why are ebay bidders so stupid?

[jmw8se]

there's something i never understood about most bidders on ebay. They see an auction starting price $1, with 6 days to go...and like 20 peopel bid. Do they really think that by bidding 6 days early they are going to get the item for a dollar? There is no reason to EVER bid on an auction until there is less than 30 seconds remaining!

oh, and the worst part about this is when there's an auction with a good "buy it now" price and some moron ruins that by bidding a dollar

 

[Ns1]

shhhhhhhh!!~

some people are profiting off their ignorance =)

 

[Ameesh]

i bought 3 20 gig maxtor drives 5400rpm through hot deals for $15 bucks a pop, i sold all three used after 6 months for $60 a piece i love ebay, such dumbasses!

 

[jmw8se]

yeah i love it too. except i can't find any $50 dreamcasts on online retailers, so i turn to ebay...everyone is trying to get $75-$100 for their used system. Some moron was selling his N64 and Dreamcast asking $300 for both systems! LOL

 

[SuperCyrix]

$60 a piece isn't a bad price even if it is used.

 

[Looney]

I think the last 30 secs bidder are just as stupid as the first day bidder. Ever hear of proxy bidding? Just put down the highest price you're willing to pay on the item, and sit back. The last 30 secs bidding is when people get caught up on the auction and bid more than they are normally willing to pay.

 

[Burnt]

Heh...my roommate does that, he thinks that he'll get a car for 5 dollars with 10 days left.

 

[BD2003]

What if you dont want to sit around and wait for the auction? People have lives you know. And you can always get sniped in the end. I dont see how anything you said is "stupid". Bidding in the last 30 seconds, and getting beaten because someone else proxied the exact same price two days ago, is "stupid".

 

[jmw8se]

No. ALways bid at the end. If you bid earlier, you are just giving all the other people who are interested a chance to beat you. By not bidding, you aren't drawing attention to the item. If there is someone else who wants the item, you can either snipe them at the end, or end up in a bidding war with them throughout the auction. Just bidding what you're willing to pay is stupid and will only drive up the price in the end.

 

[aceO07]

I learned about the bidding at the last minute today, first bidding. I also discovered the 'watch this item' option. That's pretty useful.

Sometimes it seems like the bidder could save more money if they did some research and bought it from a store...

 

[AkumaX]

<< i bought 3 20 gig maxtor drives 5400rpm through hot deals for $15 bucks a pop, i sold all three used after 6 months for $60 a piece i love ebay, such dumbasses! >>



what deal was that?!?

 

[Looney]

No. ALways bid at the end. If you bid earlier, you are just giving all the other people who are interested a chance to beat you. By not bidding, you aren't drawing attention to the item. If there is someone else who wants the item, you can either snipe them at the end, or end up in a bidding war with them throughout the auction. Just bidding what you're willing to pay is stupid and will only drive up the price in the end.

LOL and you're calling others stupid? How do you know by not bidding, you're drawing more attention to it because they'll think that nobody is interested in it, and they could get a lower price?

And how exactly does proxy bidding just what you're willing to pay going to drive up the price any more than just proxy bidding? If somebody is determined to buy a videocard for $200, and you proxy bidded at $150, or you bid at the last second to $150, you're gong to lose out nomatter what. What bidding at the last 30sec does is you get so caught up in it, trying to refresh the screen, that you don't even think about what you're doing, and you can end up paying more than you were willing to pay in the first place.

Only chumps bid at the last 30secs.

 

[petrek]

I agree with jmw8se. Research the item, email the seller to find out what you are getting, decide on a price you are willing to pay, and in the last 30 seconds bid the amount you concluded the item was worth to you.
If you bid beforehand, you're just going to cause other peoples curiosity as to what your proxy bid was to drive the price up.

Sniping on ebay=Cool

Dave

 

[KK]

The only way I would bid early would be if the item has that darn Buy it now crap attached to it. I did that this past couple weeks to an VHS movie. The buy it now price was 49 dollars. The movie eventually went for 56 dollars, glad I wasn't the idiot that bought it.

KK

 

[Maetryx]

eBay is a sellers paradise. There is enough customers so that *almost* whatever you have for sale will be desired by multiple people. I have only had three auctions close with no bidders, a significant situation because I start ALL my auctions at 1 cent.

Two of them were for children's clothes. So let that be a warning: childrens clothes do not sell well on eBay. I suspect this is because there is always an abundance of used childrens clothes in every local market.

The other was a 30' strand of ethernet cable with no RJ-45 jacks. Other than that I've had great success selling old cell phones (we're talking OLD brick style ones), old modems, old mobos, used coats, shoes, whatever. There is always always always someone out there that wants what you are selling.

 

[MrDingleDangle]

my best profit came from a free gAyOL board that they sent me well after i canceled my free 30 days for their ethernet service...they said i get the board for free so i said sure...put it on E-Bay got $100 for it...1person did send me an e-mail making fun of everyone that was bidding as he knew u could easily get the board free...haha that gave me a good laugh.

 

[jmw8se]

Let's say there are two people looking to buy a certain video card in a certain eBay auction, Bob and a guy named Fred.

Bob and Fred are both willing to pay $100 for the card. The auction is at $50 with no bids.


Scenario 1: Fred, the inexperienced eBayer who likes to overpay, quickly spots the auction and bids $100 so he'll be done with it. Minutes before the auction ends the price is still $50. Fred thinks he's going to get the video card for $50. Now it's Bob's turn to try and snipe. He bids first $60, then $70, then $80, then $90, then $100 but still doesn't have the card. Bob gives up and Fred wins the card for his maximum price $100.

Scenario 2: Both buyers silently watch the auction that remains with no bids until the last few minutes. Both are unaware that someone else is trying to get this item so with 20 seconds left, Bob bids the minimum $50 on the auction, assuming no one else is going to bid. Fred, with his fast reliable cable connection, quickly notices this bid with only 15 seconds left. With only one chance at bidding, Fred bids $100 (like he did in the last auction). He gets his bid in with 5 seconds left and is in the leading bidder with a cost of $51. Bob has no time to react and Fred wins teh video card for $51.

 

[FelixDeCat]

ebay? is that thing still around? ha ha

 

[Pliablemoose]

The one that blew me away was the Northgate Omnikey keyboard that I sold for $300, paid $100 for it new. It was huge & heavy...

 

[jmw8se]

what is a northgate omnikey keyboard and why is it so expensive?

 

[Looney]

Let's say there are two people looking to buy a certain video card in a certain eBay auction, Bob and a guy named Fred.

Bob and Fred are both willing to pay $100 for the card. The auction is at $50 with no bids.


Scenario 1: Fred, the inexperienced eBayer who likes to overpay, quickly spots the auction and bids $100 so he'll be done with it. Minutes before the auction ends the price is still $50. Fred thinks he's going to get the video card for $50. Now it's Bob's turn to try and snipe. He bids first $60, then $70, then $80, then $90, then $100 but still doesn't have the card. Bob gives up and Fred wins the card for his maximum price $100.

Scenario 2: Both buyers silently watch the auction that remains with no bids until the last few minutes. Both are unaware that someone else is trying to get this item so with 20 seconds left, Bob bids the minimum $50 on the auction, assuming no one else is going to bid. Fred, with his fast reliable cable connection, quickly notices this bid with only 15 seconds left. With only one chance at bidding, Fred bids $100 (like he did in the last auction). He gets his bid in with 5 seconds left and is in the leading bidder with a cost of $51. Bob has no time to react and Fred wins teh video card for $51.


LOLOLOL those scenarios are so biased. You're ASSUMING the guy on the other side is on a slow connection, but what if he was on a fast connection? What if there were 3 others bidding as well? LOL You're second scenario is so biased. You're assuming that Bob the idiot bids only $50 on the item he wants at the last 30 second, and then you're assuming that Bob is on a slow connection and doesn't catch Fred bid of $100, so Fred wins at 51. But take out either of those assumptions, and the results is the same as Scenario 1. If Bob bidded at $100 at the last 30sec before Fred, Fred is SOL. Or if Bob did bid at $50, and Fred outbidded at $100 and is leading at $51, but Bob connection is fast and catches the error, and ups it to $110 and wins it for $101. Fred is SOL again.

Well, if it makes you feel better to think bidding at the last 30 secs really is going to give you a better deal, go ahead and set aside that time and refresh the screen continuously while you put in your bid, HOPING the other person puts in a low opening bid, HOPING the other person is on a slower connection, and HOPING you don't get multiple last second bidders. That's a lot of hoping. Me, i'll rather proxy bid and forget, checking my email to see if i win or lose.

 

[jmw8se]

Sorry you are WRONG!!!! There is no circumstance where proxy bidding will result in you winning the auction with a better price than if you had waited till the end of the auction. If you are lucky, it will be the same price. 90% of the time, you can get the item cheaper by waiting till the end of the auction.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

Wtf is with that 'he bids $100 so he gets it for $51' stuff? So basically if someone offers a Rolls Royce for $1 I could bid $50,000,000,000, and would get it for $2 cause no one can overbid me? Either E-gay is f*cked up, or it doesn't work that way...

 

[Looney]

Sorry you are WRONG!!!! There is no circumstance where proxy bidding will result in you winning the auction with a better price than if you had waited till the end of the auction. If you are lucky, it will be the same price. 90% of the time, you can get the item cheaper by waiting till the end of the auction.

WHERE did i claim that you can get a better price proxy bidding? I'm claiming there is NO difference between proxy bidding or bidding at the last 30 secs, because if you have a set price you're willing to bid to, you won't overpay. However, last 30 sec bidding can result in paying more than you are willing to because you can get caught up in the moment. What you're arguing is that you can get a lower price by bidding at the last second, but every argument you've put up so far, has been flawed.

So the chump is the person that thinks they're going to get a better price bidding at the last 30secs, when you could just proxy bid, and sit back and forget about it. Again, tell me why you're going to get a better price bidding at the last 30 secs? You're not. The last 30sec bidding is no different than the other days of bidding, except it all happens in 30sec. You're HOPING that the other bidder starts the bid low, you're HOPING that the other bidder is on a slower connection, you're HOPING that there isn't too many other bidders, and you're HOPING that the time runs out before the other bidders get to bid down the max they're willing to pay for the item. Lots of hoping there.

 

[HOWITIS]

you put ur maximum bid, and ebay bids for you