I put a bike-related up on ebay on a 3-day auction, and have nigh on 200 views and 20+watchers. So far, though, not a soul has bid.

Is this because, as some of you were trying to teach me the other day about my own bidding practices, it isn’t wise to bid until the last minute? Or is it just the case that people are curious but that I have to resign myself to an unsuccessful auction?

Can be both or either.

People ‘watch’ stuff just to keep an eye on it and see how well it sells.
If the starting price is particularly low, then perhaps they are hoping it will go unnoticed and they will grab a bargain.

Or there are genuinely a few people waiting until the last 5 mins or so.

FWIW I normally wait until a minute before the auction ends and stick a bid in.

but that I have to resign myself to an unsuccessful auction?

Right there ^^

I watch loads of stuff. Rarely buy though – I mainly watch just in case something looks like it’s going for a song.

Why 3 day auction? 7 days gives you more scope to find interested buyers.

Or is it just the case that people are curious but that I have to resign myself to an unsuccessful auction?

No, the auction isn’t over yet – It’ll only be unsuccessful if no one buys it…
As above – The longer the auction, the more time its in the shop window so to speak. From a sellers perspective its irritating, but as a buyer why would you show your hand early and risk pushing the price up?

It depends on the price , if it is priced low then there is generally scope for people to get in first. If it is priced fairly I imagine the option is to wait in case something else will come along. There is another option where people just want to watch for fun which happens a lot nowadays.

Unless I am going to be unable to bid at the end of the auction I would never bid until the final few minutes.

Experienced buyers tend to wait to see whether item is still at a reasonable price towards the end before bothering bidding (they will be watching other similar items at the same time to get the best deal, and know how much they are prepared to pay). If there is serious interest things should hot up in the final 12 hours (though you may have to wait until the final 5 mins for it to get really interesting).

Of course there are exceptions to this if inexperienced / impatient bidders are interested. Or a chancer sticks on an early bid and hopes no-one else is interested.

BTW if there is 20+ watchers I’d be surprised if there was not serious interest from at least one or two.

I think the original idea was that if you bid how much you were willing to pay for something, it didn’t matter when you bid, so you may as well bid when you find something you want. This has never seemed like a bad idea to me. It is however considered the apogee of naivete by experienced eBayers. Late bidding seems to be prevalent. I can only assume it’s because, as a whole, people are mental.

I can only assume it’s because, as a whole, people are mental.

I bid late as it prevents me from becoming involved in an ‘I really MUST have that’ bidding war.

Shill bidding

sobriety – Member
I bid late as it prevents me from becoming involved in an ‘I really MUST have that’ bidding war.

Bid what you’re willing to pay, walk away and don’t come back until the auction is over. 🙂 Then again eBay are unsurprisingly less than helpful in you doing that as they send you emails when you’re outbid that encourage you to throw more money at the auction.

I think the original idea was that if you bid how much you were willing to pay for something, it didn’t matter when you bid, so you may as well bid when you find something you want. This has never seemed like a bad idea to me. It is however considered the apogee of naivete by experienced eBayers. Late bidding seems to be prevalent. I can only assume it’s because, as a whole, people are mental.

This.

I can’t see why bidding late improves your chances. There is the argument that you show your hand but at the same time leaving it with a low price will also attract further attention.

I tend to watch a few things to see what is being paid for stuff I might go for. I sometimes bid low initially (a super bargain price) if I am not 100% convinced it is what I need or I can’t be bothered with the faff of paying / delivery etc. But at the same time if I know I want something I will happily go all in when I see it and have spent the time to check it out as far as possible.

I guess bikes may be more difficult to price fairly due to the variation in builds, but I must admit to rarely bidding on auctions unless it is something I just cannot get elsewhere. I will watch auctions to get an idea of final selling prices of items I may be looking at in future though.

If I’m selling an item of known approximate worth, I’ll put a ‘Buy it Now’ price and save everyone the hassle of waiting for an auction to end.

Partly I think there is a lot of grifting on Ebay via shill bidding and I prefer to try and limit/eliminate my exposure to that.

Also auction sellers are sometimes not honest either, one item I bid on a few years ago went for a low price and in the 10 minutes between the auction end and me paying for it via Paypal the item was supposedly damaged beyond repair and disposed of by the seller so it couldn’t be sold to me. Funny that.

Bid what you’re willing to pay, walk away and don’t come back until the auction is over.

Ok, let me rephrase that. I bid what I’m willing to pay late, as it prevents someone else deciding that they MUST have that and outbidding me.

Better? 😉

Ok, let me rephrase that. I bid what I’m willing to pay late, as it prevents someone else deciding that they MUST have that and outbidding me

Ok so late bidding is prevalent because we are worried that other people are studpid

eBay.

No ones bids until the last second – they’re called snippers, they think they’re called snipers, because despite killing people, snipers sound cool – but they’re actually snippers because they are arseholes.

But don’t worry, there are other decent people who bid 5 mins after you list it, well I say bid – they actually message you asking if you’d actually meant to list for classified add and would you mind selling it now, no don’t worry about paying eBay fees or anything sell it to me now! I really want it (for half what it will probably sell for) you’ll never hear from them again, even if you offer to sell what they offered because they’re an impulsive lot and have already messaged 7 other people with similar items and bought one of those.

When your auction finally ends, the snipper who bought it will start to ask lots of questions about the item they’ve already bought because, well snipping involves a lot of luck and they’ve already missed several other similar items to other snippers and they can’t remember much about the one they actually bought, heaven forbid you’re selling something that’s too large to post – because snippers treat face-to-face meetings as an opportunity to haggle – they might have only been willing to pay 10p more than the person who came second – but they’d rather pay £100 less, now they’ve seen it.

Unless you’re selling an electronic item – they’ll pay almost immediately – via a very unscrupulous e-mail supposedly sent from PayPal who probably don’t use the e-mail paypal@totallylegit.com who claims you’ve been paid, oh no, no need to check your paypal account, oh you do? please click the link below which will send you anti-virus into a mad dance. send item now, or you’ll be hanged, oh and could you send to my Son in Islamabad, it’s for his birthday – here’s another £100 of imaginary money for the courier.

But hopefully you’re not selling a smartphone or other electronic device and the snipper actually paid – okay they didn’t pay for 13 days, and send a shitty message on day 14 “wtf it’s still not arrived!!!” but at least the whole nightmare is over – UNLESS the item it longer than 1m, or has a battery in it, or any sort of compressed gas element, because then no courier will want to take it, don’t forgot to make sure it gets signed for – because in the world of eBay, if you can’t prove they received it, they will skank you.

Finally, the buyer lets you know they received the item – finally, they waited a whole 24 hours after that waited 13 days to pay for the **** thing – Oh, you didn’t put your life on hold for 2 weeks after your auction finished and you went away for a few days, well **** you – refund me.

You might think that’s it, but really this is where the fun starts, the buyer will now dissect every single thing about your item – oh it’s a mountain bike and it’s got a rub mark on it – yeah I know it was sold as “used” and with a picture showing the rub mark – but I DEMAND A PARTICAL REFUND OF 90% OR I’LL CRUSH YOUR FEEDBACK SCORE AND MAKE YOU JUMP THROUGH HOOPS FOR A MONTH WITH PAYPAL, this is currently the most popular scam on eBay – some buyers will ask for a partial on EVERYTHING they buy, because “why not” it’s a couple of keystrokes for them, a massive hassle for you – in my experience I’ve had it with everything from bike frames to baby clothes – don’t enter into a long on-going debate over it, offer a full refund immediately via eBay – no fussing “sorry it’s not what you expected, please return for a full refund” in every case I’ve offered a refund they’ve never returned it – sometimes that means you have a negative balance on PP for a bit, but it’s no biggy. **** chancers.

Two weeks later you’ll get an invoice from eBay for a big chunk of your sale price, Paypal (who are eBay in another name) will take their end out as you get paid, you’ll add this to the cost of the courier, the tape and bubble wrap and whatever else and wonder why you ever bothered.

sobriety – Member
Ok, let me rephrase that. I bid what I’m willing to pay late, as it prevents someone else deciding that they MUST have that and outbidding me.

If they bid what they’re willing to pay and you bid what you’re willing to pay, it’d all work out OK. What actually happens is that initially a small number of people start sniping and bidding in increments but eventually everyone is doing it because of the other people who do it and the whole system becomes irrational. It’s a bit sad that knowing that other people want something makes people inclined to pay more for it than they otherwise would.

I know that eBay no longer works how I’d like it to, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it! As the OP implies it makes selling stuff more stressful than it ought to be.

If I must bid on an auction I bid late simply because I want to buy something soon, rather than wait several days to find out if I’ve got it or not. I’ll use the days before the listing ends to find an alternative source, if that is fruitless then I’ll maybe bid.

Late bidding only matters if you are bidding against ****. However, ebay is full of ****, so you probably are.

I sold a trailer tent a couple of years ago. When the buyer turned up they tried to haggle the price down. Fortunately they accepted my point that the auction they’d won was the price negotiation but it all just seems a bit funny to me.

If I’m willing to pay £100 for something thats currently £50, why would I bid early and let someone chip away at it in £5 increments for the next six hours and bump it up to £90 before deciding its too much.

Or they bid their maximum of £90 straight up, and when they see my bid jumps to outbid them at £91, they justify an extra tenner and I lose it.

My only downfall is I tend to keep increasing my bid (in my head) whilst waiting for the last few minutes to count down, on the basis of ‘will I wish I’d bid more if it goes for £101?’

I think auctions are a bit old hat now anyway, I tend to list everything at a slightly optimistic but well researched Buy It Now price. And the same for purchasing.

Want it now. I’ll only choose an auction if its not available at a good price immediately.

Finally, late bidding leaves your options open, if you put a realistic bid on something three days before it ends, you’ve committed to buy it up until you get outbid, so if another item is listed in the meantime, or you change your mind, tough…you’ve got to sit it out and wait.

As above

What I’m willing to pay is always higher than what i want to pay.

People do it all the time in real auctions whats the difference?

Bit of a messy thread and it may have already be mentioned….

But might your starting price be too high OP?

I put most things on now at buy it now prices to cover what i want plus fees, and in the text i suggest buyers make contact as “item is also fir sale elsewhere and may be removed at any time”

At least you are getting watchers!

153 views, 1 watcher

170 views, 4 watchers

😀

That’s an outrage – so few watchers on such finely-crafted artisanal products.

DanW – Member
Bit of a messy thread and it may have already be mentioned….

But might your starting price be too high OP?

I genuinely don’t think so. Only £20 for a substantial bit of kit. Vintage, but substantial. It really couldn’t get much lower.

Those are gorgeous, WCA!

There’s 2 ways of selling stuff on eBay

Starting it at 0.01p gains more interest and generally more bids than if you start something at 20 quid but you risk selling for 0.01p – but if it’s only worth 20 quid you’ve not got much to lose, but could entice others into abiding was

Set it at a buy it now price and take offers

Reserves and high starting prices don’t work

What p-Jay wrote is bollocks

It’s all about the gap between what you’re willing to pay, and what you have to pay, basically, and about commitment to buy. But since there’s very little reason to bid early, I don’t. Even if you leave aside bidding psychology etc, you might just see something else you want, or change your mind.

I’d agree a 99p start is the way to go. When I’m searching ebay it is because I am after a bargain and tend to look at the lowest priced items, usually close to when first listed, then watch them to see what happens. If something is already listed fairly close to its value or not at bargain price my brain switches off to it for some reason (unless there is bargaining room with a buy it now or best offer or the seller indicates they may do a deal off ebay). If something is really a decent item then it’ll make money even on a 99p start.

Depends on how much demand you think there is for an item- if it’s something fairly niche (or something popular but with a glut of supply) then you can end up in a situation where you get only 1 bid, but that person will be happy to pay a fair amount. So basically that’s the gamble, will a low starting point attract more bidders, or will it just let your one bidder get it for less.

For most of my items I price with a sensible startpoint that I’ll be happy to sell at, but everything’s got its own logic and market.

I think the description is an important bit too
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111702896106?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

This amazing fully sprung garden / garage bench is believed to be unique in both concept and construction.

They say that genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration, well in this case there was a lot less sweat and a lot more beer. Having said that, there is no denying the element of genius that must be apparent to all.

The term ‘Engineering Excellence’ is much over used and has little or nothing to do with the construction of this bench. What is true is that it hasn’t yet collapsed and is easily repairable and probably quite funny to watch should it ever do so.

The springs and shock absorbers have been taken from a BMW and so this can probably be described as ‘The Ultimate Sitting Machine’ and in fact is far more comfortable and stable than I ever expected.

The shocks are painted yellow to look similar to Bilstein models but are in fact made by whoever does BMW OEM shocks. The lateral support bar, looking similar to a racing brace strut if you squint, is painted blue. This contrasting colour scheme was suggested by the painter when he ran out of yellow. All paintwork has been applied by a professional, just a shame his profession wasn’t painting.

The scaffold plank bench has been sanded and has been splinter free to date. It has not been treated with anything as the scaffold plank is probably twenty years old and hasn’t rotted yet. No point destroying the planet with nasty chemicals (aiming for the green vote with that bit).

Buyer collects from Southampton as it weighs a fair bit. It can be split into the two legs and the bench by removing the screws and bolts so will fit in most cars. PayPal in advance or cash on collection by arrangement

You’re brilliantly bonkers WCA.

‘The Ultimate Sitting Machine’

😀

I put a bike-related up on ebay on a 3-day auction, and have nigh on 200 views and 20+watchers. So far, though, not a soul has bid.

As has probably been mentioned it’ll be a mix of people thinking they might have a cheeky last minute bid, people with something similar to sell wanting to find out the value, people with a bit of interest that might bid if they don’t win some thing else and people just watching for watching’s sake. Good chance it’ll sell if you leave it but 3 day auctions are risky IMO.

Bidding last minute or using sniper software is fine but runs the risk of the auction being pulled because the seller got twitchy and accepted a bid outside ebay. This seems to happen a lot more often now.

I will look out BIN or auctions with a decent start price as indicates the seller has started at their bottom price. Maybe an initial low bid and then wait til the last 2 mins to see if it goes stupid. Sounds like you might have 20 people holding fire until late on, so wouldn’t get too worried.

Ebay fees are ridiculous and more sellers seem to be willing to sell outwith the sale as long as you don’t extract the urine. Having lost a set of wheels with a decent bid early doors, wait 5 days only to have the auction pulled ‘no longer available for sale, then repeat for a further week of frustration, I changed approach.

What is quite fun is when you twig there is someone that has put in a really high price to bag something and just nudge it up. Have come a cropper once this way though!

You’re brilliantly bonkers WCA.

Thanks – If you liked that check out the rocking chair then

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111702900303?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Who can forget the original Audi A8 immortalised in the classic De Niro film Ronin?

You can buy into the power, status, grace and grip of this amazing near classic car with this rocking chair constructed from a tyre from just such a car.

The 245/40 ZR19 Dunlop tyre strikes the perfect balance. Wide enough for the larger gentleman while with enough flex to be comfortable but never droopy.

The vital safety frame is a plank screwed to a lump of 2×4 with another engineered 2×4 lump screwed through the steel carcass of the tyre to stop you rocking back too far. The back panel is made from delightfully smooth Aspen tongue and grove panelling left over from a sauna.

Despite being referred to as ‘the chair of near certain death’ and other such unflattering terms, no-one who has sat in it has managed to fall over or backwards. This is made even more surprising when you consider that many could hardly stand before they tried it.

So we have a stylish and comfortable rocking chair with classic film references. You can rock gentle in your garage, drinking beer and feeling cooler than De Niro at his best.
Cash on collection