How to bid (correctly) on eBay

gdmichaels Feb 4, 2016

  1. Maletrain

    Maletrain TrainBoard Member

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    WOW!!! If two guys like you ever compete for the same item, you are going to make some seller REALLY happy. (And make this new database extremely confusing to other buyers.)

    Steve
     
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  2. Champsummers

    Champsummers TrainBoard Member

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    That's a great post. I find myself doing the same thing. Thanks for sharing.
     
  3. glennac

    glennac TrainBoard Member

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    If there is something I'm interested in I bid low just so I can begin getting the notifications on my phone. Then, as the auction nears it's end I personally decide how badly I want/need the item and what I'm willing to pay for it. If the bidding has already exceeded my personal limit, then c'est la vie. I'll want for next time.

    If, however, the bidding hasn't reached my limit, then I watch the seconds tick down then bid my limit within the last 10 seconds. If I got it, Great! If not then I don't regret paying more for than I wanted to.

    Only one time did I get into a bidding war. I won the items - glad that I did - but still cringe at the price I paid. After several more years of experience I've decided not to do that again. You get too emotionally tied up with the item. I've since learned that you're likely to eventually see the item again and may have a much better shot of getting at a better price.
     
  4. BALOU LINE

    BALOU LINE TrainBoard Member

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    Ok, so I was watching an item on my phone on eBay while at work and it's counting down to the final few minutes. I'm thinking I'm going to be slick and snipe it at the end. Just as I'm putting in my $13.00 bid things get busy and I rush to get back to work. After things calm down I look at it again and find I missed putting in the decimal point, making my bid $1,300.00. Someone else was willing to pay $30 for it, but I ended up winning it for $31. The car is worth it, but a bit more than I actually wanted to pay.
    Lesson learned: Don't bid from work on my phone!
     
  5. DrMb

    DrMb TrainBoard Member

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    A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess? :p
     
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  6. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    From the movie "WarGames".
     
  7. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    Good movie...havent seen it in years...might just go download it :cool:
     
  8. DrMb

    DrMb TrainBoard Member

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    And considering how some bidding wars play out, completely applicable.
     
  9. acptulsa

    acptulsa TrainBoard Member

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    This.

    If you can't wrap your head around the concept of having to lose a battle in order to win the war, you need to stay away from eBay altogether.

    Probably shouldn't ever marry, too...
     
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  10. nscalestation

    nscalestation TrainBoard Supporter

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    The whole idea of an auction is you can't 100% accurately anticipate what the selling price will end up being. It only takes two bidders to really run a selling price up. This is true if it's the object is an N scale freight car or a million dollar home.

    I don't feel I've ever really over paid for an item but also have been outbid many times and don't let that bother me. I'm just patient and wait until next time. I also sell quite a bit on ebay and know from that experience that prices can be all over the place. I know that a unique item such as a custom weathered freight car or kit bashed finished structure available from only one seller will attract a better price than the same item that is stock and being sold by several sellers.

    I know a lot of people complain about ebay but it actually serves a very important role as a secondary market for our model railroad items. A lot of people in the hobby might not buy the new stuff if they could not sell the stuff they don't want any more either because of money or space. Unfortunately it has also become a large primary market for new items which has helped lead to the demise of so many of our local hobby shops. Many of the surviving shops are using ebay or other on-line selling together with their brick and mortar shop to make it.
     
    tracktoo likes this.
  11. BALOU LINE

    BALOU LINE TrainBoard Member

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    TRUTH!
    One of the hardest feelings to overcome is "I have to buy THIS one".
    If you wait, another will surface.
     
  12. swissboy

    swissboy TrainBoard Member

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    Well, it takes at least TWO people to really get the price to go up the way you describe it.

    I have been on both sides in that game. As long as only one guy wants it badly, the price does not go up far as it is not the maximum someone enters that determines the final selling price. It only goes up that far, or higher, if someone else bids higher.
     
  13. Maletrain

    Maletrain TrainBoard Member

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    You are sort-of right. But, look at the other posts where some posters say they put in ridiculously high bids because they THINK nobody else is going to do the same thing on that same item. I have seem some auctions go to more than double what an identical item is listed for as a "buy it now." And sometimes that item is back in the listings again in a week. I ASSUME the sale was cancelled for non-payment and that sale does NOT go into this database. (Right?)
     
  14. brokemoto

    brokemoto TrainBoard Member

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    ........looks like you got shilled........................




    .............sniping........ I only did it once on FeePay, but still managed to get it for a good price......................






    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^ It is a rule that applies to any type of bargain hunting. Know what you will pay and be prepared to walk away with nothing.







    Often you are better off using the Swap Meet page here or on another forum or N Scale Yard Sale or something similar. Put up a "Wanted to Buy or Trade" advert. I have more than a little of the older stuff that I no longer run or that I bought in excess in case I had to re-do a failed bashing project. Every once in a while, someone puts up a "WANTED" advert for something that I have. I prefer trades on this, but sometimes I do cash transactions. I have been happier with the trades over the cash.




    Every successful bargain hunter has an oversupply of patience. As a rule, I am an impatient guy, but, when it comes to bargain hunting, I suddenly find patience. Be prepared to walk away with nothing more frequently than you might care to do so. You decide how much you are willing to pay for something and you pay not one penny more for it. Of course, you must be realistic about what you are willing to pay. You will not get a new-in-box, Kato engine for ten dollars, as a rule. As the above quoted poster correctly advises, be aware of that for which something is selling. If anything close to the going price is more than you are willing to pay, you must not need it that badly that quickly. But, you must be realistic about how low the price on something might go.



    I have found some bargains from people who had no idea what they had. The other side of that is that some people like that far overvalue their stuff. Trying to point that out to them renders only hostility. Some of them have a mindset similar to some of these vendors at shows. You will see them at show-after-show with the same overpriced hoon-KAY that they lug from show-to-show and wonder why they never sell it. Still, like you, when some of these people are selling their late relatives stuff, among all the hoon-KAY is a gem that is worth far more than what you are paying for the lot. Still, I am glad to get the garbage with the gold, because I can use the junque for bashing or trades.

    I have been amazed at what some of the defective stuff that I have sold on FeePay fetches. As you do, I put into the description that the item is defective, describe the defect and put a cheap price on it. After telling the potential bidder that the item is defective, and after describing said defects, I always conclude the listing with something similar to "BE ADVISED, you are bidding on DEFECTIVE MERCHANDISE". After twice stating specifically that the item is defective and describing the defect, no buyer has any reason to complain.

    Knowing your market when bargain hunting is a necessity.

    I have been burned in manners similar to the last quoted paragraph. READ THE DESCRIPTION IN THE AUCTION!!!!!! I, too, have failed to read more than once. I see something that I want, the price is good, so I bid, or buy-it-now and get it. Something such as MDC fifty foot passenger cars come with no truss rods. Now I did read that there were no trucks, but I failed to read it completely. Had I done so, I would have seen that there were no truss rods, either. Fortunately, that is the worst that I have gotten burned, but it was my own fault. It is not a big deal to fabricate truss rods from thin wire.
     
  15. traingeekboy

    traingeekboy TrainBoard Member

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    My tactic is simply to wait. I have some items I want. I look for them constantly, but unless the bid is low I don't bid. This tactic has paid off many times. I just watch and wait, then only bid on low priced items. I miss out on a lot of things, but over time I have gotten great deals.

    I had a similar experience at my LHS. An N scale loco came out. I wanted it. But I am cheap. Multiple units of the same loco sit in the case for two years, because this is colorado and everyone wants UP, D&RGW, SF, and any incarnation of Burlington.

    One day I walk in the store and they are on sale for 50.00$. I still wait. A good while later I asked the sales guy if he thought those locos would sell any cheaper and he says no chance. A week later they are all marked down by 30%. I still see them on ebay and people want more than I paid in the shop.

    It was an Atlas SD35 for only 35 bucks.

    Once you get out of collector mentality, you can do this hobby for nearly nothing.

    he he I just realized I had already responded to this discussion.
     
  16. nscaler711

    nscaler711 TrainBoard Member

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    Interesting, the only "bidding" I do on eBay is Buy it Now... I have gotten burned too many times by idiots that use some auto bidder... It takes the fun out of the Auction, that's for sure...
    That and lately I have been finding stuff cheaper on MTS, and BLW, than on eBay... Alot of people are beginning to think MSRP is a bargain... *facepalm*
     
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  17. gdmichaels

    gdmichaels TrainBoard Member

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    I wouldn't say someone using snipe software is an "idiot". They are folks who are aware that many early bidders are low-ballets or bargain hunters who place $1 bids for $10 items. If you bid against a bargain hunter early, they will get an outbid notification and simply up their bid. If instead you wait til the last second, you give the bargain hunter no chance to rethink. eBay knows this and wants people to do what the earlier poster suggested and simply place a $500 bid which will make eBay and their client, the seller, very happy.

    Hence is you are going to be a bargain hunter you MUST use snipe tools. The is the only way to do it.

    However, for the collector, you have another option. Simply think hard about the realistic top price you will pay and place that as your bid. Nobody can beat you with a snipe system because the person who placed the bid the normal way has precedent in a bidding war. If the sniper put in a higher price than your normal bid, then you will lose, but since your top bid was your top bid, then you "won" because you didn't end up paying more than you wanted.

    The mistake comes from "wishful thinking". You think you will only pay $5 for an item but deep inside you won't be happy unless you win it and when a sniper picks off the item for $5.01 you feel sad because then and only then do you realize you would have happily paid $12, but now it is too late...

    The solution is to place a well researched bid the normal way. That way you can get your spendthrift heart in tune with your sheapskate brain. Good sources of research are this board's marketplace, and N-Scale Enthusiast and eBay historical pricing. The function I added to TroveStar N Scale was to make the eBay historical pricing easier to find. eBay itself hides this data pretty well and most people don't even know it is there. As I said before, eBay wants you to be bidding without good data because they make more money that way.... This is why they make historical pricing somewhat hard to get to. I hope I am able to help my fellow collectors in some small way by making this treasure trove of useful pricing a little easier to discover.

    If you do decide to place a bid on an item please use a link from TrainBoard if you can. This board website receives revenue for those clicks whereas TroveStar does not and the guys who run this site really deserve your support.
     
  18. casmmr

    casmmr TrainBoard Member

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    As soon as I confirmed my bid on 3 MTL C&O 2 bay hoppers, I received notice that I was out bid, this must be a snipe program for it to happen as soon as I confirmed my bid. Oh, well, I went with my top price for the item. I usually only purchase buy now items. I very seldom bid on items and this is why.
     
  19. rrjim1

    rrjim1 TrainBoard Member

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    No a Snipe program only bids at the last moment, someone just entered a bid amount that was higher than your bid, before you bid. With a Snipe program you don't even need to be on the internet the Snipe company takes care of the bidding, you just enter how high you want to go.
     
  20. wcfn100

    wcfn100 TrainBoard Member

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    Just means the current bidder had a higher minimum bid than you, no special program involved.

    Jason
     

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