ebay

Post by **d_harris** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 5:41 pm

Was it the nokia one from the carphone warehouse????

Post by **d_harris** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 5:42 pm

double post. oops

Post by **les** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 10:16 pm

just say NO

lol, nice one.

Post by **rayofleamington** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 8:48 pm

Has anyone ever tried to contact the paypal people regarding money they lost?!? I've wasted lots of hours just trying to find a way to contact them - it's a nightmare.

to be fair - paypal were nice and friendly and everything was 100% hunky dory once I'd found out how to contact them.[

Post by **Woodcroft** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 9:40 pm

Ebay is worrying but my advice is put bid in earley, once you've decided MAXIMUM your prepared to bid and then don't look at it again. If you dont get it no loss. If you get it you feel you didn't overspend. (even if you did)!
Another problem is people doing deals outside Ebay before and after auction ends. So when you think you have somthing you have'nt!
Having said that the person who sold me my moggy stuck to Ebay rules and sold it to me even though he was offered more after the auction

Post by **Peetee** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:46 am

once you've decided MAXIMUM your prepared to bid and then don't look at it again. If you dont get it no loss. If you get it you feel you didn't overspend.

That's true up to a point. But it's possible that by another method you don't end up paying so much and still win it.
I've always found earlier bidders are a pain (no offence

) because they set the whole process up for the highest bidder. here's a scenario: You see a car you want, your prepared to bid up to £800. Coincidentally there is someone else willing to pay the same. (that may sound unlikely but it happens a lot. Most people know what the thing is worth on the open market and have watched similar items for sale on ebay). With 5 days to go there is a bidding war between the two of you, the other bidder does single bids and keeps being outbid by your proxy bid. The price reaches £805 - just over your limit. Now you have not noticed this because your bids were proxy. Now the other bidder and anyone else interested has had 5 days to search around for a bit of extra money - he's fairly sure you are at your limit. With a few moments left on the auction they bid £810, just to be sure, and win it.
Now I said the other bidder was willing to pay the same - but he bid £810. What they have done is to second guess that the other persons limit is a round number. £10 is nothing compared to the cost of the car and any additional costs that you incur by picking it up etc etc. But that £10 is money well spent because of the advantage it gives when bidding.

The whole thing is a bit of a game. Liken it to buying a car face to face. The seller wants £1000. You make an offer pretending you can only afford £750. "Pah, I can't take less than £850" he says
You say "£800 cash and I'll throw in £10 for the fuel in the tank. CASH!"
Bingo. You got the car for what you wanted to spend.

On ebay most people are testing the water and putting in single bids below their limit thereby seeing how many people are interested. Then there is a rest period and the bidding goes bonkers at the last minute. I've often missed last minute bids cos I was busy doing something else - I'm sure I'm not the only one. Because of this you can end up paying a lot less that your limit because your only opponant is AWOL or resting on their laurels becaus they think they've won it on the cheap.
And it adds to the fun - If you don't win it so what. As you have rightly pointed out, set your limit. If it goes for more than that you can't afford it.

Post by **lynda** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:27 am

Another useful tip.... remember to log out of ebay if you're using a communal computer. One of my colleagues just bid for some concert tickets on my account by accident....