ebay (and other) auctions with insane prices

[undamned]

So, take an eBay lesson from uncle shmuppyLove -- enter the maximum you're willing to pay as early as you can, and you will never <airquotes>lose</airquotes>. I put lose in airquotes because you may not win the item, but you didn't pay more than you were willing to either. And, if you're lucky, sometimes you'll win it for less than the max you were willing to pay.

I think hard and long about what the item is worth, what I'm willing to pay, and then snipe using that value. A few reasons for this:

1.) I find that when I bid early, some idiot feels compelled to see his/her name at the top of the list like 3 days before it ends.

2.) I'm not sure what to call this one, but I'll go with "perceived value." I've noticed this more so on JP auctions, but when people are surfing goods and see something obscure with no bidders they often write it off as worthless. But that same item with a few bids on it is all of a sudden desirable. I try and hide my intentions from those clowns as long as possible.

3.) Although there could be the $30,000 guy that you will never beat, many times you just have "panic bidders" that peck away a few dollars at a time during the last few seconds. If you take them by surprise, they don't have time to up their bid.

By the way, air quotes are for when you are talking. When you are typing, you can use regular quotes
-ud

[Casey120]

Early bidders only tempt other fools to seek out their max. bid and lures them into going a little further than they normally would just to be the number one for that short moment .
I always take a figure in my head and bid that in the last 10 seconds and I shall never understand people who bid early because it makes no sense whatsoever .

Unless I sell of course , then I adore the early bidders

[nem]

WALL OF TEXT

(invisible, unless becomes the new high bidder)

Wait, really? That's fucking stupid.

This has to have changed at one point, because I don't remember it being like this back when I used eBay (like five years ago).

[drauch]

I always just go ahead and bid the maximum I'd like to pay at the beginning most of the time. I don't understand how early bidders "tempt others." If anything, someone bidding early means there is a demand for it, thus already proving that there is a chance someone will outbid you, or someone has already anxiously been waiting for this item. I dunno. Snipping sucks, so I don't do it. I think it's for goddamn cowards.

[undamned]

cowards

... that have your stuff!
-ud

[drauch]

I know... That's why I'm so upset!

[Skykid]

(invisible, unless becomes the new high bidder)

Wait, really? That's fucking stupid.

This has to have changed at one point, because I don't remember it being like this back when I used eBay (like five years ago).

I think it's always been that way. Essentially, if your maximum is higher than a lower bid placed, all it does is continue to flag you as the high bidder. I agree it's a bit crappy, as it hides obvious shill bidding up to the 99% of maximum mark.

[Dave_K.]

I just bought an untested Mini Cute , was this a good price ?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Capcom-Mini-Cut ... 0813483291

Shipping was pretty cheap for such a huge cab !

Can someone explain to me how a single bidder can push up the price from $1,075.00 to $5,499.99?

I'm pretty sure you can't bid against yourself.

That auction had a reserve price, and all bids under that amount were below the reserve. The final bidder bid over the reserve, thats why you see a gap in the bidding prices.

I'm pretty sure you can't bid against yourself.

Shill bid an extortionate maximum, use a second shill account to push said maximum up to a certain point (invisible, unless becomes the new high bidder), and then hope one genuine bidder is duped by the high value to place a single winning bid. I'm quite confident if someone had bid $5,500, they would have instantly won a broken Mini Cute.

What the heck are you talking on about here? Invisible what? It was a reserve auction, plain and simple. BTW its very easy for eBay to detect shill bidding, so don't even bother or they will permaban you.

[Skykid]

What the heck are you talking on about here? Invisible what? It was a reserve auction, plain and simple. BTW its very easy for eBay to detect shill bidding, so don't even bother or they will permaban you.

Don't shoot the messenger, I didn't know it was a reserve auction. I just assumed it was a shill bid, and not a genuine bid: it's five and a half grand ffs!

(Invisible, as in, the guy with the maximum bid is always noted as auction leader, the names of bidders that stoked up his final bid amount aren't visible, are they?)

[Dave_K.]

Sorry, didn't mean to shoot the messenger, but this is just plain wrong. You can always see a history of everyone's maximum bid, except for the highest bidder (of course). The two classic shill bidding examples are that the shill bid could reveal what the highest bidder's maximum amount is if the shill amount is greater. Typically then the shill bidder would retract their bid, and make another bid just under the high bidder's max. Or the shill bidder could be the first bid, which is an ungodly amount, which causes everyone who bid after to loose and show their maximum bid. Then the shill bid retracts leaving the last highest bidder as the winner. Anyway in both cases, the retacted shill bid, and any other shill bid under the maximum (first case) are shown in this bidding history so nothing is invisible.

[Skykid]

Or the shill bidder could be the first bid, which is an ungodly amount, which causes everyone who bid after to loose and show their maximum bid. Then the shill bid retracts leaving the last highest bidder as the winner. Anyway in both cases, the retacted shill bid, and any other shill bid under the maximum (first case) are shown in this bidding history.

Ah I see. Shows how often I use ebay these days. I had no idea all bids under the highest current maximum were on show.

[nem]

That auction had a reserve price, and all bids under that amount were below the reserve. The final bidder bid over the reserve, thats why you see a gap in the bidding prices.

So you can raise your bid when it's a reserve auction?

BTW its very easy for eBay to detect shill bidding, so don't even bother or they will permaban you.

I once contacted eBay about a 100% sure case of shill bidding. Seller had a dupe account that he would use to raise the price of items, and if he accidentally won the item, he would just put them up back up for sale. Nothing ever happened to the seller. This was years ago though.

[Dave_K.]

So you can raise your bid when it's a reserve auction?

Yes, if your maximum bid is under the reserve, you can always put in a higher bid toi raise your maximum.

I once contacted eBay about a 100% sure case of shill bidding. Seller had a dupe account that he would use to raise the price of items, and if he accidentally won the item, he would just put them up back up for sale. Nothing ever happened to the seller. This was years ago though.

I don't know what their policy is for shill bidding, maybe there is/was a 3 strikes rules or something, or pehaps its multiple people bidding up each others items and they wait to take down the entire ring. I'm sure policies have evolved over the years.

[undamned]

I don't know if it's due to the sheer volume of auctions, but it seems that their action regarding violating/questionable auctions changes with the winds. Maybe one day the super militant guy is working and another day the guy who doesn't give a hoot.
-ud

[rancor]

Fuck me! $114 for a 32pg DDP SDOJ doujin book? lol.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/C83-doujinshi-D ... 53f2d4d48b

[moh]

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Legend-of-Zelda- ... 609wt_1277

. . .

[BIL]

...

...still, it's a better deal than the $30,000 AF3 boot!

>_>



I think this topic has gone a bit beyond "insane" after the last few months. Now it's at "we can't find the patient's eyeballs. We believe he ate them" level.

[moh]

but at least that boot had effort put into it...

[Skykid]

20k for a copy of Twilight Princess in a plastic box. Nice. Does anyone know how the VGA can tell its been 'uncirculated'?

[moh]

20k for a copy of Twilight Princess in a plastic box. Nice. Does anyone know how the VGA can tell its been 'uncirculated'?

The video game authority is just a couple of coke-addicts with a magnifying glass.

[undamned]

I'm not anti VGA for cardboard boxed games (I used to collect sports cards / comics, so knowing the exact condition of a paper product is highly desired. 99.9% of ebay photos do not do such justice.), but grading CD/DVD media is just strange to me.
-ud

[Ed Oscuro]

I'm anti-"grading authorities" that don't even pretend to follow the market. I don't care that they're trying to make a new market; if their 'service' is worthwhile to people, they'll get business - but I'm surprised they're still holding on their given how outrageous their prices are. I'm still waiting for them to suffer a massive come-down to more reasonable prices.

It's not at all like Beckett where people said "they did their research," it's more like "lol wut" every time you see one of their listings. It has no credibility whatsoever.

[undamned]

I'm anti-"grading authorities" that don't even pretend to follow the market.
...
I'm still waiting for them to suffer a massive come-down to more reasonable prices.
...
It's not at all like Beckett where people said "they did their research," it's more like "lol wut" every time you see one of their listings. It has no credibility whatsoever.

Maybe I totally blanked out when I last visited the VGA site (which is entirely possible), but all I remember was them charging for grading the condition and then putting it into a nice case. Do they actually estimate market value now? I just thought insane pricing was from collectors going bonkers.
-ud

[Skykid]

I'm with -ud that at some point a recognised grading authority wouldn't be a bad thing for classic videogames, but not one that focusses on examining plastic seals: that's just a farce in itself (anyone could do that job.)

The comics grading system is very intricate, but also helps collectors at home to certify the condition of their goods - you don't have to send it off to a mythical authority just to get an 'official' stamp of approval, you can just do it yourself. It would help with eBay listings, which thrive on being vague enough that you have to ask several questions before purchasing, and then it still turns out to be below what you were promised on arrival.

[RaidenViper]

Holy shit...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121062811693

[shmuppyLove]

[Paradigm]

Stealthlurker is that you?

[moh]

Holy shit...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121062811693

its so hard to tell what is even a fair price with stuff like this.

[shmuppyLove]

Holy shit...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121062811693

its so hard to tell what is even a fair price with stuff like this.

I'd wager $550,000 is a bargain for everything that's included.

Now why you'd want like twelve PS2's is beyond me, but still ...

[undamned]

Holy shit...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121062811693

its so hard to tell what is even a fair price with stuff like this.

I'd wager $550,000 is a bargain for everything that's included.

Well, he does have that sweet Seiko FF watch...
-ud