My first Ebay auction

MacLeod

Ive never really been a fan of Ebay due to all the horror stories Ive heard over the years but I still browsed around it from time to time. Ive decided the speaker for me is the RTi4 and have just been waiting til I saved up the $300 Ill need to snag me a pair but tonight I ran across this auction which was only at $.99 with 16 hours left to go!!!! So I figured what the hell. So far its up to $31 and 14 hours left. Im pretty sure Ill get outbid and even if I won the guy probably wouldnt sell them for $31 but it would be great if he did! Either way its kind of cool to have popped my Ebay cherry.

I still doubt Ill ever buy anything big or complex like a receiver or TV thru Ebay but a small bookshelf speaker or other little gadgets I could be up for.

ledhed

Congradulations. Yes, those will go for more than 31, I assure you of that but, Ebay is sometimes a cheaper alternative. Our hometheater is pretty much based off of Ebay acquired items-Speakers, TV (52" Mitsubishi), Tivo. we haven't had too many problems thankfully

Dennis Gardner

380 auctions for me so far with less than a handful that I would say were duds. probably 70% buying, 30% selling.


Hints:

You have to search hard for the best finds and deals.

The best deals to be had are from sellers that didn't know what they had and list it cheap on a "Buy it Now" basis. These go fast!

Other good deals have been found by searching for misspelled or mislisted items. For instance, items listed under "PolkAudio" without a space go for much less than those listed with just Polk in the name. Less people see the ad.

Snipe bidding also saves $$$. If you have a fast internet connection, bid in the last minute of the auction to keep the price down. It is frowned upon by those that you outbid, but it is legal on eBay and effective.

Most of all, have fun with it, expect to lose often, so that when you win, you are happily surprised.

Enjoy,

DG

billbillw

Ebay auctions always go up significantly in the last few minutes. Many buyers use snipe bidding (www.esnipe.com) to put in last second bids. It helps to avoid bidding wars. You can always look are recently completed auctions to get an idea what the going price is.

Looks like the last 3 auctions ended around $165 (not including the Buy it Now, which is always higher)

BIZILL

just about everything i have is from ebay. my whole hometheater setup is from ebay. almost all brand new units. every polk i have was bought brand new for far, far less than retail pricing. only thing i paid retail for was the $1300 svs sub. i've only found one svs sub on ebay in my two months of searching. someone was selling an older passive cylinder svs. ebay feedback should be of the utmost of importance. only go with those that have like 100+ feedback with a minimum of 95% positive feedback. in the process.........save yourself some hard earned cash (or hard earned credit, like me)

MacLeod

Yup, got outdone by two **** snipers. I had it won at $86 then came back and at 1 minute left 2 guys slammed it up to $140. That pisses me off! You shouldnt be allowed to place your first bid in the final minutes of an auction, or if you do you should have your address displayed so those you screw over can find you and "express their disappointment". :mad:

exalted512

yea, i always watch items until the last 10 minutes or so. That way you dont drive the price up initially, then put the max what your willing to pay with 1 minute left. Some people will hate you for it, but i really dont care
-Cody

MacLeod

These two **** were obiously using the esnipe stuff cause they placed their bids in the last couple seconds it seemed. I thought I had it won with only a minute left. I refreshed the page with 30 seconds to go and still had it won. Thinking it was mine I clicked over the the description page and not only was it over but it was now $50 higher.

I still say that in the final 2 minutes of an auction only previous bidders, the ones that have been watching and trying to buy for several hours, should be allowed to bid.

faster100

Sounds like you may need to watch and relax alittle more, No disrespect intended, That's how you get the good deals by snipeing... sometimes. The guy who bid at the last second also thought they were getting a good deal until the other outbid him.. you can't get so angry with bidding on e-bay. Ive lost tons of stuff because it just went to high or got outbid at the last second. $139 was still a good deal for Rti4's.. Good luck

Id watch and learn how e-bay works so ya don't get disapointed with e-bay, the reason alot of people try once and never return



edit: I just looked at the auction, if your axe1592 you were steady bidding up the auction the whole time, take it from a e-bay lifer(almost 7 years) don't bid so much till the end minutes/seconds... the guys who outbid you, one did a whole minute and half before it ended,(a big bid) and the last guy tried to outbid him 6 seconds before it ended and didn't beat the other guys bid hence it drove the other guys bid up to 139.00... Thier will be plenty of other rti4's maybe you can get a better deal next time..

heiney9

MacLeod wrote:

These two **** were obiously using the esnip stuff cause they placed their bids in the last couple seconds it seemed. I thought I had it won with only a minute left. I refreshed the page with 30 seconds to go and still had it won. Thinking it was mine I clicked over the the description page and not only was it over but it was now $50 higher.

I still say that in the final 2 minutes of an auction only previous bidders, the ones that have been watching and trying to buy for several hours, should be allowed to bid.

Welcome to the world of E-bay . I'm guilty of the same thing...it seems that's how things work these days. As many times as I've been out-sniped, I still managed to win a few auctions using the same process. If your not wanting/willing to pay retail in a brick & morter store then I guess you'll have to live with the way E-bay functions. I used to get pissed all the time too....but you can do the same thing. Fight fire w/ fire. That's just the way it is, wrong or right. . On e-bay sometimes it takes patience for the right deal to fall in place. Other opportunities will come along and at some point you'll get what you want at the $$$ you want.

H9

BlueMDPicker

MacLeod wrote:

I still say that in the final 2 minutes of an auction only previous bidders, the ones that have been watching and trying to buy for several hours, should be allowed to bid.

The key word there is "auction." Whether a live auction, or electronic, the seller (and auctioneer) want to fetch the highest price. I've attended many live auctions where someone "comes out of the woodwork" at the last second. Sometimes it's just an idiot, but more often someone who has completely researched the value of an item and knows he/she can flip it quickly.

I've frequently purchased, and sold, on eBay. My only advice is the complete research approach. Know what it's worth, decide what you're willing to pay (top dollar including shipping), bid your top dollar (and let the software increment it), and walk away. Let the shill bidders and snipers have it if it's more than you're willing to pay.

Good luck, you'll find what you're after soon, I'm sure.

Emlyn

As a seller, I love bid snipers because the selling price has usually turned out to be a lot more than I expected to get for an item I put up for sale when snipes are involved. Folks can get into trouble with bid sniping because when two snipes are involved they have no idea what limit the other guy/gal has set. Because Ebay runs on maximizing fees it receives from item bids, they have no problem with the several sniping services available. Buy it now items are a good bet usually, but some are wholly unrealistic in relation to the full retail price. The last item I sold could have been had for $190 less if someone had just done the buy it now rather than doing the bid sniping thing.

As a buyer, I just place a low bid to get things started and towards the end bid traditionally up to the maximum I feel comfortable with for an item.

MacLeod

Nah, **** Ebay! Ill be sticking with Sounddomain and Tweeter and our flea market.

I dont have a problem being outbid, I have a problem with 2 **** sneaking in at the last minute. If they had been bidding from the beginning then the price wouldve been beyond my limit earlier and then I wouldnt have wasted anymore time. I mean hell, whats the point of bidding if you have to wait til the last minute for the real bidding to begin? If this were 2 guys that had been in it for a while and simply outbid me well thats fine. This sneaking around **** is a waste of time.

nadams

Just the way it goes, man...

faster100

out of the last 5 ended auctions, these sold the cheapest for rti4's.. grant it some were new..

you will find, some things can slip by cheaper but most similiar items sell for around the same amount, check ended auctions first to see what said item is selling for and decide if you wanna pay that much. you really didn't think they would sell for 80 - 90 bucks did ya?

MacLeod

Once again, I dont mind being outbid. Thats all part of the game.

What I dont like is skumbags sliding in at the last second. Me and a couple others had been bidding on it steadily for a while and I put in my last bid with a little over a minute left. I sat there and refreshed the screen every 15 seconds or so and with 20 seconds left I was still the winner so after a few more seconds I click over only to see Id lost. I never had a chance to outbid the other 2 guys that came out of nowhere. Thats whats got me pissed off. If these 2 **** had been in there a while I wouldnt have cared or even if theyd placed their bids a couple minutes out I wouldnt have minded. But to use some stupid software to place their bids at the last possible second BS.

Its not the end of the world and Im not going to have a nervous breakdown over it, it just pisses me off I wasted half a day for nothing because I dont know all the stupid little games you have to play.

dterkalas

Hi MacLeod, I am the '****' who won the auction.

First off I don't think that is fair for you to say. First off, 86 bucks would not have been a very good sale for the Seller. Second, I did not even see the auction for the speakers until 10 minutes to go. I did not even use any tricks to bid. All I did was punch in a maximum bid of 160 US dollars with 2 minutes to go, one time. If you had put in a higher bid than that you would have won...That is why you lost. I was willing to pay more than you...

You really should not be upset at me. Ebay allows you to place a Max bid.

madmax

MacLeod wrote:

Nah, **** Ebay! Ill be sticking with Sounddomain and Tweeter and our flea market.

Nah man, ebay is cool! First of all look for the item you want and then 10 minutes before it's over go look at it again. Decide what you are willing to pay (really willing to pay) and with 15 to 30 seconds left, bid on it.

The real game is someone says I'd pay $20 and bid. Someone else says I'd pay $50. The first guy thinks it over for 2 days and decides it's really worth $70. This just keeps on and on. In reality, if only the first guy bids he will be happy as a clam until the last second when you bid $80. Of course you will get it for $21 or whatever.

DON'T BID AGAINST YOURSELF BY BIDDING TOO EARLY! If you really feel bad about it put in your first bid (low one) early and then at the last second put in what you are really willing to pay. Hey, they knew from the start you were interested...

madmax

MacLeod

dterkalas wrote:

Hi MacLeod, I am the '****' who won the auction.

First off I don't think that is fair for you to say. First off, 86 bucks would not have been a very good sale for the Seller. Second, I did not even see the auction for the speakers until 10 minutes to go. I did not even use any tricks to bid. All I did was punch in a maximum bid of 160 US dollars with 2 minutes to go, one time. If you had put in a higher bid than that you would have won...That is why you lost. I was willing to pay more than you...

You really should not be upset at me. Ebay allows you to place a Max bid.

Youre right, I shouldnt be a sore loser and calling names. For that I apologize.

Yes $86 was a cheap price but I wasnt going to bid $300 just so the seller could get a fair deal.

What got me was 30 seconds before time expired, the bid was $94 with me winning. And then when I refreshed again, it was over with you and the other dude plugging in bids $50 higher. I thought I had been sniped which is not what you did. What you did was totally fair and up and up. I assumed it was somebody using Esnipe or the like that had it rigged to plug the bid in in the last 2 seconds. I dont doubt you bid with 2 minutes remaining just that it never showed I was outbid til the auction was over.

I know my statements make it seem like Im raging about this but Im really not. I sat around today watching this auction and thinking I had it won only to lose in the final couple seconds like that from out of nowhere and that ticked me off. Obviously Im green as hell in ebaying and dont know all the games you have to play but I think its kinda stupid you have to play a bunch of games to bid in an auction. But nobody else seems to have a problem with it so myabe its just me.

Again, sorry for the name calling. It was uncalled for.

janmike

Guilty as charged your Honor. Those Canadian ebayers are Treacherous. Game On.

eBay is a place to buys things, not make friends. That is what the Polk forum is for.

MacLeod

HA! I didnt notice he was from Canada! Thats a different story! I retract my apology. Damn Canadians.

billbillw

Macleod,
I tried to tell you that is what would happen. Only Ebay newbies sit there and bid openly on items. It only causes bidding wars. Some people decide they want to win an auction and will bid it beyond what it is really worth, just to say they won. This usually leads to buyers remorse. Sniping is the way to keep the price within reason. You hid your interest and bid in the last few minutes (or seconds) with a price that you think is fair. If you don't win, the so be it. Someone wanted to pay more than you did and they deserve it.

The last 3 auctions for RTi4 went for $160 or higher, so this one fell in a little lower than the going price. One thing about Ebay, there are never any GREAT deals these days unless you find a Buy it Now that is for a low price and catch it before anyone else. The market for desireable electronics is high and very few things get sold for anything less than market value. Often times things sell higher than what they are worth due to biding wars.

I never bid early on Ebay items unless it is to probe the reserve price.

Most of my current speaker setup were won on Ebay. 2 of the items were won using snipe bids, another was a 2nd chance offer from the seller who had two to sell (I had been outbid on the first) and the last was a Buy it Now on my RT800i that was almost too good to be true, and when I got them, there were cosmetic problems and missing parts, but nothing major. I felt I got good deals on all of them, but I watched and waited for more than two months to get everything.
I wouldn't give up on Ebay, just learn from the mistake of getting outbid and bid higher next time. Just don't bid higher than you think its worth.

MacLeod

Good advice Bill but I think Ill just stick to Crutchfield and Sounddomain for internet buys and Circuit City and Tweeter for showroom purchases. You can usually find very good deals with these guys and while they may be a little more expensive than what you would find on Ebay, I think the extra $50 or so is worth it for the piece of mind that Im (A) getting brand new, straight from the manufacturer gear, (B) getting the full warranty and blessing of the manufacturer and (C) supporting that manufacturer. Ebay just aint for me. Im leary of it anyways without having to learn all the games you have to play.

BIZILL

yo macleod, there are always "buy-it-now" auctions that, combined with shipping, are still much sweeter than retail pricing. i am a "sniper". sniping is not an art. it's simple. i don't use whatever the "sniping" link talks about (did not read it), i just have high speed internet and when i hit refresh screen with 20 seconds left in the auction, i still have 13 seconds to input my final bid. broadband is the only way to live. do trust and take my word for it, if you decide to stick with ebay awhile........you'll find yourself sniping as well. it is not illegal nor dishonest. welp, i don't use any programs other than my reflexes, anyway. i have yet to lose an auction, unless i have met the highest amount i am willing to pay, and someone bid higher. kudos to them.

janmike

If you can't trust a Canadian, then who can you trust.

Seems every time I have lost an auction, the late bidder was someone who had hundereds or even thousands of wins. Not the new guy. If the offer you submit is the maximum amount that you are prepared to pay, then you win the item. If you do not win, then you are ahead of the game because you would not pay that much for the item. Buy a few homes and you'll get the feeling.

danger boy

I like to snipe sniping software. a friend and i bid on the same item.. and i knew he used sniping software. well, i bid in the last few seconds and out sniped his sniping software. he thought he had it in the bag. sorry bozo. even sniping software can be overridden.

billbillw

danger boy wrote:

I like to snipe sniping software. a friend and i bid on the same item.. and i knew he used sniping software. well, i bid in the last few seconds and out sniped his sniping software. he thought he had it in the bag. sorry bozo. even sniping software can be overridden.

You must have outbid him to win. Its all a matter of who puts in the highest max bid in those last 10 seconds. It doesn't matter who gets the last bid in.

By the way, Macleod, its fine to stick to reputable retail outlets when you are looking at brand new merchandise. I do the same thing. I would never buy something "new" from Ebay because often the price is higher than in stores.

Ebay is more for hard to find items that are no longer in production. That is where I got my CS245i, RT800i, and my 2nd set of RT25i. My SVS sub was still available new from SVS, but I saved $200 by getting slightly used with a transferrable warranty.

BIZILL

warranty issues can arise from ebay purchases as well. though the item may be brand new, seller is probably not factory authorized to sell and warranty the product. be careful. but enjoy, just the same.