Ebay Sniping

Sal Gerace · #1 (**permalink**) 12-08-2003, 06:15 PM

I personnally do a lot of buying and selling on Ebay. It has paid for a lot of my own parts. Most deals are found because the seller listed them incorrectly and they show up in a limited listing with little visability. The big audience of buyers sometimes don't even know the item is out there. You can look all year for a part at the car swaps and not find it but click on Ebay and there are three of them! I only caution to read the description of an item in side and out. If the description is vague and the seller has little feedback or tainted feedback stay away! If the seller does not answer your email questions fully..stay away!Request a phone number from the seller so that you can talk personally to him..you can usually get a better feel of the seller that way and gather a lot more info. I especially do this on high dollar items. Like the other members of this forum have already said in refferance to bidding...do not sit your bid out there all week for either someone else to beat or for the seller to get a buddy to pump up your bid! Sniping is the safest way to keep the price down and to better your chances of winning. A high speed internet connection is great for bidding because you are always on line and don't have to worry about the dial up server losing your connection at bid time. I have lost many a good deals to AOL but have long since changed over to a high speed connection. It's a jungle out there just keep your cool and don't get caught up in the "got to win this". Keep the parts books handy and check the part numbers. Don't always think that the seller knows what he is talking about, We don't! Hope this helps, Sal.

Thorin · #2 (**permalink**) 12-08-2003, 07:44 PM

Sal,

If I bid the max I want to pay on the first day, then the sellers buddies, or your sniping is not going to change anything. If you and I want to pay the same amount, I will win every time because my bid was there first. If the seller is using his buddies to jack up the price, then when they go above my price, they do not have a sale and I catch it next go round.

Your sniping will work if you are dealing with other snipers, or people who are not really interested. Where a person can get burned by snipers is where you bid low in order to get a "good deal" - as one of our members learned.

I believe your other advice is excellent. Probably the sniping vs. other types of bidding are just matters of style. Just don't get caught up in a "bidding frenzy". I have seen with Exoto dicasts - the end price was greater than the selling price on the Exoto site. Also, have seen it, strangely enough, with snap-on tools.

David Lowell

Sal Gerace · #3 (**permalink**) 12-08-2003, 08:22 PM

David their is only one problem with bidding your max. The way that the collector parts fluctuate in vaue and what was a good price last year, and what you have seen items sell for time and again will most definatly change with time. I have noticed that my perception of value for a rare item this year is pretty much based on what they sold for in the past. You have to take into account prices go up as time passes and items are less frequently seen. Therefore you may underbid and loose the item. I just let the bidding go until I can decide at the end whether or not to jump in. You also have to see how much activity the item has. Too much activity and too many bidders in the mix and you can be assured of overpaying. Sometimes I don't mind overpaying for a nice item, collectable of course. I know in time It will be an investment if it's a rare part. Just my perception of the parts market. I would like to know what others views are on this also, Sal.

BMK · #4 (**permalink**) 12-09-2003, 04:43 PM

Just though I would Post here

Just read an article on the eBay founder in a local business magazine. I Posted elsewhere with this comment but....

Whoaaaa

I'll take 1% of her profit and slip off and enjoy life.

Cheers

Bernie

Bernie Knightb
Mt. Gambier South Australia.

offroadr35 · #5 (**permalink**) 12-09-2003, 06:48 PM

i just sniped and got this!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2446547506

blykins · #6 (**permalink**) 12-09-2003, 07:49 PM

Congrats man....nice ride.

Excaliber · #7 (**permalink**) 12-09-2003, 07:53 PM

Congrats offroad, thats a fine Coupe at a nice price!!

I see you sniped it in the last minutes, you done good!

Ernie

Edley Rondinone · #8 (**permalink**) 12-09-2003, 10:35 PM

Also something to consider: Bid amounts are in set increments, depending on the price of an item. Say, an item starts at $40, with increments of one dollar. You see the item, like it, and after a few other bidders bid, you bid $50. Bidding nears its allotted end time; price is $60. You REALLY want the item, so you bid $100. At the end of auction, if you win, your "proxy" of $100 means you pay only ONE DOLLAR more than the last bidder; in this instance $61. The trick, IMHO, if you REALLY want an item, bid late, at the highest bid you can live with, and let the auction go its course.

Sal Gerace · #9 (**permalink**) 12-09-2003, 10:50 PM

Edley you are right! That's why when I bid I make it an odd amout. EG 64.00 instead of 60. Or 103 instead of 100.00.