You've been Outbid - THANK GOD!

Just received one of those email alerts from eBay telling me someone has outbid me for one of those

"almost mint" really expensive rangefinders cameras.

 

Just got another one..."sorry you didn't win".

 

I've heard of buyers remorse..., but bidders remorse?

 

I have to stay off of eBay, else i'll get myself in trouble.

Amen

Ditto Amen

If you don't want to win, don't bid.

Who never wanted,maddest joy remains to him unknown. The banquet of abstemiousness surpasses that of wine."

I know this is a photo forum, but back when I was a kid, the local auto parts store had a cartoon on the counter. It showed the counterman digging in the middle of the catalogs. with wide eyes he exclaimed to the customer, "Holy Cow! That part costs xxx dollars! But you're in luck... they don't make it anymore!"

 

It sounds like you were perhaps luckier!

yes I went to a class reunion

" thank God for unanswered prayers"

"If you don't want to win, don't bid."

 

It's not so much the winning, it's the paying and explaining.

I saw a Canon AE-1 go for $1,000. The way I figure it, a bidder didn't want to get sniped by a last minute bid so he put in a max bid of $1,000. Then a sniper came in at the last minute and he wanted to make sure that he got it so he put in a bid for $1,000, popping the max bid to that level. It doesn't pay to be too smart.

Man I've been there. I'll bid on something and then see something at KEH I want more. I rub Buddha's belly, I count Rosary beads, I burn incense, I wail at the wailing wall just hoping I don't win. Doesn't work all the time though.

I guess this is why eBay rules the world (well, after Microsoft and Google).

Thomas, I know exactly where you are coming from....I keep bidding on Pentax K10Ds over here in the UK. I keep umming and aahhing about putting a slightly higher bid on, but I resist the temptation. And then I am relieved when someone outbids me. But I know if I win for the amount I'm bidding then I'll be happy....but will have some explaining to do :(

ebay would be just fine if the sellers gave an honest description of the item. Some do, but the liars have turned me away and I don't plan to be back.

Thank God that I've been outbid ! Yes it happened often with me, especially when I bid on the same exact item sold by different sellers twice, even three times. I figured something had to give.

Luckily after several months of therapy, I mostly stay the heck away from eBay.

Thomas, I wouldn't mind learning some new explanations. ;-)

Pre-Christmas online auctions are often going higher on cameras than simply purchasing the

same items at discount retail outlets. Many bidders pursue one another in the hunt, and lose

sight of market value of the items (and how do I know this?...ahem!) The best season is post-

Christmas, about mid-January when thousands are returning the results of their December

compulsions to the auction block and fewer are bidding.

walter degroot:

"yes I went to a class reunion "thank God for unanswered prayers""

 

LOL (big time)!

And even if I'm happy I won my wife says "what's that?"

I've gotten some real bargains up there. And, yes, sometimes, I get "sniped", but as far as I'm concerned, it went well. I look around to see what the item is currently going for in the open market - watch auctions of things I'm interested in, see what the dealers are charging, etc... I know, especially with film related items, things will get cheaper. If I'm interested in an item, I set the maximum I'm willing to pay. I refuse to get sucked up into the bidding war crap. And if someone wins an item by bidding the next bid level above me, so be it. Some of those snipers are schill bidders trying to get more money for the seller at the last minute anyway. <p/>It happened to me recently. The account that bid against me was brand new. (Yeah, it's possible that it was a newbie.) Anyway, it knocked me up to my max, and I just watched and did nothing. I won and within my maximum bid. I knew, that another item just like it would come up for sale eventually and I also found another one somewhere else for the same amount - I couldn't loose.

I used to buy old cameras.

I used to have a wife that required explanations.

Guess which habit I still have.

Like the man said when he sat down at the poker table, "I sure hope I break even; I really need the money."

I didn't realise until recently that the highest bid in any ebay auction is actually hidden from bidders, and the 'winning' bid is actually the second highest bid. There was a full explanation of this in the Guardian (UK) recently, the fine details of which went over my head but its apparently some method of ensuring a degree of 'fairness' in bidding, and of preventing shill bids. Anyone else read this?

Advice.

 

Bid what you want (only what you want) in the last 30 seconds. That's it

 

If you have had a glass or two of the good stuff, then don't bid

 

Wives wont wash with the that's been in the camera bag for ages - they are honed experts at that line allready

 

Learn how to find mis-spelt items - people don't bid on them

John - you misunderstood. The winning bid is the highest bid, but not necessarily the maximum the winner would have bid. Since e-bay works on putting in your maximum bid, you can win something without paying your max bid as long as you outbid the other bidder. So you could be bidding on a $50 item and enter a maximum bid of $100. The person below you bids a maximum of $40, so you will win at a bid of $41 even though you would have been willing to pay $100.

 

The highest bidder wins, just it might be less than the maximum they were willing to pay.

The French are trying to close down eBay in France saying that it breaches their auction rules but of course eBay is a broker not an auctioneer.