[Voice of Reason]

this has happened 3 times in the last few months where I bid on something got outbid but end up with the item at the end. so let me explain.

I find something that there is a lot of out there, so not much demand. the auction will have 5 or 6 days on it and i'm the only bidder. the last day I will be out bid. now I set my auto bidding to go until it gets to a price that's the same as the next one available or a buy it now price.

when the auction I am bidding on exceeds the buy it now price I back out, why pay more for something when I can get it cheaper somewhere else right. but I usually watch the last few minutes to see what it goes for but in the mean time I may (or may not) have bought it cheaper somewhere else.


at the last minute, literally, the other bidder's bid is canceled and i'm forced into item. I know I could probly contact the guy and work something out but i'm not like that. now if it was something really expensive maybe but the last item was like 10 bux so no big deal.


I just find it very odd that there is a ton of something out there with no bidders yet someone wants to bid on the one I did? i'm guessing its the sellers buddy trying to run up the price and back out at the last minute. this has happened in the same scenario with 3 different sellers. luckily none of them was over 10 bux, but still that's some shady poop there.

[blackrazor1]

Shill bidding or someone with the same idea you had.

[SD Clutch]

Def shill bids. People trying to manipulate the market.

[edgecrusher]

Something I learned fairly quickly with eBay bidding is to Watch the item and never bid on it until there's a very short time left on the clock. That will ensure even shill bidders have very little ability to respond and ramp up the price. You're basically being an easy target by showing interest with bids placed days before the auction ends.

[SmokeBellew]

Quote:

Originally Posted by edgecrusher

Something I learned fairly quickly with eBay bidding is to Watch the item and never bid on it until there's a very short time left on the clock. That will ensure even shill bidders have very little ability to respond and ramp up the price. You're basically being an easy target by showing interest with bids placed days before the auction ends.

Yeah, I've noticed all sorts of weirdness/sketchiness on ebay lately. I swear there are also what I like to think of as "asshole bidders" who tend to pop up on auctions for related items but from different sellers and seemingly bid just to drive up the price. It's like they're seeking out early bidders and trying to get them into a bidding war. It seems to happen too frequently to be a coincidence. Maybe it's shill bidding, but as I said, I've noticed it happen on auctions from multiple sellers. Could be just people with poor impulse control, but they rarely, if ever, win these auctions. It's like they feel out the early bidder and bid just enough to goad them into another bid, and then another. They never really swing for the fence and try to win. It all feels so counter-intuitive to how an actually interested bidder would bid. I dunno.

[Voice of Reason]

if there are a ton of auctions out there for the same item I feel there is no need to camp out and watch the item till the last hour. I just put my bid up and let it roll. my mind set as a buyer is in this situation is if there are multiple auctions all pretty much at the same price i'm not going to bid on something someone else has when I can get bid on something by myself. but ebay has been filling full of dooshbags in the last few years. just completely rude people and straight up criminals. in the last 12 months I've filed more claims with ebay then I have in all the years ebay has been open and I have been buying.

most times I will wait till the last 30 minutes of something I want if it has multiple bids and put the number in I don't want to exceed and let it go from there. it stupid you have to try and snipe people, why list something for 5 days when people just wait till the last 10 minutes to bid anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by edgecrusher

Something I learned fairly quickly with eBay bidding is to Watch the item and never bid on it until there's a very short time left on the clock. That will ensure even shill bidders have very little ability to respond and ramp up the price. You're basically being an easy target by showing interest with bids placed days before the auction ends.

[jscott991]

I almost never participate in auctions for this reason. It's way too sketchy.

[nighthawk]

For my auction, what I see happen is the one bidder bids multiple times for the same item. Not sure if the whole idea is to scare off other bidders by telling them if they want it, they'll have to bid more than the opening bid.

I also get a lot that win and almost immediately ask me to cancel. It's annoying.

[jscott991]

One thing that I've noticed a lot is an item sitting with no bids for a long time, then suddenly getting bids the last day (not unusual), and then that item is relisted very soon afterwards.

Obviously many things can be happening here (I don't sell things via auction because of the number of nonpayments), but I strongly suspect that someone is driving up the price with no intention to pay and then the seller tries again.

I have a number of searches where this happens repeatedly (try following Sideshow Scarlett Witch for example).

[Xerofall]

That's why all my stuff on eBay is "Buy it Now."