Rant & Rave: Ebay Auctions

[AdmiralKird]

If you bid before the last 20 seconds on an auction then you don't "get it."

I've been looking to get a telescope recently and about two decent ones have been placed on Craigslist in the past two months. I made an offer for one and the guy wouldn't budge on his price at all. A week later the exact same model appeared on ebay, New in box. Including shipping (which is substantial for size of these things), I got it for $20 cheaper than my lowest Craigslist offer.

[Richie Allen]

If you bid before the last 20 seconds on an auction then you don't "get it."

I've been looking to get a telescope recently and about two decent ones have been placed on Craigslist in the past two months. I made an offer for one and the guy wouldn't budge on his price at all. A week later the exact same model appeared on ebay, New in box. Including shipping (which is substantial for size of these things), I got it for $20 cheaper than my lowest Craigslist offer.

It was a lot cooler site 10 to 12 years ago when people didn't "get it" and most items were actually "auctioned," starting at .01 or .99 and people would bid on it throughout the week until it finally sold. You could find much better deals then, even if bidding wasn't at the last second. Now, everyone anticipates the no bidding so it's no longer really much of an auction site. People just list stuff for the price they want to sell it for and hope to get at least one bid. I think Ebay sucks these days.

[StatmanCrothers]

If you bid before the last 20 seconds on an auction then you don't "get it."

I've been looking to get a telescope recently and about two decent ones have been placed on Craigslist in the past two months. I made an offer for one and the guy wouldn't budge on his price at all. A week later the exact same model appeared on ebay, New in box. Including shipping (which is substantial for size of these things), I got it for $20 cheaper than my lowest Craigslist offer.

It was a lot cooler site 10 to 12 years ago when people didn't "get it" and most items were actually "auctioned," starting at .01 or .99 and people would bid on it throughout the week until it finally sold. You could find much better deals then, even if bidding wasn't at the last second. Now, everyone anticipates the no bidding so it's no longer really much of an auction site. People just list stuff for the price they want to sell it for and hope to get at least one bid. I think Ebay sucks these days.

yeah, i'm about to switch to the "buy it now" format for things I'm selling. the good ol' days are gone.

[stlouie_lipp]

Rant: I broke my 3 iron this weekend when I hit a tree on my follow through. It is a Ping i20 CFS stiff steel shaft. Of course being Ping, I would have to get a replacement directly from them for $100+ plus shipping.

Rave: Found one on ebay and it will be delivered on Friday for $82 total.

[IMADreamer]

I almost never sell on ebay any more. People always wait until the last second to bid and I get a week of having an ulcer wondering if my hand made piece of art is going to sell for $5 or $500. Screw that. Not to mention there are a lot of no pays any more.

It is extremely rare to get bargains any more too. I used to be able to pick up well played with toy tractors cheap and restore them and flip them for good money. Not any more.

[mikechamp]

Has anyone ventured into the realms of Quibids or other new auction sites? If so, how are those?

[Arthur Dent]

Quibids

I'm pretty sure that's basically a scam.

[tlombard]

Quibids

I'm pretty sure that's basically a scam.

Yes. Yes it is. At least as far as I'm concerned. I don't trust that there isn't some shady stuff going on in the background either. I looked at the site during the day and then again at three and four in the morning (worked overnights at the time) and the volume of competing bids seemed to be going at the same pace as what you would consider to be a more prime time for people to be on their computers buying stuff. Just seemed really odd to me.

I tried it once because I somehow got a bunch of free bids and I'll never go back there again. They make their money by charging you to bid. They may sell that fancy $500 gadget to someone for $20, but they've made over $1000 in bids to get to that point.

[Bo Hart]

Quibids

I'm pretty sure that's basically a scam.

Yes. Yes it is. At least as far as I'm concerned. I don't trust that there isn't some shady stuff going on in the background either. I looked at the site during the day and then again at three and four in the morning (worked overnights at the time) and the volume of competing bids seemed to be going at the same pace as what you would consider to be a more prime time for people to be on their computers buying stuff. Just seemed really odd to me.

Things may have changed, but at one time, they literally had language in their terms of service that basically said, "we reserve the right to use a bot to auto-bid if an auction is going to end at too low of a price." Basically the equivalent of an eBay "reserve price".

I don't think the sites are necessarily a scam, but it is basically the equivalent of playing the lottery.

[lukethedrifter]

I don't think the sites are necessarily a scam, but it is basically the equivalent of playing the lottery.

which is to say it's a scam.