ebay etiquette question

[y-bot]

So let's say theoretically someone finds something they feel has a low buy it now price one ebay. This person is not interested/can't afford the item but posts a link to the auction on a classic videogame message board so someone else can have a shot at it. If this item is a fair deal at the buy it now price and will probably go for more than the buy it now price do you bid the minimum (which is way lower than the buy it now price) and make it so someone else who was willing to pay the buy it now price can't?

Y-bot

[Britboy]

Why would you do that if you're not interested in the item yourself? All that does is remove the BIN option for someone who might want the bargain.

[y-bot]

Now that I reread what I wrote a better way of saying what I wanted to say is "why would someone do this". It kinda sounded like I was contemplating doing this and that is not the case.

Y-bot

[geelw]

So let's say theoretically someone finds something they feel has a low buy it now price one ebay. This person is not interested/can't afford the item but posts a link to the auction on a classic videogame message board so someone else can have a shot at it. If this item is a fair deal at the buy it now price and will probably go for more than the buy it now price do you bid the minimum (which is way lower than the buy it now price) and make it so someone else who was willing to pay the buy it now price can't?

Y-bot

actually, if the auction is BIN and has a reserve, even if someone bids on it, the auction can still be won by the smart person who decides to use BIN. i got my suikoden III this way... :-D

[y-bot]

I guess another topic could be "what is the point of buy it now with a low minimum and no reserve?". This theoretical auction has no reserve price.

Y-bot

[maxlords]

I do that. Sometimes people put their BIN at more than I want to pay, but their minimum is within the realm of feasibility. So I put in a $1 or $5 bid and then just leave the auction till the last minute, ensuring that it doesn't get snagged by someone with more money than me and giving me a chance at it if few people are interested. It works occasionally, and if it doesn't, it doesn't cost me anything. eBay is not the place to be polite, it's a shark tank. There is very little courtesy there, and no one gives a crap about you, so why not try and score the best deal you can? I've gotten $50 items for $5-10 cause they were misspelled and I dropped a tiny bid to get rid of the BIN.

However, whoever posts those auctions is dumb, IMO, cause they're just trying to avoid a few extra cents in listing fees, and end up selling their item for less often times. When I use BIN, I make it within $5 of my starting price, that way, I don't get screwed.

[y-bot]

Alright I agree with what you guys are saying but I still think this situation is slightly different. Here's a link to this "theoretical" auction in this post:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7926

Here's the deal. I would have paid $150 for this lot. If it goes for more than $150 (which I think it will) then bidding on it instead of BIN for $150 was a waste of time and made it so nobody else could buy it for the already fair price. I already emailed the seller and they won't sell it for $150 because "the buy it now has expired and it wouldn't be fair". Maybe I'm wrong here. If myself or the bidder on the item found the item on ebay ourselves the situation would be completely different. Since someone posted it to one of the forums though this is how I took it, here's a good deal for $150 if you want it bid if not let someone else bid. Depending on what kind of mood I'm in between now and when the auction ends I may bid $150 or so anyway. I'm not trying to be hard on the person who did this maybe they don't think it will go for $150 or maybe they just weren't thinking. What are your opinion?

Y-bot

[bargora]

Coming from another angle, I've seen cool auctions "disappear" before any bids were down because "there was an error" enough times that I don't always wait until the last minute snipe zone to bid. Since the item never reappears, it's obvious that the seller (oftentimes someone who also has a retail outlet) just sold the item to someone who came up to him (by email or in RL) and offered enough cash. This happens most often when a normally high-selling item has a low opening bid (reducing ebay's cut), but after two or three days nobody has placed a bid (because everybody's sitting back with their sniper rifle).

If I'm worried about the auction evaporating, I'll play the clueless n00b and throw down a minimum "placeholder" bid. That way, the seller is obligated to sell that Klonoa to me for $0.99 and is less likely to pull the auction and sell it to someone who walks in off the street and offers $40. At least, I've never seen it happen. Plus, I'm not gonna get into some "me the highest bidder" pissing match with a hot-blooded n00b four days from the close of the auction.

That said, I've never done that when there was a BIN up, because either (1) the BIN was reasonable and I just decide to buy it, then, or (2) the BIN was a silly amount, and I just wanted to see if some shmuck was really going to pay it. And if the BIN is a silly amount, then I'm not too worried about the auction disappearing, because the seller is explicitly stating that he's not going to end the auction early unless somebody makes a ludicrous offer. And if it happens, well, there's always another auction.

Now if I was flat broke and HAD TO HAVE THE PAC-MAN FUR SUIT and wanted to make sure that the auction didn't end until payday was a little closer, then I might crush the BIN option with a placeholder bid. But there'd have to be a good reason. I'm not going to kill the BIN just to be a dick, because I'm trying to reduce my dickishness.

[maxlords]

I agree with Bargora. I wouldn't place a placeholder bid unless the item was something I wanted. Personally, I'd never think that that auction would hit $150, so a $25 placeholder bid would make sense to me.

As for swiping auctions...it REALLY depends on the seller. Some sellers will cancel an auction with no bids on it, some won't touch it, and some (like me) will cancel an auction lif someone asks and has the money. I've had sellers end auctions early that HAD bids on them, just to sell to me cause i offered more money right then. I scored a $100 game for $30 by asking the seller to end the auction early. By the time he ended it (I'd already paid him) the auction was at $50 and climbing, but he still sold it to me. Just don't expect people to be friendly in their battle for games! :) I'd say that bidder expects to get it for much less than $150 tho.....

[Tritoch]

I go with what my heart tells me. Almost always though the BIN has been low enough that I went ahead and bought the item, or too high for me to worry about. Rarely has there been a middle ground where I considered placing a placeholder bid just to prevent someone else from snatching it.

As far as bidding against other board members is concerned, I used to back off of any auction that a member here was already bidding on. I've already had several members here snipe/outbid/etc. me on auctions even when they knew who I was, so I quickly got rid of that policy. Now I bid as I always would rather the current high bidder is "joeschmoe" or Joe Santulli, because I've learned that everyone else will do me the same way. :-D

[Dobie]

Related to this topic...

I had an auction with a BIN of $25 up a few weeks ago, with no reserve. I wanted to sell the item quickly, and saw it was selling in the $30.00 range, so I under-cut the other auctions by $5 HOPING someone would BIN. Lo and behold, some guy bids $2 on the first day, erasing the BIN price. When the auction finally ended, the SAME GUY ended up paying $45.00 after getting into a bidding war with another ebayer. O_O Whatever works I guess.

I've given up trying to apply any sense of logic to bidding on ebay.

[bargora]

Related to this topic...

I had an auction with a BIN of $25 up a few weeks ago, with no reserve. I wanted to sell the item quickly, and saw it was selling in the $30.00 range, so I under-cut the other auctions by $5 HOPING someone would BIN. Lo and behold, some guy bids $2 on the first day, erasing the BIN price. When the auction finally ended, the SAME GUY ended up paying $45.00 after getting into a bidding war with another ebayer. O_O Whatever works I guess.

I've given up trying to apply any sense of logic to bidding on ebay.
Nobody said the best and brightest are bidding! If I bid like that, though, I would feel like an ass-hole.

[y-bot]

I rarely list items with buy it now but I don't see the point unless you have a reserve or a minimum bid that is near the buy it now price. Even this backfires sometimes though. I listed an NES prototype cartridge with a $250 BIN and a $200 minimum or reserve (I can't remember). Within a few hours of listing it someone bid $200 making it so no one else would bid on it and then never paid me.

Y-bot

[geelw]

I guess another topic could be "what is the point of buy it now with a low minimum and no reserve?". This theoretical auction has no reserve price.

Y-bot

sometimes a seller just wants to give folks a deal,or just wants to get rid of excess stuff without the hassle of bid wars and non-payers afterward. not every seller on e-beg is a greedy gimme-monster who shills up every "rare" item. last year, i got about 20 pc-engine and saturn import games (some tough to find) for about 4 bucks each on average from one seller who just wanted to get rid of stuff as quickly as possible. he later sent me an e-mail thanking me for NOT asking a million questions before bidding. his mailbox was full of "how come this is so cheap?", and "are these copied games" messages...

if the BIN seems affordable on an item that usually goes for more (and the seller isn't a scammer, lol) then DON'T question it or waste time thinking out loud here- BID. if you're THAT worried about sniping another board member, just PM him/her and say "hey, i'm interested in that item as well, and perhaps work something out that'll not cause any bad blood. or not- the battlezone awaits any and all new combatants, lol... :-D

[y-bot]

@geelw I don't disagree with you. My quote in your post is referring to a particular auction which had a buy it now price of $150 and a minimum bid of $25 with no reserve. That is what I'm saying I don't understand the point of. The buy it now price is only good until the first person looks at it and bids the minimum. What I was saying has nothing to do with someone offering an item with a low buy it now either because they didn't know or wanted to get rid of it fast. That's awesome when people do that. I would much rather sell something for a fair price to someone on this board than put it on ebay but most of us (myself included) will only pay a fraction of what certain things sell for on ebay. I'm not worried about sniping another board member. There are a few people that I have made trades with before that I would not outbid on ebay but just because you frequent this message board doesn't mean I wouldn't bid against you. I'm not really that mad at the person who bid on this item and I may or may not bid against him in this auction I just thought it was a kinda lame move on his part. If the item ends up going for less than the $150 buy it now price then I guess I'm the one that was wrong.

y-bot

[kevincure]

As for emailing the seller, I think I've bought more stuff by emailing sellers and having them end early then by actually bidding on items. As a seller, if I get contacted in the first couple days, I usually will end the auction early and sell it if the offer is a good price.

As for BIN, I don't use reserve prices, so I've never had anyone bite on them. I set my BIN's at prices that are basically top 5% of what the item will go for, but you get lucky sometimes :-).