How to win on ebay?

[andygates]

I've just lost the third auction in a row for a relatively high-value collectible item; in each case the sale ended in a last-minute bidding war between two bidders.  First one I lost, I was foolish enough to leave the auction alone for the last ten minutes.  Second, I and the other bidder both sniped at one minute, at the same amount, but he beat me by three seconds.  Tonight, I fat-fingered the keyboard with twenty seconds to go and while I was reading the "huh? doofus" message, the clock ticked out from under me.

Is there a good technique for winning this sort of auction?  Maybe put a high-value snipe in place using AuctionSniper, just in case it gets squirrely in the final moments?  I'm loath to just put a high bid in as these items have arbitrary value: they're worth what people will pay.  In tonight's auction the item went up £220, 30%, in the last half hour.

Your wisdom will earn beer if I get lucky.  Honest.

Comments

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I use JBidwatcher. Occasionally it barfs, but set it to snipe four seconds before end of auction and it generally does the job, unless someone is really willing to pay silly money in which case you'd probably have lost it anyway.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

I think I'm being tight. In this case, wise third parties guessed that the thing would sell for around £1000. It went for £680 after starting the day at £400. Now, I had budgeted for £1000 as it was a fine bit of kit, but I'm not happy with setting a snipe for that. Do I just need to tweak my thinking?

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

Well, you don't have to set the snipe up days in advance - ten minutes before the end of the auction works just as well. Or is it just some kind of psychological block about typing big numbers into sniping software?

eBay also apparently has a thing called 'Bid Assistant' where you can specify a price and a set of things you'd like to bid on, and if you don't win the first one it moves on to the next until you've won one of them, but I haven't used it myself.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think it's a psychological block :)

Alas the items aren't really generic so there's usually only one on offer, but I will take a look at Bid Assistant.

And maybe just get a welding course and make my own.

[jarkman.livejournal.com]

I used to hang about and bid maually on eBay, but these days I just set up an auto-snipe and forget it.

On the whole, I prefer it this way. I have to decide how much it is really worth to me without all the exciting complications that come from watching the auction, but once I've decided that I am happier to let it go when it goes over the limit.

£680 will certainly buy you some welding kit and a bunch of metal stock. How ambitious is this item ?

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Very: pennyfarthings. Good rideable ones, not wall-hangers. I've set my mind to doing a certain ride on one.

[jarkman.livejournal.com]

I had a visitor teach himself to make bicycle frames in the shed once. He succeeded, too, with the aid of a few books and a bit of practise, and I don't think he had any previous metalworking experience at all.

That was all steel tube - chrome-moly and Reynolds something-or-other - and oxy-acetylene brazing.

He had it easier than you in some ways, because he could use standard parts for bottom-bracket shells and so on, but it must be a very similar problem. I can tell you all about it, if you'd like...

[andygates.livejournal.com]

And he could use standard wheels, and straight tubes. I do plan to make my own (I have a little MIG rig that needs cleanng and I need to learn how to use it), but I am *notorious* for starting a million projects and never really finishing any of them. To get a rideable penny for July, I will have to buy a rideable penny!

[jarkman.livejournal.com]

Yes. Well, he did build wheels from parts, but he bought the rims & spokes. I guess it must be possible to buy pennyfarthing rims somewhere ? I don't think I'd like to make those.

If you're using thin-wall bike tube, MIG will probably work very badly. Depends how light you want to make it. But learning to braze wouldn't take you longer than learning MIG.

I understand entirely about the million-project thing. I do much the same. But, I figure that as long as I keep finishing something I'm doing OK. Maybe you just aren't starting enough projects to get a decent finishing rate ? :-)

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Dangerous thing to say, given that my projects list runs to two pages and only half of them are marked as "crackpot" :)

[jarkman.livejournal.com]

Well, it may be dangerous, but I think you'd find it no less dangerous to you than to me. My lists are also extensive. Let alone the stuff that rattles round in the back of my head, that isn't concrete enough to get to a list.

The question now is, which one to beat on this afternoon ?

[andygates.livejournal.com]

It should have been the bathroom, but instead it was the badger-restraining stick. Oops...

[jarkman.livejournal.com]

Oh - and - if you *only* snipe on an auction, you deprive other bidders of the information that your earlier bids would have given them about your enthusiasm for the item.

That information may increase their perception of the value of the item & encourage them to bid more. So, if you only snipe, you may get it cheaper.

[alacerus.livejournal.com]

When I bid on an item in e-bay, you have to ask you're self how much you really want it, then estimate a value for said item by doing a little background research. Don't go silly and bid way high, but if the current bidding is way down on what you'd intelligently think low for the item, whack a higher-than-you'd-would-of bid down. This has two advantages as A.you can sit back smug in the fact you won't have to make a bid in a while and B.It will generally deter other bidders if they keep putting bids on and they keep getting notices saying they've been outbid, plus they won't know how much you've put on. Also you're higher bid won't show on the bidding list until they equal it or beat it. Often they'll get dejected and give up meaning you'll only pay the amount above what bidding went to, rather than you're higher than sum.

The best way to do this is watch other bids and take part and get a feel for the prices that are going for the item, I've often gone for the same item in a fourth or fifth round of bidding, you just get a feel for the "buying price" of said item and how much it will bid to.
classic in my case was the Dvd recorded, I got beaten five times, though i got a feel for the most peeps would pay and could then put a higher bid on it earlier, sit back, watch the squabbling and win the item only a few quid more than I really would have liked. the trick is not to get impatient on a bid and keep going up, another bid will come along if it goes to high for you chill, take a step back and try the next one, patience is everything:-)

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Good advice indeed, though the items are so odd that it's hard to feel a value for them - there aren't many penny farthings on the market, and some are rideable while others aren't. Plus, the unrideable ones could be wall-hanging horrors or bona fide museum pieces, and the rideable ones could be replicas, modern re-imaginings or back-shed metalwork projects. It's a minefield I tells ya, a minefield!

[alacerus.livejournal.com]

Ps, if you're looking for a welder I have one you could probably borrow as my pa was going through next door neighbour's stuff and we found one, its old but in working condition;-)

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Got one (that's how I got arc-eye the other month!) - I just need to go on a welding course ;)

[sciolist.livejournal.com]

I advocate zennish patience. Bid the maximum you're prepapred to pay for said device and be happy. Then don't look at the auction.

Later, you will have won, and be happy as per initial premise. Or you will have lost, because the price rose above what you would sustain.

Your choice is paramount, the actions of others are irrelevant. Ebay is about gaining stuff, not competing. As Tyler Durden might say, if he cared, or was real - You are not your feedback rating.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

What, it's not about the thrill of the hunt? About besting your competitors and wrestling consumer tat to the ground, price-tag clasped in your jaws?

Maybe I'd better get the welding course...