I have seen the prices of razors go up over the past 3 years. I am very selective of what I bid on and was bidding on a nice razor with a reserve. I ended up being the highest bidder at a price that was more than fair considering condition and lacking a case but I didn't reach the reserve. Seller just relisted it as a buy it now OBO for $100 more than my highest bid. I'm a bit disappointed to say the least...
Another reason to dislike Ebay
- Thread starter Dalejr
- Start date
I don't see this as a reason to dislike ebay?
seems more about sellers who put in "reserve" minimums..its what THEY want hoping you will bid at THEIR minimum..I hardley see these types of auctions actually sell successfully
Ebay... craigslist... Classified ads, antique malls, and garage sales. It happens.... some people are not based in reality when they price their items. Perceived value and actual can be drastically different.
That razor likely won't sell. Hey... he's just gonna pay the listing fees and not have a sale.
But, not a reason to hate ebay. Sometimes you get a deal, sometimes you don't.
That razor likely won't sell. Hey... he's just gonna pay the listing fees and not have a sale.
But, not a reason to hate ebay. Sometimes you get a deal, sometimes you don't.
Just the vagaries of ebay or any type of auction for that matter. The buyer determines the price they want to pay.
Wait until the last day of the auction and then PM him with an offer $5 less than your previous high bid.
Well, I see Ebay from another point of wiev since I live in Sweden. You hardly never find any good razors in the wild here, we dont have garagesales and our antiqueshops put big pricetags on everything. I have two choises, buy razors here, that's great but my last buy here was a dissapointment, or I can bid on Ebay.
I also think that you really cant blame Ebay, buyers bid and thats it! We all have a choice to make. Pull the trigger or not!
I also think that you really cant blame Ebay, buyers bid and thats it! We all have a choice to make. Pull the trigger or not!
I was not even aware it is possible to set a reserve. Can you see this in advance or is this a suprise afterwards?
yes, but my Craigslist selling experience is that buyers feel you should practically pay them to take away your items....I am trying to sell an armoire there worth $3500 and I can't even get $300 for it, and I sold snow tires with wheels with 2,000 miles, that I paid $980 for, and only got $200 for them, I had them priced reasonably but had to come way down to get rid of them.
Such is eBay foibles...you have the sellers who have no idea what they have, but they think it's "RARE, SUPER RARE, VINTAGE" and get dollar signs in their eyes. Such ones are hard/impossible to reality check. Then there's those that bargain price their items simply to get rid of them quick, or actually know what an item is valued at and price it accordingly. Keep your eye out for the latter, don't let the first ones get you down.
Nearly everything has gone up price wise on eBay the last few years...it's no longer the bargain bin it used to be. You can still find good deals, just have to keep your eyes peeled for them.
Nearly everything has gone up price wise on eBay the last few years...it's no longer the bargain bin it used to be. You can still find good deals, just have to keep your eyes peeled for them.
Evil ebayers - those who don't know what an item is worth and make outrageous BINs or reserves or starting prices
Good ebayers- those who don't know what an item is worth and like a rube let their rare item go for peanuts.
the former are vilified for their lack of knowledge, the latter are celebrated.
Why aren't the collective you just ignoring the former?
Good ebayers- those who don't know what an item is worth and like a rube let their rare item go for peanuts.
the former are vilified for their lack of knowledge, the latter are celebrated.
Why aren't the collective you just ignoring the former?
A seller has the ability to set a "reserve" price when they first list the item. This is a form of insurance for a seller that feels "If I can't get at least '$x.xx' for this item then I don't even want to sell it.".
When you are looking at items with a Reserve price, you will see a label indicating "Reserve Not Met" beneath the current bid price. If you bid on the item and become the high bidder, yet are still below the reserve, eBay will let you know. You get a message that reads something along the lines of "You are the current high bidder but reserve is still not met." You then of course have the option to up your bid.
Once the reserve price of an auction is surpassed, those messages disappear and you wont be able to tell if there was ever a reserve.
It is against eBay policy to reach out to a seller on a reserve auction to attempt to find out what the reserve price actually is. The reserve price is hidden and is only known by the seller.
I have had incidents in which I was the highest bidder but I did not meet the reserve. The auction ended and I did not win. Later in the day I was contacted by the seller with a "second chance offer" in which he/she agreed to accept my initial bid. Rare, but it does happen.
I try not to get too mad at eBay. I have the option to bid or not to bid at any time. Almost every dispute I've ever had has been resolved to my satisfaction. eBay is certainly not the treasure trove it once was, but there are still some great deals out there. The real issue is that the "innocence" of eBay has, for the most part, been lost. Now the bay is filled with people that know how to to get the most money possible for each item. People pay to take classes to learn how to maximize listing potential. Stores sell items for people, etc.
With ebay, you win some and you lose some. I'm on a personal restraint from eBay for the near future.....
To piggyback on this I had located a listing for a cased Gillette Aristocrat which turned out to be a fat handled Tech in an Aristocrat case. The seller had a price of over $60 and a buy it now option. So I made the seller an offer and pointed out the fact the razor was not an Aristocrat. My offer was rejected.
I guess the "reserve" option is not used very often as I have never seen it.
I think I would pass because of general principle. "If you have a minimum price, start the bidding there."
Most auctioned razors go for more than I am willing to pay. Nearly all of my ebay purchases were BIN's.
I think I would pass because of general principle. "If you have a minimum price, start the bidding there."
Most auctioned razors go for more than I am willing to pay. Nearly all of my ebay purchases were BIN's.
I am NOT an eBay seller. (I think I've sold about 10 items on eBay since I joined almost 10 years ago.)
I did sit in on one of the "How to sell on eBay" classes that was offered at a local library, just to see what it was all about.
There was much debate over the psychology of the eBay buyer. Some felt that a low starting bid, say .99c, would get some people excited about the auction and people would start to bid. In this case, the Reserve option would protect a buyer. On the other hand, someone said that statistics showed that Reserve auctions have an extremely high rate of NonPay and relisting. The thought process was that many people would start to bid higher than they were willing to pay just in an attempt to "uncover the reserve". Once they did, they would feel, "Oh crap, I bid more than I want to pay and now I'm the high bidder." Hence the high incidence of NonPay on these auctions.
To your point, the principal of all of this is "I want to make as much money as possible" as opposed to "I no longer want this item and I want to sell it for a fair price." Both of these mindsets are perfectly fine, it's just that we as eBay buyers need to be conscience of our limits.
I am too often guilty of the gambler mentality of "winning and losing" on eBay. This desire to "win" auctions has caused me to pay more than I should have, hence my current eBay restraint promise.
- Thread starter
- #16
That was the point I was trying to make... Bidding on the item, to win but not win was a waste of my time and the sellers...
That is definitely an appropriate option. My point was just that people that are trying to make as much money as possible often don't do this because they feel a "low starting bid" will generate more traffic to the listing. This is the technique taught at these "Sell your stuff on eBay" classes. This is why you sometimes see the words "Low starting bid" right in the title of the auction. People are attracted to thinking they will get a deal. Once they are a part of the auction, they are more likely to stay engaged and continue to increase their bid. A starting bid of .99c is much more appealing to someone searching for a deal than a starting bid of $49.99.
Supply and Demand. They will supply it, but demand a certain price. The main factors that effect the price are lack/abundance of supply and lack/abundance of demand. If they can get some sucker to buy it for an outrageous over inflated price, well then good for them. Here is an example of S&D. A local municipality near me borrowed $34.5 million dollars to build an independent cable company to give viewers a choice and they just sold it to the only bidder for $150,000. What a bargain!
I don't dislike ebay, just the people who ran up the fees and gobbled up PayPal. In the end, to sell on there is a confiscatory experience. I recently considered selling a hi-fi amplifier there. It would have sold for around $575.00. Fees on the sale would have been almost $50.00. Then PayPal would have confiscated another 3%, roughly $17.50 for just processing a payment. I decided to list the amp on a hi-fi site. The ad cost $4.00 and the final value fee was around $11.00. I insisted on a personal check so no PayPal fees were involved.
Ebay exists because there is a wider market for things than you would have if you listed on a site or on Craigslist. The amp mentioned above was worth what it was worth. Nobody was going to come out of the woodwork and bid $900.00 on it. So ebay serves best with collectibles with an unknown or uncertain top end value. In other words, if you have a rare piece, exposing it to a worldwide marketplace makes sense.
I do hate Christine Whitman, who jacked up all the fees and made it much more difficult to make ebay sales pay. She looks like George Washington.
Ebay exists because there is a wider market for things than you would have if you listed on a site or on Craigslist. The amp mentioned above was worth what it was worth. Nobody was going to come out of the woodwork and bid $900.00 on it. So ebay serves best with collectibles with an unknown or uncertain top end value. In other words, if you have a rare piece, exposing it to a worldwide marketplace makes sense.
I do hate Christine Whitman, who jacked up all the fees and made it much more difficult to make ebay sales pay. She looks like George Washington.
I know that reserve pricing always turns me off as a buyer, so I take the same approach as a seller and never place a reserve. Instead, I start the opening bid at a price that I am willing to part with the item for. While I hope for a bidding "war" and to sell the item for an outrageous price, I'm happy with one or two bidders taking it to its fair and reasonable price point. If that doesn't happen, then the solitary bidder gets my item for a deal, and at least I've covered my "reserve."
Dalejr, you have every right to be honked off and disappointed with the outcome of that auction . . . but your target should be the seller, and not eBay. And, yes, I'd make an offer late in the game for less than your bid, if for no other reason than to rub the seller's nose in it. If he refuses and keeps re-listing it, keep on making lower and lower offers. Make a game of it, and have fun!!
Dalejr, you have every right to be honked off and disappointed with the outcome of that auction . . . but your target should be the seller, and not eBay. And, yes, I'd make an offer late in the game for less than your bid, if for no other reason than to rub the seller's nose in it. If he refuses and keeps re-listing it, keep on making lower and lower offers. Make a game of it, and have fun!!
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