy it now" so I can get paid but I don't care for that. I like seeing people get into bidding wars and driving the price up, if I can get more money that's great. 

They're new payment situation sucks too. I had to open a new checking account just for ebay and I have to wait 5 or more days to get paid. What a joke! Now the buyer has to wait longer to get their item because I'm not shipping it until I see the money in my account. Oh well, I'm done complaining, I'll just keep listing & hope for the best. 

[Rob Hall]

20 minutes ago, mchook said:

 

They're new payment situation sucks too. I had to open a new checking account just for ebay and I have to wait 5 or more days to get paid. What a joke! Now the buyer has to wait longer to get their item because I'm not shipping it until I see the money in my account. Oh well, I'm done complaining, I'll just keep listing & hope for the best. 

I don't sell (yet) on eBay, but have definitely gotten an earful about the new eBay managed payments..my sister sells Barbie and other dolls on eBay occasionally, and it's been a headache for her...

Edited August 15, 2021 by Rob Hall

[Tom Geiger]

I haven’t sold on eBay in a dozen years. Every so often I look at it again. Lately I’ve been researching some of the sellers I buy items for my stamp / post card collection from.  I buy a lot of low dollar items, sellers who will invoice you for your purchases every 2-3 weeks.  I was amazed to see these folks had 80% sell thru and were pulling in $25-50,000 a month!  Gotta get me some of that!

[Beans]

How often do people put out offers for something they are interested in?

I tend (as a bidder) to get a lot more of those special offers of 5% off on things that sellers are really trying to push out, but haven't really put in offers to sellers on things so not sure if that is something that every really works.

[slusher]

23 hours ago, BlackSheep214 said:

I gave up on bidding anything on eBay a long time ago because of that reason.... too many snipers and I hated them.  Still hate them now. But, I never send nasty emails to snipers. What it is, is what it is.

I’d rather use the “Buy now (or Best offer)” feature. I do like the Best offer because you have the opportunity to give the seller a fair and reasonable counter offer. It doesn’t hurt to ask if you don’t try.

I understand your frustration. I have been there but if there is no buy it now and I might be able to afford it I keep trying.

23 hours ago, mchook said:

I've been selling on ebay from the beginning and it's had its ups and downs over the years. Lately it's been awful. I've been selling some vintage Transformers and I've had so many people not paying it's ridiculous. I sold one item 4 times and even offered people second chance offer with nothing. It doesn't seem that ebay cares if people pay or not. Yes, I block them from bidding again but they should be removed all together. Especially when you look at their feedback and they have a bunch of it saying NON PAYING BIDDER. Of course it's under their positive feedback because sellers can't leave negative feedback for buyers anymore. I find myself making my listings "Buy it now" so I can get paid but I don't care for that. I like seeing people get into bidding wars and driving the price up, if I can get more money that's great. 

They're new payment situation sucks too. I had to open a new checking account just for ebay and I have to wait 5 or more days to get paid. What a joke! Now the buyer has to wait longer to get their item because I'm not shipping it until I see the money in my account. Oh well, I'm done complaining, I'll just keep listing & hope for the best. 

if someone buys something they should pay for it.  I pay immediately and if I can’t afford it I do without.  eBay has made a good thing worse..

[Tom Geiger]

1 hour ago, Beans said:

 

How often do people put out offers for something they are interested in?

 

When I see the “Make Offer” icon, I will indeed do so.  What they will take varies seller to seller.  The software has a function that it will automatically reject offers under a certain amount the seller sets to avoid dealing with pests,  so you can receive an immediate rejection and you can try a little higher. It will cut you off after I believe it’s five bad offers on an item.

Otherwise, when you submit your offer, you’ll get a message that it’s been submitted to the seller.  Then they’ll get back to you accepting, rejecting or countering your offer.

I buy a lot more items for my stamp collection than model cars on eBay and I have a list of dealers I buy from regularly.  I know the range some of them will accept.  Dealers are more receptive to regular customers, especially when you offer on multiple items.  

For instance there’s a dealer who regularly lists old New Jersey postmarks from obscure or obsolete towns.  He lists them at $15 Buy It Now with a Best Offer option.

I will go through his listings and send a Best Offer of $10 on one and let hit know I want 5 or 10 (I’ll list the items in the message area).  Dealers are more apt to accept an offer to move several items and make it a large sale.

Edited August 16, 2021 by Tom Geiger

[peteski]

Same like Tom: if there is a Best Offer button, I usually use it, since I have nothing to lose.  I received rejections or counteroffers (they you can respond to or decline seller's counteroffer).  I also had one offer with no reply from the seller (so my offer expired).  I seem to recall that if you try too many offer/counteroffers then you cannot buy the item anymore.  In  more instances than not, I was able to save few bucks (especially when I place offers on multiple quantities of the item - those are usually not model related).  I also think that some sellers are not aware that they selected to show the Best Offer button (or eBay does it for them automatically).

[Tom Geiger]

Read this ditty today…

Shill bidding in sports card category..

https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2021/8/1629255806.html

 

[DPNM]

It's hard to say how much shill bidding goes on. I can see big buck items like the sports cards being affected but eBay has pretty much made it impossible to see if you are bidding against a shill bidder.

You used to be able to see the user name of the person(s) bidding against you. You could also see where they lived etc. You can't do that now.

[slusher]

On 8/16/2021 at 9:45 AM, Tom Geiger said:

When I see the “Make Offer” icon, I will indeed do so.  What they will take varies seller to seller.  The software has a function that it will automatically reject offers under a certain amount the seller sets to avoid dealing with pests,  so you can receive an immediate rejection and you can try a little higher. It will cut you off after I believe it’s five bad offers on an item.

Otherwise, when you submit your offer, you’ll get a message that it’s been submitted to the seller.  Then they’ll get back to you accepting, rejecting or countering your offer.

I buy a lot more items for my stamp collection than model cars on eBay and I have a list of dealers I buy from regularly.  I know the range some of them will accept.  Dealers are more receptive to regular customers, especially when you offer on multiple items.  

For instance there’s a dealer who regularly lists old New Jersey postmarks from obscure or obsolete towns.  He lists them at $15 Buy It Now with a Best Offer option.

I will go through his listings and send a Best Offer of $10 on one and let hit know I want 5 or 10 (I’ll list the items in the message area).  Dealers are more apt to accept an offer to move several items and make it a large sale.

Some of those sellers don’t want to take offers and reject good offers.  

[Tom Geiger]

11 hours ago, slusher said:

Some of those sellers don’t want to take offers and reject good offers.  

That’s their prerogative, they an ask a million dollars and not back down a dime!

A while back I sent in an offer for a kit and it was automatically rejected. So I kept trying. Got within $5 of asking price.. rejected!  

It expires without any bids. Seller relisted for less than my first offer! So I grabbed it with the Buy It Now!  

I suspect he didn’t know how to use the software.

[DPNM]

I make offers all the time. Most of what I've been buying recently are priced in the $60 to $100+ range. I'll usually make an offer of $15-20 less than their asking price. I figure they can counter offer. If there are flaws that I see missing/broken/etc I point that out in my offer. The last 4 times I've done this I've gotten them at my offer price. Woot! A lot of sellers on there now buy stuff at estate/garage/yard sales and have no clue what they are or how they work.

I also recently purchased two airbrushes from different sellers in Germany who did not offer shipping to the US. I used an online translator, DeepL Translate is my go to, to ask if they would ship to the US. I would type out what I wanted to ask and send them the translated into German text. I included Sprechen Sie Englisch? (do you speak Engish?) and both of them did. That uncomplicated the language barrier.  I made reasonable offers on each and bought both of them. Shipping was $20 on each of them. Not bad considering how far they traveled. Got one in 8 days and the other in 10. Better than some US sellers shipping to the US.

I also make offers on things that have been listed for a good while even if "or Best Offer" is not in the listing. You can see how long someone has had an item by looking at the "view revisions" if the listing has ever been revised. I've gotten good deals this way too.

[BlackSheep214]

5 hours ago, DPNM said:

I make offers all the time. Most of what I've been buying recently are priced in the $60 to $100+ range. I'll usually make an offer of $15-20 less than their asking price. I figure they can counter offer. If there are flaws that I see missing/broken/etc I point that out in my offer. The last 4 times I've done this I've gotten them at my offer price. Woot! A lot of sellers on there now buy stuff at estate/garage/yard sales and have no clue what they are or how they work.

That’s basically about the range I post an offer on any kit. Sometimes, I’ll try $10 below their asking price. Of course I factor in S&H on top of it. $10 - $20 less than the seller’s asking price is a fair offer IMO.

[Dodge Driver]

Suddenly, Monogram 66 Malibus are all over Ebay.  Once the new kit announcements hit, it's a mad rush to sell. Nothing wrong with it, but I enjoy the spectacle. 

[slusher]

1 hour ago, Dodge Driver said:

Suddenly, Monogram 66 Malibus are all over Ebay.  Once the new kit announcements hit, it's a mad rush to sell. Nothing wrong with it, but I enjoy the spectacle. 

That’s great if there at a good price..

 

[slusher]

On 8/20/2021 at 8:39 AM, Tom Geiger said:

That’s their prerogative, they an ask a million dollars and not back down a dime!

A while back I sent in an offer for a kit and it was automatically rejected. So I kept trying. Got within $5 of asking price.. rejected!  

It expires without any bids. Seller relisted for less than my first offer! So I grabbed it with the Buy It Now!  

I suspect he didn’t know how to use the software.

I haven’t noticed that but I will pay attention if it’s something I really want..