Buying eBay lots

[ownerizer]

I've recently contemplated buying eBay lots of certain systems I wanted to expand on. Mainly Gamecube and original Xbox. I've encountered a bit of a problem though. They're all stupidly priced. Seems hardly any of them worth anything is being run auction style and the others are a set price with "best offer", which gives me the feeling, that the seller is way too proud of their stuff.

Opinions? Should I just stick with garage sales and thrift stores? Usually, I feel if I can't get them for $4 a game or less, for a common game, I just pass. I felt that if I was buying a lot of games I wouldn't want to pay more than $2 a game. Am I just being unrealistic?

[InsaneDavid]

It's always hit or miss both ways. The problem is eBay is chasing away a lot of the auction style sellers and also completely forgetting that their whole site is supposed to be online AUCTIONS. It's less frequent but you can still find some nice lots here and there. Remember, as with buying a bulk lot in person, you have to keep what you want and sell / trade what doesn't interest you. Getting a feel for this is how to be successful with bulk game purchases. Don't make it a second (or first) job, stick with what you enjoy, have fun, and you'll be golden.

Also sometimes making your own lot from a bunch of items from the same seller is a great way to get some games you're after. Hasn't happened in a long time but if a seller is only asking like $0.50 to $1.00 additional shipping charge per item after the first, you can clean up. About five years ago I built my entire Japanese Saturn library up that way. There was a seller with decent games that were all fairly mid demand, a few hundred titles, all listed separately starting at $0.99. The auctions were to end mid-week in the early morning hours and most games were still sitting unbid at $0.99 or with a single bit sitting at that value. I made a list of the games I wanted and the stuff I'd take to try out if it was cheap enough. My strategy was to manually feel out the price and bid on the stuff I wanted in the closing moments. I did this in rotating intervals to get a price feel and noticed that there were a couple other people up trying to do the same thing. So I tied them up with the higher value / demand games, playing the buck back and forth game while I consistently won game after game for $0.99 or $1.51 or whatever in the meantime.

It was pretty nice to be able to check out a bunch of imports for not that much cash. Eventually I sold a bunch of them off for cheap here, especially when I relocated awhile back. However a good chunk of my modest import Saturn library came from that one night.

[ugly_monster]

supposed to be online AUCTIONS

Not supposed, that's just how it started. As a buyer I'd rather have Buy It Now with Best Offer opposed to auction style because everybody bids in the last 5 seconds. That's not how auctions go. I could just put a high bid in at the beginning but again, that's not how auctions go. It's been beat to death but winnings go to the last bidder, not the highest.

ownerizer give it a shot. I think the reason alot of people but best offer is because they don't know what it's worth, not because they think it's worth alot. As long as you aren't being a complete ass with your offer I think most sellers will consider it.

[Griking]

Not supposed, that's just how it started. As a buyer I'd rather have Buy It Now with Best Offer opposed to auction style because everybody bids in the last 5 seconds. That's not how auctions go. .

Personally I still prefer auctions. Buy It Now prices are usually high and wishful thinking on the seller's part. With auctions things can still slip by every now and then at a very reasonable price.

[Bojay1997]

Personally I still prefer auctions. Buy It Now prices are usually high and wishful thinking on the seller's part. With auctions things can still slip by every now and then at a very reasonable price.

Agree. I rarely if ever buy something with a BIN/Offer as the items tend to be outrageously priced and I don't want to insult the seller by offering them well below what they think is reasonable. In fact, when I search, I specifically exclude them. To me, an auction represents the actual market value and the people that really care about buying something will show up in the last minute and bid it up to a fair value. The last bidder is the highest bidder, so I'm not sure what ugly_monster was talking about. If the argument is that there might be someone else who would bid more if they had a few more seconds, that could be true, but they should have bid what they wanted to bid before that point. There could also be people who didn't know about the auction for whatever reason who would have paid more. That doesn't mean Ebay auctions aren't a fair reflection of market value over time as everyone knows the rules and bids accordingly.

[ugly_monster]

The last bidder is the highest bidder

All I meant is it's nothing like an auction. Auctions you bid back and forth until someone doesn't think it's worth that much. When you go to an auction they don't say whoever bids last wins, whether or not someone was willing to outbid them. If I just put the highest amount I'm willing to pay that's pretty much along the lines of the BIN "Or best offer".

I've had a couple of 50+ game lots where I offer about half of what the guy was asking (which was about $2 a game for me) and they've been accepted. I'd much rather do that than bid and wait a week hoping my bid stands.

Or when a Web of Fire sells for $.01 more than my high bid.

[Aussie2B]

I think the reason alot of people but best offer is because they don't know what it's worth, not because they think it's worth alot. As long as you aren't being a complete ass with your offer I think most sellers will consider it.

That hasn't been my experience. When I see an offer option on something I'm interested in, it's usually ridiculously overpriced. Like I'm talking $250 for something that isn't worth more than $50, or $40 for something that is worth less than $10. Because these things don't show up on eBay often (like obscure Japanese products), I still want to take a shot at getting them, but when I offer the true, fair value of the item, the seller thinks it's a joke, like I'm lowballing to the extreme. That is, if I even get the chance to have them consider the offer, because many have it set up to automatically reject offer below a certain amount (and reaching said amount would already be way overpriced).

And the sad thing is that the items will just sit on eBay for all eternity because practically no one but myself would be interested in this stuff, and even if they were, I'm probably willing to pay more. I'm the seller's best chance to selling their item for a reasonable amount of money, but because they're morons, the item will just sit and rot.

[Bojay1997]

All I meant is it's nothing like an auction. Auctions you bid back and forth until someone doesn't think it's worth that much. When you go to an auction they don't say whoever bids last wins, whether or not someone was willing to outbid them. If I just put the highest amount I'm willing to pay that's pretty much along the lines of the BIN "Or best offer".

I've had a couple of 50+ game lots where I offer about half of what the guy was asking (which was about $2 a game for me) and they've been accepted. I'd much rather do that than bid and wait a week hoping my bid stands.

Or when a Web of Fire sells for $.01 more than my high bid.

It's what's called a timed auction and Ebay is not the only place that does them. In fact, many physical auction houses run timed auctions on items nowadays. I don't think there is any evidence that people get less for their items sold in timed auctions than they do in a traditional real-time live auction. In fact, I suspect the time pressure and hype actually encourages people to impulsively bid higher than they ordinarily would just to protect their bid from being beaten by a small amount. It also protects against shill bidding which is why many people prefer to wait until the end anyway to bid. Yahoo auctions used to do a thing where the auction was extended by a few minutes if someone bid in the last minute. I don't think that really boosted prices and it probably scared away bidders who didn't like the uncertainty as to when an auction actually was over.

[ugly_monster]

I think I'm still just pissy because of the Web of Fire that I would have gladly paid $40.02 for so many years ago. I haven't paid attention to an actual ebay auction for over 5 years. Too much heartbreak.



As for the original post, I was just trying to say it's worth a shot. Make sure to send a message saying the offer is open for them to decide for the next few days. I only get offers accepted about 10% of the time, but that 10% is worth all the time wasted.

[Bojay1997]

I think I'm still just pissy because of the Web of Fire that I would have gladly paid $40.02 for so many years ago. I haven't paid attention to an actual ebay auction for over 5 years. Too much heartbreak.



As for the original post, I was just trying to say it's worth a shot. Make sure to send a message saying the offer is open for them to decide for the next few days. I only get offers accepted about 10% of the time, but that 10% is worth all the time wasted.

Not to further derail this thread, but the point is that you don't know and will never know if a bid of $40.02 would have won that game for you. For all you know, the other guy bid $50 more than you did and only had to pay $40.02 because you stopped at $40.01. If you had been able to keep bidding to a last best and final offer, you may have cost that guy a little more money which the seller may have appreciated, but you still would not have won. That's the point and attraction of Ebay auctions for many people. The possibility that you will actually get something for a little less than you think it's worth on occasion. BIN/Offers kill that excitement and fun and make Ebay just a more sophisticated version of Amazon Marketplace or even Craigslist.

[ugly_monster]

Agreed.

I was very jealous.

[InsaneDavid]

Winning an eBay auction for a low / reasonable price requires a bit of strategy, just as winning an item at a live auction does. It's part of the fun. As Bojay1997 stated, the timed auctions that eBay runs are nothing new or unique. This whole "I bid the maximum amount I wanted to pay with 5 days left on the auction, all those people who bid at the last moment are unethical" argument I see all the time (not here) is BS. They're auctions. The one that ends at 200% of market value means the one that ends five minutes after it might go for 20%. The auction aspect kept things interesting and there was always new stuff to check out.

In so many ways eBay has become what a lot of flea markets have become, the same people selling the same junk for the same exorbitant prices.

I look at it this way...

Winning an item off an auction is like setting a high score on a single credit.

Winning an item via a Buy It Now is like setting a high score by continuing - the kid with the most quarters will win every time, no matter what.

That's not to say I haven't bought items with BIN's. Sometimes it's the only way or the BIN is very reasonable or the starting bid amount is only a couple dollars less. I think "I'd bid it that high anyway, done."

Alright, enough from me, there will be no more thread derailments...

[Porksta]

At least with BIN people won't refuse to ship items out because they didn't get enough for it.

[Icarus Moonsight]

^^ ^^

Three simple rules, then put this baby tangent to bed...
When you know your price and are firm on it: BIN
When you know your acceptable range and are willing to bend a bit: BIN/OBO
When you have no idea at all and unwilling to look and find out or simply don't care: auction

[Casati]

My experience with Ebay lots is if I'm bidding on them, competing bidders will drive the price up to near fair market value, or higher, for each game. If I offer a lot for sale, I'll get over a hundred viewers with one snipe for the opening bid which is usually about $2 per CIB game before Ebay fees, so I take a loss. With a few exceptions, they generally don't work out for me.