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I'm having trouble understand your explanation of the situation but, as an eBay buyer since 10/1999 with 3,000+ feedback (some of which is for shipping tape, by the way), I have two questions:
1. How do you know that the other bidders arent using a sniping service to bid?
2. Why are you not using a sniping service?
1. I do not know that, one way or the other.
2. I have heard of them, but I have not searched for them, and I'm not aware of their cost, compared to the value of what I'd be buying.
What prices have you paid for a 2 inch wide, 3 inch core, roll of tape in the past?
What's a good price?
$2.00 + shipping, or ?
The reason I asked about sniping is that I buy everything on eBay through a sniping service. I tell the sniping service how much I'm willing to pay for an item. The sniping service starts out with the lowest bid possible -- and then, when someone else bids, the sniping service immediately raises my bid higher than the current bid. So it may look suspicious to someone who doesnt understand how sniping services work.
I buy 12-15 items month on eBay and I've been using esnipe for @ 10 years...ever since sniping services came out. And, from what I've seen, most experienced bidders use some kind of sniping service as well.
That's not to say that some sellers dont use shill bidders. But I think that's done much less often than people think.
And, personally, if I can get an item for much less than I'd have to pay locally, I really dont care if a seller has a shill bidder running up the price. As I said, I tell the sniping service, from the get-go, exactly how high I'm willing to go on an auction. If I get it for the highest amount I'm willing to pay, I'm happy. Of course, I almost always get it for much, much less than that.
I tend to stay away from the .99 type deals or most foreign shipped items. I have bought a few things from China when I know it's not going to make an appearance in the USA for awhile, or ever (perfume mostly).
Snipe bids are the way to go, I set it and forget it. I've only been annoyed once or twice when the auction was ended early by a "back deal" between buyer and seller, something that it against the rules. I understand why it's appealing to sellers since they may not think anyone is going to bid up their item and a higher bird in the hand is better than giving it away for pennies, but don't sell on an auction if that's a problem for you. I wrote to one guy who did this and let him know my snipe bid was for up to twice as much as he sold the item for.
My gf is a power seller. She scouts Goodwill, Salvation Army etc. for certain brands of clothes and shoes (Anything Harley-Davidson sells)
And the one thing we can't figure out is how you can order something from China for $.99 cents with free shipping.
Slow boat from China. Buyer expects to wait weeks for item. Item never arrives. By the time the buyer acts, it's too late for a PayPal claim and too late for feedback.
I once bought a computer vac from China for $5. Total piece of crap. Never again. Got it within a week, though.
Been very successful the past two weeks not bidding at all until just b/4 auction ends. Have won every time. To the point I've had to stay away, because it's kind of addictive. Most of my buys have not been from power sellers who might have a defense system in place, just the occasional odd item. Haven't used a sniping service yet. Guess, for auctions that close in the middle of the night on something I REALLY want, it might be worth it.
Thought for a long while now shills were alive and well over at ebay. Can't the seller be reported?
...Thought for a long while now shills were alive and well over at ebay. Can't the seller be reported?
eBay has made many changes over the years, most protecting the buyer. But I'm convinced that the change to make all bidding anonymous was done as a concession to sellers. It makes shill bidding very hard to prove.
And, as I've said, if you use a sniping service and tell it the highest price you're willing to pay for an item, shill bidding usually wont affect you. After all, you're getting the item for what you agreed to pay. And, with sniping, you're not tempted to enter into emotional bidding wars, which are often controlled by shill bidding.
I don't want to bid at all until the auction is within seconds of closing. Can sniping services do that?
Yes. That's why it's called sniping. My bid goes in 6 seconds before an auction ends. I place the bid days beforehand and I tell the sniping service when to bid. I could have my bid go in 12 seconds before the auction end or 1 minute or whenever. I like 6 seconds because it's hard for anyone else to get a bid in after that.
eSnipe is the most commonly used sniping service. I think eBay either bought it out or has some association with it because there's a link, in the upper right corner of each auction, where you can click and enter the bid amount you want to pay. eSnipe will bid only as much as is necessary.
I forget how much you have to pay eSnipe...it's a minimal amount based on your winning bid amount. Info is in the link below.
I see you can try eSnipe free for 10 days. I've been using it for 10 years and I dont think they offered that free trial back then.
"Try eSnipe FREE. No credit card needed. Get 30 bids free on 10 days, no strings attached. After the trial period, you only pay (fees explained at eSnipe - Fees ) if you win an auction using eSnipe - lost auctions don't cost you a penny."
Last edited by TFW46; 11-29-2011 at 07:20 PM..
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