Faster, This is the one I use http://www.auctionstealer.com/home.cfm I use the free service and it limits you on the number of auctions you can bid on. I've never used my full allotment of points. It snipes at 10 sec. The pay services go to 2 or 3 seconds. What I do is watch the auctions everyday to see if the bids exceed my max amount in the software. If the current bid is greater than my max, I cancel the sniping que and get that point back in my bank. The software only deducts points if it executes bids in the que. I've only lost one auction when the snipe was executed. Later, Cracked
momento, I thought the bids amounts weren't visible to the seller until the auction ended. I've seen some people selling snowboards doing things similar to this during the auctions to get the products to the "reserve price". They just have people enter a bid, if the phony bid wins they NEVER receive any feedback. And the company leaves feedback all the time. Strange considering how the community works...... Later, Cracked
You are right Cracked, the bids are NOT suppose to show until the auction is ended, and the phony bidder should "suffer" and buy the item at the ended price, BUT as i said earlier, it is perfectly LEGAL to cancel the buyer's bid by the seller, therefore they can always get around it and still able to determine what the ACTUAL highest bid is at.
Yes the idiots that I've observed basically go on every day and bump the phony bid by $10-15. Unsuspecting souls using the e-bay max bid service get toasted for more than they should pay. Later, Cracked
canceling should not be allowed. this just happened to me: i bid on an item - i put the minimum as my max. i wanted to keep the item open and if someone else bid on it i would snipe at last moment. someone else came and upped it to next price $10.49. so i waited to snipe it. there was no reserve price and the software was supposedly brand new in the box with an easy value of $400. 1 hour before the end of auction the seller cancels the auction. pissed me off, thats what a reserve price is for. complained to ebay but they said its perfectly fine according to their policies. just not ones i read on their site. another exchange that favors the MM/specialists.
This subject drew my attention because I've recently been geeking out on eBay, picking up some Lego of the 70s era. My daughter and I are playing with my old Lego train set. It's alot of fun. I was quite retentive with my Lego. Also, my Mom saved alot, I mean alot of our childhood toys. And many are in good shape. So I've picked up more animals, for example, for this one Fisher Price Safari set that I played with alot as a child. Anyway, my observation is how eBay has essentially created a liquid marketplace for collectibles-not unlike a stock market exchange. Not sure how it applies to my trading. But there are some similarities. Looking for a deal, and waiting for the right price. If you are a collector, your ability to make a living depends on how much of a deal you get at an estate sale and how liquid the market is for that particular collectible. I've seen those Fisher Price Safari animals get bids pretty consistantly. I've found some deals on items that are included in other lots. That's not too different than looking for a company that might not be well known, but looks good and being the first to jump in. The bidding people talked of here? Execution. I've been trading some pretty thin stocks lately. It's been working. Yet I also tried to sell something on eBay once that didn't have as much of a market as others. Didn't get a bid. Too high? Condition? I dunno. Some aspects of eBay have no comparisions to trading, like how you present and list the information, there's more nuances. But it does make me think of getting stuck on a thinly traded stock and having to really lower the price if I need to get out. André
I've noticed an increase in fraudulent auctions. For example, checkout this auction for Samsung Syncmaster 191T LCD: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2302863390&category=3696 The seller has 0 feedback, although he is selling 27 high ticket items, and all the auctions are private auctions with the disclaimer "PLEASE DO NO BID IF YOU ARE NOT ON THE APPROVED LIST" Ebay really needs to have a search option like "Do not show any auction whose seller has feedback < [ 20 ] " That would really cut down on the number of garbage listings I have to wade through. Fleance
Fleance, I bet they are doing that to take advantage of the E-bay payments to pay for the transaction. 1) Pay one dollar for the item, ebay's cut is small. 35 cents 2) Charge the balance due in a non-refundable shipping charge. This way they can use a credit card to pay for the item through e-bay.
I was searching for Samsung LCD, and more than half the search results are look like fraud: Samsung Syncmaster 24" 241MP for $510 ? Awesome, right? Auction eding in 1 hour 21 minutes. But the seller has 0 feedback and is in Romania! Haha And most of the bidders have 0 feedback too. Probably the scammer, er.. seller, trying to stir up interest. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2302062425&category=29503 P.S. If you want to report fraudulent auctions, goto http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/select-RS.html and select Member Problems->Law Enforcement->Please investigate a current listing for possible fraudulent activity.