All Replies on e-bay stupidity

Hey its only $5 shipping!

-- Doug...

Good point. I think the shipping from Bridge City is $8.00. Here’s a great chance to save $3.00 on shipping.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

That’s funny. Probably people thinking everything from Bridge
City is expensive and collectible.

If you sell power tools on Ebay, make a video showing that the
tool runs. Put “Video!” in your listing title. Other factors being
equal (used tool with no obvious problems) people prefer proof.
The video gives it to them.

Perhaps I am not representative, but I am not an ebay fan. After about 8 experiences, all negative, I have sworn off them entirely. Perhaps some folks get great deals, but that has not been my experience. The last was an order for some spectacular “Tasmanian Blackwood veneer”. When it arrived it looked nothing like the picture and I went through all the grunt of sending it back. Money refunded, only lost about $12 for shipping, and not ebay’s fault, but I am done. It’s not worth the hassle, particularly the “auctioning” thing. Only my opinion, but I definitely have it.
Roger

-- "Everybody makes mistakes. A craftsman always fixes them." (Monty Kennedy, "The Checkering and Carving of Gunstocks", 1952)

My parents used to go to local auctions all the time to find good buys on stuff, and you would always see people bidding 2 or 3 times as much as what the local stores charged for the same item.
But hey they got it at an Auction so it had to be cheaper, right !

That remind me when one of my neighbor borrowed my pick up and he dropped a tree on the tail gate.
I had to replace it.
I went to junk yards; they wanted more money for a used tailgate the I spend to buy a brand new one.

-- Bert

It’s up to $78 now. Is it really that hard to jump over to the manufacturer’s website and check the real price of it before bidding?

-- Matt - http://breakingboardom.wordpress.com/

11 Bids $86 dollars now… geesh!

Research people! RESEARCH!

I’ve come to wonder if there is a “shill” involved here… i.e. someone working the system? Pumping the price up artificially. Obviously I have lost all faith in the e-bay marketplace. Any of you who have bid on anything before have certainly encountered the vultures who perch on the last 15 seconds and strike so no one can respond. A time consuming game. Nothing would surprise me.

Roger

-- "Everybody makes mistakes. A craftsman always fixes them." (Monty Kennedy, "The Checkering and Carving of Gunstocks", 1952)

I’ve seen LN planes close well over retail there. I saw a welded 4 1/2 sell for over $120. To observe a similar phenomenon, search Ebay for gold/silver bullion.

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog

Bridge City has 2 for $10.95, ebay is a 4 piece set so it should be worth $86….......NOT http://www.bridgecitytools.com/Products/ST-4+Miter+Stitch+(R)+Set+(2PC)

-- Carpenter assembles with hands, Designer builds with brains, Artist creates with heart!

Hmmm… here it says the ST-4 stitch thingies are about $10….

http://www.bridgecitytools.com/Products/Miscellaneous+Tools/ST-4+Miter+Stitch+%28R%29+Set+%282PC%29

-- Dragonsrite, Minnesota

We have an auction house here & I see used things go for alot more than brand new???

-- Rick

I see this all the time on ebay, one time there was a special book for 125.00 and as usual I googled it and on amazon it was 5.00. When ebay started it was pretty good but now I have to look at 10 times the items to find the good and realistic deals

-- Happiness is being covered in sawdust

People buy new HF tools all the time and run them on Ebay.

-- Carpenter assembles with hands, Designer builds with brains, Artist creates with heart!

I never was able to have a good buy on EBay.
I do not even look at it anymore

-- Bert

It’s one thing to overbid on an “antique” or a collectible item of some sort. But what kind of idiot bids this much on a retail item whose value is easily verified? Amazing!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Folks can get into a bidding frenzy sometimes…..I’ve seen it happen alot on ebay…..Like when they end up paying $5.00 apiece for pen blanks that are available from Rockler for .90. Either the bidder is not aware of the value of the item….or they are just bidding to win – no matter what. It is also very possible that the owner has someone bidding to inflate the price.

I research the price for things prior to putting any bid on ebay. I decide my maximum price and will not go over this. I will bid at the end of the auction….so as to avoid the bid frenzy and to keep the owner from having someone drive up the price. I’ve gotten a few deals….but I do not buy alot from this venue….I am out of the bidding when folks go over my max price…at that point they are welcome to pay the inflated price

-- Woodworking.....My small slice of heaven!

I think a lot of people bidding on Ebay dont know the actual value of what they are bidding on. They assume the Ebay price is the best without looking anywhere else. I think its crazy to bid at all on anything until seconds before the bidding closes….snipe it. If you bid way ahead of time it just encourages those to keep trying to out bid you and it drives the price up. I have bought thousands of dollars of items on Ebay, and always have gotten a good deal, but you have to know what you are doing and know the price points.

-- Wayne - Plymouth MN

On the family farm we had a brush hog that we used once. It was way out of balance and vibrated terribly. We always said we were going to fix it, but we never got around to it. Because it was not used and stored in a shed, it looked virtually new when we sold our machinery with an auction. Someone paid almost twice as much as we paid for it new. After all, it looked clean and new. Of course, the reason it looked new is that it ran so poorly.

FYI – If anyone had asked how it ran, we would have been honest – - but no one asked.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

So it DOES happen when you sell stuff!

-- My broker promised me he would treat my money as if it were his own. Trouble is, he did.

That was 40 years ago and that was not on e-bay.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

Final sales price $116.01. Good Grief.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

I’m sorry but it’s not just e-bay stupidity, its buying stupidity period…

Its like they get an adrenaline rush I win, it’s mine…

-- Rick

When I buy on Ebay I almost always use a snipe program. I determine my maximum bid and I avoid the pissing contests that those bidders are in. I guess that makes me one of the “vultures” that win the auction in the last 5 seconds but it saves time and money. I can see how it would be annoying to a bidder watching the auction end. -Jack

I now think the seller should offer “Free” shipping for that scam.

-- Doug...

Good Golly!
They walk among us!

-- Gene 'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

Think I’ll buy some of these from Bridge City and put them up for sale on ebay. Surely the winner would like some more.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

that was insane at 61 bucks

-- Woodworkers theory of relativity - the quality of your scrap is relative to your skill level

Frankly I’ve noticed the same things happens on Craigslist. Items that can be bought brand new are listed used at or over retail price. Thought it was just me.

-- Don't rollerskate in a buffalo herd

At a live auction it can get as crazy..if not more so.. I was at one a couple of years ago, some nice tools, I was a winner a couple of times but the best
was watching a lady having the time of her LIFE ! She was buying all sorts of things, happy as a clam.. one was a box from a lot of 60 or more, the huge
incandescent light bulbs you put in a pole mount over the farm yard or such..must have been about 12 dollars. Then it’s time for the rest of the boxes.. the auctioneer, as is common, tries to offer her the rest or some of them at her winning bid..she’s too busy talking to a friend about the deal.. he finaly gets her attention..”oh..sorry..what did I buy..? ”

No idea what she was bidding on, but BOY was it fun !!!
Gotta wonder, and yes THEY DO WALK AMONG US.. ;-)

-- Glen, Vernon B.C. Canada

Rogerbean…I agree that good deals are harder to come by on ebay nowadays. I also agree there are a few games being played…BUT that last 15 seconds is no different than the last 15 seconds before the gavel drops in a real auction. That is how you win on ebay…nothing wrong with that.

Winning bid:
US $116.01

-- Chunk's Workshop pictures: http://spadfest.rcspads.com/thumbnails.php?album=135

Alright guys, here’s my money making scheme for the month of January. Have you ever noticed the price of antique draw knifes. You may have also noticed the price of a new draw-knife. Buy a couple of cheap draw-knifes. Throw ‘em out in the yard for 2 or 3 months. AND ! “PRESTO”!!! They’re antiques! Go forth and seek your fortune on E-bay. NOT TOOLS ! ANTIQUES !

Pop

-- One who works with his hands is a laborer, his hands & head A craftsman, his hands, head & heart a artist

rbterhune
Nope, nothing wrong with that; you’re right. The game will just go on without me. More stuff for everyone else. :-)
Roger

-- "Everybody makes mistakes. A craftsman always fixes them." (Monty Kennedy, "The Checkering and Carving of Gunstocks", 1952)

I’m more amazed that Bridge City actually sells anything that low in cost.

-- Hey, woodworking ain't brain surgery. Just do something and keep trying till you get it. Doc

Somebody please splain something to me. On ebay, at the beginning of bidding, with a few hours or days left, I enter the highest price I want to pay for the item, then what is the difference in being outbid in the last 15 seconds verses one minute after I enter my highest bid price?

-- david roberts, spinning Tales from Topographic Oceans, no, really.

There is no difference other than when you are outbid in the last few seconds you don’t have time to come back with a higher bid.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

I have always wondered if there was something funny about E-Bay bidding as well
You find an item with no bids whatsoever and send a bid in. Suddenly the bids start flowing in and what was a good deal turns overpriced quickly. I often think the sellers have secondary accounts that they use to create false bidding wars once you show interest in their items

-- Scott "Some days you are the big dog, some days you are the fire hydrant"

I don’t believe it. The seller is bidding on it or having someone else bid on it to make it look like it is worth something to try and get someone to bite. Don’t believe every bid that you see.
Twokids stole my thunder. But I t is definitley something that happens.

David, I use a “snipe” program. It places my bid in the last seconds of an auction, sort of like placing a sealed bid. This way you avoid being “king of the hill” when your bid is highest. Other bidders think they need/have to compete with you and that can ratchets the bid up to irrational levels. It also keeps me from 2nd guessing my maximum bid and participating in that kind of show. -Jack

This stuff always happens in swap meets also…

-- shdesign3.com

if you feel compelled, you can pm the bidders with a link to the retail price. I used to frequently buy items on ebay and my thought was that if you’re gonna be dumb enough to not do some homework on your potential purchase then you deserve to get ripped off. there were plenty of occasions though where the seller was just out of line either by listing their items in a sneaky, deceitful way or by straight up false advertising. In my book those sellers get no love, report them to ebay, pm all the bidders, and also pm the seller. I know there’s a group of ebayers who hunt out these shady sellers, they’re hilarious, they’re like “Dexter’s” of ebay.

vultures who perch on the last 15 seconds and strike so no one can respond

That’s really the only way to play the game. Otherwise all you’re doing is jacking up the price.

Although I wait until 5 seconds …

-- The Wood Nerd -- http://www.workshopaholic.net

I still don’t follow how sniping makes any difference. I’ve never bid on ebay, but I have on auctionarms.com. They have a proxy bid system, where you can enter the maximum price you’ll pay. The computer automatically ups the bid until the highest max bid among all bidders is reached. Wouldn’t this happen even if there’s a sniper?

-- My broker promised me he would treat my money as if it were his own. Trouble is, he did.

Up for auction is a finely engraved image of George Washington.
Starting bid: $10
Shipping: $15

-- "I hope that women never find out about duct tape. Once they do, men will no longer serve any useful purpose." - Dave Barry

ChuckV – - That’s funny. Thank you.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

jjohnston…yes you are correct. If someone on Ebay has a very high proxy, sniping wont work. The purpose of a snipe is to make just one bid before anyone else can respond. Sometimes if you find an item that doesnt have a lot of bids and its below the value, its best to wait up to near the end of the auction and dump a bid seconds before it closes rather than put it in hours or days before the end, because once you place the bid early, it will encourage others to try to beat you and drive the price up. If someone has a proxy you might be able to beat it too if you are bidding higher than the proxy seconds before the auction closes. Keeping in mind, you dont want to bid more than the true value of the item unless you really want it bad like a rare antique etc.

-- Wayne - Plymouth MN

JJohnston, Wayne explains it well.

When you “snipe” an auction your bid isn’t cast until the last 5 seconds or so. It’s more a sealed bid than a proxy bid. Your bid doesn’t add to a bidding frenzy and the price doesn’t get ratcheted up as much. IMHO it’s the only way to use Ebay. – Jack

Wayne gave a good explanation to JJohnston’s question. Just to clarify it further…. Sniping doesn’t always work, of course. If someone has a proxy bid set higher than your snipe, you lose. But that’s okay, because the whole secret to making eBay worthwhile is to never bid more than what you think is a good price.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"