EBay madness

['CHARD]

No wonder it had gone to 'No Longer Available' on my watch list!  I had been watching her for a couple of months - incredible value from Gosturd, I'll be the first to admit.  It looks lovely in the flesh - great purchase Rob.  Glad to see her 'in the family,' as it were.

[robmcg]

Oddly they had another similar weathered re-named one at £169,  might even be still there. To be honest mine might have been a bit more than £119 but not much, I forget. In any event I was quite pleased.

 

Other recent good purchases for me have been £80-95 for a heavily weathered Bachmann Std 5MT and a mint Hornby 'Resolven Grange', but these might not be the kind of bargains dedicated hunters achieve.

[Simon G]

Would be interested to hear of the best deals anybody else has got buying from Ebay - it certainly seems that things tend to be cheaper if they end during the day rather than in the evening

My best deal was for a batch of stuff - Hornby Red Jinty, Hornby 08 Shunter, two Royal Mail coaches in LMS red, a few wagons and a Hornby controller - total cost including postage was £45.  When it arrived, the 08 was not just DCC, but DCC sound - which was unexpected!  I had thought it might be DCC when bidding, but sound was definitely a bonus.  This was a couple of years ago.

[Grovenor]

Please keep this topic for the "madness", there is a whole other topic for your "good buys",

Best, Keith

[Kenton]

 

Still wouldn't be worth that money. I had a Crownline "complete kit" once. I could probably have taken them to court, and I'm not just referring to the usual lack of motor or wheels.

 

I have built a few and wouldn't put them anywhere near the bottom of the pile. In fact what is in the box goes together quite well. Sure not worth that sort of money even for a complete kit. That is why I was thinking that there was more to the bidding than someone desperate for the detailing kit.

[Ruffnut Thorston]

  Possibly winner thought it was a complete kit?

 

Yet another single bidder with multiple small bids pushing it up but not winning. Ebay is fast turning into some sort of game. Those prepared to pay a realistic price just getting pushed aside as the bid frenzy takes over. Some old kits are going for really silly money at the moment and a fair few starting at prices exceeding the price as new (or even still available direct).

 

Ebay has a "new" feature. If your bid is out-bid, the dialogue box offers you the chance to make another bid, of the minimum increment. If you click this option, and are again out-bid, you again get the option. Therefore, lots of small bids in a row!

 

It is so easy to do as well.....almost addictive?

Edited July 7, 2014 by Sarahagain

[Horsetan]

Whatever new features eBay have introduced, some fool still paid more for the kit than he may have intended to.

 

Still, it's only money, isn't it!?

[Colin_McLeod]

That new feature actually mirrors what usually happens at a normal auction. Where e bay is different is the fixed ending time where a high bid going in seconds before the end (whether by snipe or by a person submitting a bid) will win as no one else has the time to respond.  In a real auction, the auctioneer would continue to accept bids until there is no further interest. If E bay followed a similar pattern, then snipe bidding would ineffective for "winning".

 

I have seen on-line auction sites that continue accepting bids after the "closure" time until there is a period of one minute with no activity.  This method emulates a real auction closer than E bay does.

[Kenton]

 

Still, it's only money, isn't it!?

... and they say you can't take it with you when you die

 

... I wonder if the rule applies to kits?

 

That trunk is nicely packed ready for the journey ....

[The Stationmaster]

That new feature actually mirrors what usually happens at a normal auction. Where e bay is different is the fixed ending time where a high bid going in seconds before the end (whether by snipe or by a person submitting a bid) will win as no one else has the time to respond.  In a real auction, the auctioneer would continue to accept bids until there is no further interest. If E bay followed a similar pattern, then snipe bidding would ineffective for "winning".

 

I have seen on-line auction sites that continue accepting bids after the "closure" time until there is a period of one minute with no activity.  This method emulates a real auction closer than E bay does.

One minute does seem a bit tight but definitely 2 or 3 minutes would be far better than the way Ebay works at present.  But then Ebay doesn't have the same responsibilities to the seller and bidders as a normal auctioneer so I can't really see them changing their methods. 

[Horsetan]

  ... and they say you can't take it with you when you die

 

... I wonder if the rule applies to kits?

 

That trunk coffin is nicely packed ready for the journey ....

 

There, that's better.

[James Makin]

Not quite madness.

I've just seen a Hornby 67001 go for £110 about two hours ago on ebay.

What appears to be the same loco (the picture looks remarkably identical) is now on RMWeb classifieds for £120........

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

Haha busted poor chap!

 

Why you'd pay £110 or even £120 is beyond me though, got my EWS 67001 (DCC Fitted!) for £70 at a show, bang! Fair bit of risk to go to just to make an extra tenner!

 

The real show prices for most items are normally pretty reasonable, so easy to go on eBay or RMWeb to take the easy option and assume that that's the real going rate for items...

I've been collecting a huge volume of original Hornby HAA coal hoppers lately, they frequently go for solid £6-7-8 prices each (+postage) on the 'bay, yet go to a show and they're about £4 a pop, bosh!

[Crosland]

Ebay has a "new" feature. If your bid is out-bid, the dialogue box offers you the chance to make another bid, of the minimum increment. If you click this option, and are again out-bid, you again get the option. Therefore, lots of small bids in a row!

 

It is so easy to do as well.....almost addictive?

 

You get the option to increase your maximum bid regardless of wether you are outbid with your initial offering.

 

Andrew

[Crosland]

That new feature actually mirrors what usually happens at a normal auction. Where e bay is different is the fixed ending time where a high bid going in seconds before the end (whether by snipe or by a person submitting a bid) will win as no one else has the time to respond.  In a real auction, the auctioneer would continue to accept bids until there is no further interest. If E bay followed a similar pattern, then snipe bidding would ineffective for "winning".

 

Snipe bidding is only effective against people who do not understand proxy bidding, and treat Ebay as a traditional auction room where you bid a little more each time you are outbid. Ebay proxy bidding is more like leaving a commision bid with the auctioneer.

 

Just bid your maximum from the outset and you will only lose if someone bids more. Whether they do it by sniping or not is irrelevant.

 

Andrew

[Colin_McLeod]

Just bid your maximum from the outset and you will only lose if someone bids more. Whether they do it by sniping or not is irrelevant.

 

Andrew

 

Andrew

 

What you say is true for two people who each bid the maximum they are prepared to pay.

 

However there is a perception that you can affect whether or not someone bids more by not bidding at all until it is too late for them to “bid more.”

 

I don’t know if the perception is justified but the theory is that before anyone bids on E bay, it shows the current bid at £0.00. If you "show an interest" in an E Bay item by bidding, thus making the current bid more than £0.00 that you are then attracting a bidding war.

 

Colin

[Crosland]

It's only a perception, maybe true in some cases but I suspect there is a lot of confirmation bias.

 

If everybody waits to the end and puts in a snipe bid, assuming they all submit their bids in time, it's still the highest bidder that wins. You still need to bid your maximum to stand a good chance of winning the item.

 

Andrew

[Andy Reichert]

Ebay has a "new" feature. If your bid is out-bid, the dialogue box offers you the chance to make another bid, of the minimum increment. If you click this option, and are again out-bid, you again get the option. Therefore, lots of small bids in a row!

 

It is so easy to do as well.....almost addictive?

 

I'm not sure that some of these posters here understand how EBay works. You may pre-set your maximum bid to a quite high value, but Ebay will only place your bid initially at the standard increment over the next lowest maximum bid.  It's only if you set your maximum below what you are prepared to pay that will cause you to be outbid and have to increase your bid to get back into the race.

 

With everyone setting their maximum bid up front, you can't be outbid by anyone offering less, even if it is a sniper. If a sniper wins, it has to be because they bid more than anyone else's current maximum.

 

Andy

[Paul Cram]

What sniping does do is stop anyone exposing your maximum and then withdrawing their bid.. I also think there are people who do not bid their maximum or even know what their maximum is until they have seen your bid. I have won hardly any items where I have bid early but have won nearly all those where I have bid in the last seconds. Tactically it seems to work out better.

[Guest]

What sniping does do is stop anyone exposing your maximum and then withdrawing their bid.. I also think there are people who do not bid their maximum or even know what their maximum is until they have seen your bid. I have won hardly any items where I have bid early but have won nearly all those where I have bid in the last seconds. Tactically it seems to work out better.

I only ever Snipe, but then there is the problem of sniping just a few seconds too early, giving time for someone else to respond...

[Horsetan]

I only ever Snipe,...

 

The last time I heard the word "Snipe", it was about a car made by Humber.

[Titan]

It has to be said, that I have noticed that hardly anyone who bids earlier than the last couple of minutes wins, unless they put an extremely high bid that the more experienced bidders recognize as too much - and often ends up highlighted on this thread as a result! The losing last minute bidder just rolls his eyes and wins the next one at half the price...

[Guest]

It has to be said, that I have noticed that hardly anyone who bids earlier than the last couple of minutes wins, unless they put an extremely high bid that the more experienced bidders recognize as too much - and often ends up highlighted on this thread as a result! The losing last minute bidder just rolls his eyes and wins the next one at half the price...

When people do that, it usually defaults to the lowest possible price, and the value entered becomes their Maximum Bid

[Enterprisingwestern]

I'm obviously thick, or missing something, or maybe both, but any item on bay of e or any other auction house/site only has a value to yourself of the money you want to pay for it, so if you put in your maximum bid at the beginning, then if someone values the item more than you, you've lost and live to fight another day.

There are a few items I've lost out on this way, but in the fullness of time, have got them at the price I wanted to pay.

 

Mike.

[Kenton]

 

I'm obviously thick, or missing something, or maybe both, but any item on bay of e or any other auction house/site only has a value to yourself of the money you want to pay for it, so if you put in your maximum bid at the beginning, then if someone values the item more than you, you've lost and live to fight another day.

There are a few items I've lost out on this way, but in the fullness of time, have got them at the price I wanted to pay.

Mike.

That would be true if all bids were hidden and not revealed until close of auction. As has been highlighted before I may "value" an item at say £100 but be prepared to pay more for it as I want it now. So I might bid £120. Paying over the real value. The starting price might be £40. If no one else wants it I get a bargain at £40. Someone else may think it worth £80 and bid that single maximum and I still win it for £81. But then some smart Alec comes along an starts bidding a minimum bid at a time pushing the bid all the way up to £120 then fails to pay or retracts the bid. I am left paying £120 (or losing the item at £120) - The seller offers a second chance at £120 and I politely tell them where to put it.

 

At least with a snipe program your bid is hidden and only goes in during the last seconds of the auction.

[Enterprisingwestern]

  That would be true if all bids were hidden and not revealed until close of auction. As has been highlighted before I may "value" an item at say £100 but be prepared to pay more for it as I want it now. So I might bid £120. Paying over the real value. The starting price might be £40. If no one else wants it I get a bargain at £40. Someone else may think it worth £80 and bid that single maximum and I still win it for £81. But then some smart Alec comes along an starts bidding a minimum bid at a time pushing the bid all the way up to £120 then fails to pay or retracts the bid. I am left paying £120 (or losing the item at £120) - The seller offers a second chance at £120 and I politely tell them where to put it.

 

At least with a snipe program your bid is hidden and only goes in during the last seconds of the auction.

 

So you "value" it at £100 and are prepared to pay £120.

You're not the labour party chancellor of the exchequer are you???

 

Mike.

I rest my case;

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SHIRE-SCENES-L-S-W-R-PLATFORM-SEATS-BARROWS-BRASS-ETCHED-OO-GAUGE-/390873944994?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item5b01e713a2

 

Or £6 direct from the manufacturers.

 

Mike.