Raven on 3/4/2011 at 18:39
Okay, I don't understand e-bay.
I am trying to pick up a few, admittedly big name, pre-owned titles.
Should I bid the total amount I am willing to pay and leave it like that, only to get out bid in the last 2 minutes by 0.50p?
Should I not place a bid at all early on keeping the price low and instead wait until the last 2 minutes for a bidding frenzy?
Do some people just get carried away and place stupid bids? Case in point: I was bidding on Mario strikers. 2 day auction, starting price asked for 6.50. I placed a bid of 7.00 as with the 2 GBP posted I reckoned that this was a good price.
In the last 2 minutes of the auction the price rises to 7.50. I reconsider and decide that perhaps 8.50 still isn't a bad idea. Automatic bidding means I lose this. I change up to 9.50. I am the winning bid for about 20 seconds and then I lose for 10.50. This means that the winner is going to pay 12.50 for the pre-owned title. After the auction I check play.com. Average price for a pre-owned copy is 6.50, with the lowest 4.50. Seriously why are people bidding so high in ebay.
This has happened on all the wii games that I was going to buy - the bidding has taken them easily pasted the pre-owned price on places like amazon and ebay. Why bother?
Any thoughts?
Update: Fantastic, I have just received a 'second chance offer', quoting me the highest price that I bid 9GBP. Umm, no thanks! Not now.
rachel on 3/4/2011 at 20:43
My advice regarding ebay is
1. Only bid once, at the last moment, to avoid being caught in a bidding war.
2. Don't bid more than you think is worth. EVER.
3. If there's a bidding war on your item and it's already more than you planned to pay for it, move on.
CCCToad on 3/4/2011 at 21:06
There really isn't any etiquette. Use whatever strategy you find best. I'd suggest bidding near the end of the auction.
heywood on 3/4/2011 at 21:54
Quote:
Update: Fantastic, I have just received a 'second chance offer', quoting me the highest price that I bid 9GBP. Umm, no thanks! Not now.
It doesn't make sense because it probably wasn't real. You were probably in a bidding war with one or more of the seller's other accounts. Using multiple/fake accounts to bid up the price happens all the time. Often the seller lists an item, sets up an auto-bid on it from another account, the auto-bidding account wins the auction, and then the seller makes second chance offers to any real bidders. If nobody takes up the second chance offer, the item will get re-listed sometime soon.
Tocky on 3/4/2011 at 22:10
Yup. That's why I haven't been able to buy my old astronaut lunchbox. What you need is patience to wait until there are multiple items of the same sort and bid last minute on the one not already in a bidding war. Bidding against everyone in the world isn't exactly the best way to get a bargain but it can be done. Impatient sellers who list for one day are good ones to target but it's a crap shoot.
Nameless Voice on 4/4/2011 at 14:25
I idly looked up the game you mentioned on Amazon, and it's only £15 new, with free shipping.
For eBay, I mostly just stick to Buy It Now items. Otherwise, raph's advice is good. Decide how much you're willing to pay for it, don't bid any more than that, and bid in the last few minutes if you can.
It's probably also good advice to forget it's an incremental auction for a moment and just assume that the price you put down as your maximum bid is how much you're going to pay. That way, you'll be pleasantly surprised if it doesn't go to your maximum bid, as opposed to disappointed that you didn't get it for 50p more than the previous high bid.
fibanocci on 4/4/2011 at 16:19
Never on Fridays, Saturdays Sundays, um, weekends, Mondays, Wednesdays.
catbarf on 4/4/2011 at 20:56
Bid at the last few seconds, with the most you are willing to pay. Avoiding bidding wars is just a good practice all around. Also, by waiting to bid you can decide not to if a better deal comes up.
This may not be exceptionally relevant to you, but be careful about where you're buying from. Chinese sellers often have very nice prices on electronics and various gear, but predictably are of low quality.
Nameless Voice on 4/4/2011 at 22:18
I disagree. I've had far better experiences with cheap (small) electronic items (cables and adapters in particular) from Hong Kong than more expensive ones sold from the UK.
catbarf on 5/4/2011 at 03:06
Quote Posted by Nameless Voice
I disagree. I've had far better experiences with cheap (small) electronic items (cables and adapters in particular) from Hong Kong than more expensive ones sold from the UK.
Yeah, I considered posting that caveat but had to run to class. I buy alligator clips, wires, soldering equipment, batteries, and the like (simple things) from Hong Kong- it's cheap and the quality doesn't really vary from what you'd get at home. But I've found that stuff like flash drives, headsets, and paintball parts (generally more complex mechanical or electronic devices) suffer greatly, and even basic things like switches are less durable and more prone to breakage or failure. So it's hit-or-miss, and you've got to be careful.
I once bought a 16GB flash drive on which only 8GB worked. The rest would inevitably be corrupted and inaccessible. It was a pain in the ass.
Oh, and then there's the godawful ridiculous shipping time most Chinese stores have, and the predictably bad customer service, but at least it's cheap.
