DarkCloud

Aaargh,

Why is it that every nice thing that I want to buy on eBay is simultaneously wanted by several obsessed people with deeper pockets than me?

I just found a very nice, vintage Dura Ace seatpost (yes, Shimano does Dura Ace seatposts) that would totally complement my 26y old Gitane TDF (converted to fixed gear). I was quite happy since I needed a somewhat exotic diameter: 25.0 mm. The DA seatpost was exactly what I wanted and I somewhat hoped that nobody else will want it.

So I've honorably stated my intentions by biding the largest amount that I wanted to pay (~40$, since it's just a seatpost, isn'it?), stood as the winning bidder until 1h before the end, got dropped by another bidder which got sniped at the last second by another one. In the end the winning bid was around 75$, which is a bit high for a bloody seatpost.

Well, that's quite OK actually, since I already have a seatpost (an ugly one, but whatever) and I still have my money. I'll bide my time.

Cheers,
DK

Rex G

I think that some people on evilbay are stimulated to bid on something when they see earlier bids. My computer and internet service are not fast enough for true last-second sniping, but I rarely enter a bid for anything more than one minute before the end of an auction, and try to wait until the end is less than 20 seconds away.

StephenH

Can't you set up Ebay to auto-snipe for you?

Anyway, the whole point of Ebay is getting more money when you sell your stuff. Take that same seat post and at a garage sale, you'd have to price it at 50 cents to get rid of it. On Craigslist, it might or might not sell at a decent price, just depends if someone in your area needs it. On Ebay, you're bidding against the country, sometimes against the world, so it's harder to find a bargain.

CJ Carbone

firefox extension myIbay sets up an auto snipe. Its amazing. i set it to bid 3 seconds before the auction closes. Won so much that way, its great.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5571

geo8rge

Why not wait for the economy to totally F collapse and then you will have no problem.

spinnaker

This is a very dangerous method for bidding anyway. It causes you to spend more than you planned. Set a max amount, remember to include cents and forget about it.

shakeNbake

Blame it on the hipsters! j/k

Any vintage road part will be expensive these days on eBay.

deraltekluge

Why are people happy about making the winning bid in an auction? Remember...when you win an auction, you've just committed yourself to paying more for an item than anyone else thought it was worth.

Mtbnomore

I have a frame, crankset, and derailleur that I'll be putting on there in a week or so, and I'm nervous as hell about it because I know that it will look like I won't get jack for my stuff until the last few minutes.

Oh Fleabay.

jsmithepa

Wait until winter when nobody is thinking about their bikes. eBay, u gotta be patience.

annc

Not really. If you sent the bid amount on the snipe to same amount you would have in the first place ($40 in the OP's case) then it comes out the the same. Sniping brings down the price since it does not encourage you or others to out bid one another since, essentially, there's only one shot.

There are lots of websites that will do ebay snipping but they charge. There's jbidwatcher that a free desktop application that works okay.

Rex G

I must disagree with the first and second sentences, and the third sentence is exactly what I am doing. Bidding early on an item encourages those who are perhaps merely watching, to start bidding, and can also really set off those who are in it for the win. Early bidding is great for the sellers, indeed, as it tends to drive up the final price. Of course, some discipline is required to not enter the late-and-only bid if others have already bid the item to a point higher than its real value.

To enter my maximum intended price too early just gives opposing bidders an early warning that there is another bidder out there. Better for me to determine my max price, check the item late in the auction period, and if my price has yet to be reached, bid in the last few seconds. That way, I don't pay too much, and I don't show my hand too early in the poker game.

unterhausen

don't forget, if you bid early the seller can have shills. Did that once, never again. And there are too many strange people out there that just want to win an auction, and need your bid to validate their sick little game.

I bid with exactly 13 seconds left. I spend the 45 seconds before that deciding what the maximum I will bid without hating myself. If someone else wins, I know they wanted it more, and if I had bid any more I would have hated myself. So I'm happy.

DarkCloud

Yes, that happens often. One time, I was bidding (early) on some thingie and another bidder kept driving the price up. I've lost the auction and the seller came back to me with a "Second Chance" buy. I thought that the other bidder was a shill and refused.

Agreed, I think is better to bid at the last moment. You got a fairer chance at winning the bid without driving up the price because of the competitive nature of the other bidders (if legit) or without letting the seller to plant his shills.

Anyway, it seems that the Dura Ace seatpost that I want is really in high demand since there have been several of them that went for very high prices (in my opinion). So I guess is out of my league. I'm too cheap of a *******

Cheers

dobber

Bid what you think it's worth. If somebody bids more, they think its worth more. Pretty simple.

And yes, winter is the best time for eBay'in bike parts.

Yan 

I never understood why anybody would bid earlier than 5 seconds before the end of the auction. I pay an online sniping website. Charge is 1% of purchase price, within the range of 25 cents and $10, outside of which range the min/max flat fee is charged. You're only charged if you win.

Well worth it in my opinion.

desederada

I never bid on anything until the last few hours. I don't want to stimulate anyone elses interest in an item I want

annc

Why give them a few hours? It's in your best interest to reduce the amount of time available to stimulate other people's interest. That's why people bid in the last few seconds. And waiting at the computer to bid at the exact time is often impractical so many use sniping software or websites to do the job for them.

ritepath

I feel your pain, not the same but...For months I bid on a jeep bumper from a seller, he'd put one up a week for bid, I'd always bit the same thing 100.00 it took me 7 trys but I finally got the bumper I wanted for the price I was willing to pay.

Now for my same problem, I'm a coin collector and every time I bid on a coin that's worth having I lose. I've finally found the only way for me to win is to bid on stuff that's risky....well at least not located in Hong Kong.

LOL.....all ebayers suffer the same fate.