Ebay no longer rocks for me...

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blksn8k

blksn8k

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Had to take advantage of the new category. :D

Anyway, has anyone actually won an auction lately? I need a few hard to find parts for my 70 Mach 1 project and it seems like every time I bid on something I get outbid in the last five seconds. I used to think swap meets had become the playground of parts dealers and now Ebay has followed suit. The people who actually need the parts cannot get them at fair prices. Its great if you have some piece of crap you want to get out of your garage but heaven forbid you actually need something. And to make matters worse the only purpose swap meets serve today is for the parts dealers to find stuff to sell on Ebay. No wonder restored cars are so freaking expensive... :angry:
 
Ebay has run its course for me also. Its harder to find the good deals you once were able to find. I now pretty much buy and sell using Craigslist.com. Its free and alot less trouble
 
More and more people are using programs such as bid snipe to wrongly win auctions....



I search for the buy it now, or the auction where the title is spelled wrong or something that people cant easily find due to the spelling...



Todd Z
 
Todd Z, how exactly is sniping wrong?



The way I see it most all snipers come in at the last minute and pay what is a reasonable price for an auction that would otherwise go too low. They end up paying what the market bears, typically so they can turn around and resell and make a profit, or get a good deal for themselves. So, if it is a good deal for them, why is it bad...other than the fact that the original, would-be winner doesn't get the item for a lower price?



TJR
 
blks,



Start your bid with what you are willing to pay given what you think the item could possibly bring. Classic car parts are in demand and different times, depending on what parts collectors need at any point in time. My bro-in-law has a bluebird he is rebuilding and has been trying to get parts for 2 years on eBay. He could pay more if he wanted to wait less....supply and demand.



TJR
 
I've not had any problems with either buying or selling. Ending sell prices are always favorable to me and when buying, yeah I get out-bid a lot in the last few seconds but that's part of the game. If it weren't someone else last second bidding, it would be me. I know some use a snipe program but I really don't see that as a bad thing since it is also readily available to me if I so choose. So far, I haven't chosen to do so.



It really does suck though when you need a particular part that doesn't show up to often but you just have to decide what it is worth to you and bid accordingly. Lots of patience helps as well.
 
The way I see it most all snipers come in at the last minute and pay what is a reasonable price for an auction that would otherwise go too low.
Click to expand...



So your saying use computer programs to raise prices to what the item should go for ???

The seller should start the bidding at what they want, if they started to low, shame on them...





other than the fact that the original, would-be winner doesn't get the item for a lower price?
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The original winner gets pushed out of the way unfairly.... If the user was fast enough to do it by clicking on the mouse, then good for them, they deserve to win....



I would love to find out if the stuff I sell was won with sniping and refuse the sale... To be greedy on the extra couple of bucks is not worth it to me... So i don't sell On ebay any more...



Todd Z

 
IMHO, I agree that eBay has become way too pricey for certain type of items. If you can find it on Craigslist, it's usually cheaper (certain PCs/Macs for sure)! Plus, as a seller, after eBay and PayPal take their cut, is it really worth it? On eBay, the buyer and seller are paying for the exposure.
 
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I'm confused. What is the difference between a sniping program and how ebay is already set up? Ebay allows you to enter a maximum dollar amount that you are willing to pay -- but only puts your bid as high as needed to lead the bidding. If the price goes above what you are willing to pay, you lose -- who cares if that happens in two days before an aution ends or in the last 5 seconds. That is how an auction works. If you aren't putting in a max value you are willing to pay, its your own fault that you lose.



Am I missing something?



I have bought 3 guitars off ebay and bid on several others. The 3 I bought I got great prices on.



Rocks

 
I routinely use esnipe if I want to bid. It frees me from the need to be at the PC at the end of the auction and removes the temptation to exceed my limit. I don't consider it unfair as it is a tool that can be used by anyone and fees are low. I have definitely noticed prices increasing- when I started in 2000 I bought a working medical laser for $350.00, now it would be $2000 plus.
 
The people who actually need the parts cannot get them at fair prices.
Click to expand...



Is eBay doing this, Or is it the free market doing this? 2 people want an item. You are willing to pay 10.00 for something. I come along and offer $11.00. Do you get mad at the seller, me, or yourself? If you are not willing to pay $11.00 for what you were bidding on, why get pissed when other people are willing to buy for a higher price.



Swap meets got exactly what they deserved. Swap meets used to be a deal, and then they got greedy. (Supply and demand?) Then eBay came along. People now know you can get almost anything on ebay, NOT FROM EBAY, for a good price. Since everyone is now on ebay buying stuff from other people, NOT EBAY, it is guys like you and I that are selling stuff. eBay does not sall anything.



You can only blame those that hae more disposible money to pay more for parts than you are willing to pay. This is not eBay marking things up. This is the market working. If all the items were "buy it now" and the cost is high, then the sellers are to blame. If it is an auction and the buys are out bidding you, that is the market saying it will bear a higher cost for the goods they want.



I just don't see where this is a problem.





Tom
 
I used to buy a lot off ebay but it's hard to get a really good deal anymore. Still a good place for sellers though. I frequently see items going for higher prices then internet retail stores sell them. Especially when you add in the outrageous shipping rates some charge. I guess a lot of people don't bother to shop around first.
 
I agree with TomT. Some people don't bother to shop around. There are people out there that think that just because it is sold on eBay that it is a good price. If folks would only do a pricegrabber search or some other kind of comparative search, a lot of times they could save some cash.
 
Ebay runs its auctions similarly to how actual in-person auctions have been run for centuries. If someone wants something, and is willing to pay a higher price than anyone else, they can jump in anytime until the auctioneer says "Sold!", and make their bid. Don't blame the auctioneer simply because he's gotten more technologically advanced and is reaching a greater bidding population. As the saying on some of the local auction circuits goes, "Pay up or shut up."
 
I think we have gotten a little off-topic from my original post. My problem is with where Ebay has gone for collector car parts. In my opinion, most of the parts are just changing hands between dealers and very few are actually being bought by people who will install them on their car. That's no different than what has happened with swap meets. Since the end user, me, is not willing to pay these outrageous prices the auctions are being won by dealers who think they can resell the same part a week later at a much higher price. For example, on Sunday there was an instrument cluster listed that I need for my project. I bid the price higher than what I really wanted to pay but in hopes that I would at least be able to get the part at a somewhat reasonable price. Believe me, this particular part is very hard to find. I was outbid by $5. The part sold for $765. I have seen this same part sell for over $1100. No lie. Five years ago I probably could have bought the same part for less than $100. In my opinion Ebay and Barret-Jackson, etc. are ruining the hobby by making it the playground of the rich and foolish.
 
blksn8k,



I agree. That is the way it is. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the middle class is eroding. You find yourself from being able to afford toys to only being able to afford a roof over your head. That is the first sign that you are heading towards the poor side.



It sucks. People with disposible income run the price up on everything. I was reading an article about Key West. The cost of real estate is so high down there, they will have to start busing workers in from Homestead, FL about 180 miles to Key West just to go to work.



You just have to deal with it.



If everyone quits buying stuff, the dealers can only move so much stuff between them before they have no choice but to drop the price.





Tom
 
blksn8k, actually, I don't think we got off-topic at all. Ebay and Barret-Jackson aren't "ruining the hobby by making it the playground of the rich and foolish". They're just providing a means for people and businesses to buy and sell their wares. If the hobby is being ruined by beecoming the playground of the rich and foolish, the fault lies with the "rich and foolish". If you were outbid by $5, you could have bid more. If you're not willing to bid more, that's not the fault of Ebay, nor of the buyer who was willing to pay more, nor of the seller who wanted to get as much as possible for their wares. If you could have gotten one for $100 five years ago, and if you wanted one for that price, you should have bought it then. Blaming Ebay is like blaming the oil companies for the rising cost of oil. In a free-market economy, that's what happens.
 
Well, this thread has taught me something--there are programs to facilitate auction sniping. i did not know that. I did not think that I could hold such pathetic people at a lower regard, but I found that I can. Anger is limitless, while compassion quickly maxes out.



At least I can get sympathy from admissions that morons acutally PAY for something to snipe FOR them. That is how I interpret lasik1's "the fees are low" comment.



A man is supposed to fight his own battles, not pay a _computer program_ to fight them in his stead. Losers.



When someone has held the high price for a week, and then "bill gates" rolls in at the last second and raises the bid with flagrant amounts of money in a sure-fire way to win the auction, that is truly unmanly. A real man, even if he was rich enough to make buy a 20 dollar item for 200, would come out sooner in the auction and start a bid war with competition.



Online auctions have the disadvantage that you can't beat whoever tries to usurp your position by removing their manhood, allowing them to sink to new lows. The 5 seconds and the heinous amounts of money are all tools of people with no spine to avoid conflict. If you aren't man enough to withstand conflict online then you aren't a man at all. Just a pathetic excuse for a human being.



Oh, and if you buy a "working medical laser" for $350, that explains why lasik surgery is completely effed up. Doctors are supposed to be rich, and skimping on essential tools must be how they retain their money. To think that I used to wonder why so many lasik patients had horrendous after effects. Now I know. And the truth disgusts me.



 
Bravo:cool:



Oh, and Mr V I didn't start this project five years ago. I started it about one year ago and the max price for that part was about $900 at that time. Still ridiculously higher than I was willing to pay then or now.
 
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