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Smart Shopper Buying and Selling Vehicles Online (eBay, etc.)
225 messages, Last post on Sep 24, 2009 at 8:13 AM
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I really hated this idea for a while. Seemed rather silly to me when the whole idea of Ebay's bidding system is to put in the maximum you are willing to pay (the Ebay system will only show what the highest winning bid is, not the highest you are willing to pay). If someone is willing to pay more, then they will do so and win. But, I think there is something to what jlawrence said regarding driving up the interest. But it also involves how other people bid. MANY folks think the way to do it is to up your bid $1 at a time until you are the winner. It makes no sense to do it that way, but, unfortunately, this is why "sniping" has become necessary. If you wait till the last 2 minutes to place your bid (which, again, should be the highest amount you are willing to pay and NOT just $1 above the current bid), then, as long as you are willing to pay more than the current bidder, you will be the top bidder and those silly folks who try to up it $1 at a time won't have enough time to put in all the bids it will take to get ahead of you. Its a real strange lesson in Ebay psychology, I guess. Just take a look at the bidding history on some hot auctions that have ended. You'll see repeated bids from the same bidder in the span of a half hour or less. By the way, there are programs available that will "snipe" for you. You just enter the auction number, the price you are willing to pay, username, password, and the exact second you want to place the bid. The software will do it for you. Probably doesn't work too well if you have dialup internet service, but, in any case ... |
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That sounds good in theory but doesn't work so well in practice. It's all well and good to say that people should just bid the maximum they want to pay and then be done with it. But really, if someone wants an item and they place a max bid at, say, $350, is it really likely that they wouldn't actually pay $355 to get that item? This is the same psychology of people who say that car dealers should just say what their lowest price is, not understanding that there is no such thing. Like in the example above, if a car dealer says his lowest price is $10,000, is it really likely that he won't actually take $9990 for it? |
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I think that you are right. Let's say I am willing to pay $350 for something on EBay. I will NOT put in the $350 until the end. I don't want to let some kid playing on Ebay run me up to the max. Besides he might only be willing to bid $100 for the item. Let'em think that I might stop at $200. It is all a poker game. |
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that's why I said that, unfortunately, sniping has become necessary. But, in the case of maximum, it is what it is. If you had a maximum of $350 but, ultimately, pay $355, then $350 obviously wasn't your maximum. Same goes with that car dealer's lowest number. If your number changes, then it obviously wasn't your lowest or highest in these cases. When I put in my maximum for an item on Ebay, its my maximum. If someone bids just $1 more, its theirs because its above my max. That's what maximum means. |
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..the maximum is the number where, if you don't get it, you're happy you didn't bid more but rather kept your money... and if you do get it right at that figure, you think you may have overpaid just a little. Of course, the figure is necessarily not really that firm; too many variables involved. -Mathias |
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Out of 100 people that have placed a so-called maximum bid of $350, how many would refuse to pay $355 to buy it? Assuming they want the item in the first place. And assuming they know the definition of the word maximum. ;^) |
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... >>Its a real strange lesson in Ebay psychology, I guess. Just take a look at the bidding history on some hot auctions that have ended. You'll see repeated bids from the same bidder in the span of a half hour or less<<.. Welcome to the world of auctions .l.o.l. Ebay isn't too much different than going to an auto auction, except it's in "slooooow mooootion" .. watching 2,500+ vehicles in 10/15 different lanes and watching them blow through in 3hrs is a little faster, but the "theme" is the same .. When you are bidding on vehicles you should always have an number in your head, but don't lose it for $200/$500 ~ if it's a nice vehicle ... sometimes there is dealers at the auctions that will pay ALL the money and spend "out of the book", and unless it's a pre-sold or it's a specialty item, then it's not worth the $$ to me ... but as always, the nice clean low milers will always get Lot's more money ... and sometimes I will see some dealers not even pay the "going rate" for particular vehicles, they figure they can get the twin another day, another time .. -But- .. if it's your 5th trip to the auction to purchase the same vehicles and your going home with -0-, then there is probably a real good chance you don't know the market and your trying to steal something .l.o.l.. And just like Ebay, sometimes dealers (and private sellers) might have a "ringer" in the lanes that they are running their vehicles through, and in the heat of battle the last bidder might pay $500/$1,500 too much, I see it everyday .l.o.l.. the big difference is, on Ebay you have 5/7/10 days to make a decision, at the auctions you have 5/7/10 Seconds to make a decision .. When your bidding on a vehicle on Ebay, bid in the last 2/3hrs or less .. this way you can study the "buying" habits of the last bidders, the history of the vehicle, get an idea of where the price is going, who's bidding against you, and even if there is a ringer in the pack, that doesn't always mean the price gets inflated, it's just means that the seller is real anxious .. I hope this helps .. Terry. |
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If you are looking at more expensive cars, with reserves, probably only 5% or less sell in any given auction. It seems that Ebay is more an advertising vehicle for the dealers than an actual auction. Also, on the more expensive cars ($20K and up), once someone meets the reserve, they are rarely outbid, as most reserves are set at dealer lot prices anyway. I think most of the selling prices on these cars are negotiated over the phone or by e-mail, and then posted in the auction. I know mine was.. I just picked mine up in Chicago on 12/20. regards, kyfdx |
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| I emailed a question to the seller of a vehicle on Bay about whether he had clear title. He responded that the title was clear & in the hands of an escrow service. He offered to sell to me quick & cheap using this escrow service, which I was told would hold my $ until I received the car & told the escrow company that the car was as described & to send the $ to the seller. He emailed me a link to the escrow service site. It looked legitimate & almost fooled me, but checking by 'googleing' the escrow service's name, I got no hits, which seemed odd. Looking into it further, I found out that these phoney escrow companies are being used by crooks to defraud people. If you send them money it is immediately transferred out of the country & you've been robbed. There is no car. As soon as one phoney escrow site gets 'hot' they dump it & set up another. | |
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I bought a car on eBay. I must have bid on 10 cars before I bought this one. Many times, I was the high bidder but the reserve was not met. It was my experience that most car sellers on eBay are not motivated to sell the vehicle through ebay. I also had cars "pulled" 15 minutes before it ended when the car was very close to TMV. I recall it happening on one where the reserve was JUST met (probably by $100 or so). I wound up being a high bidder and felt I was close to the reserve. I called the seller and made an offer a few hundred dollars over what my "winning" bid was. They accepted it. They made a new auction with a BUY IT NOW price of what I offered. I think I got a great deal. I will agree that for many dealers, it's like advertising, or cheap advertising. I think eBay should discourage dealers from listing cars online - or make them pay more to list it. It was frustrating to know that I was dead serious about buying a car and the people advertising vehicles on ebay were not. Another thing, I don't believe that you are obligated to buy that car if you get there and don't want it. By law, they couldn't keep your money. I don't know for sure however. I would think that if the car was crap, the worst case scenario is bad feedback and maybe suing them to get a deposit back. They may tell you that you can't get your money back, but I would think that if push came to shove, then you could get it back. Buying online is not a bad thing, and if you get a great deal, but it turns out you don't like the vehicle, you should have recourse. This is America. Everything is possible. |
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