eBay

amricons · ‎12-05-2018

Hi, would anybody object to eBay extending auctions that have activity in the last few minutes, like 5 ? Sellers may get more money, eBay would get more mony and buyers would have the opportunity to make a higher bid. Lastly, it would elimate sniping, which still happens on ebay, is an violation of eBay pilicy, which ebay' acknowledges and still happens. One reason I think it would improve the experience for eveybody are sveral.

We often bid on multiple item from 1 seller and many list the items with close times within minutes of each other.

Amyway, other auction sites do this, ie if an item has a bid they extend the auction time.

IMHO, we would be spending a lot more money on eBay, LOl or keeps me from spending too much.

We have asked eBay why many, many times, as they seem to be seeking more top libe sales , this would increase sales at min cost and help all parties.

estjoh-2 · ‎12-05-2018

@amricons wrote:
That is what I was told by CS many times. Besides as a conversation point, do you want sniping or not. ie Are in favor of it ?

CS was either lying to get you off the phone or sorely mistaken.

And I love sniping and snipers

cherry*fizz · ‎12-05-2018

@amricons wrote:
In 2018 we have made over 2000 purchases, many auctions. 2 days ago we had bid on let say 11 items . They closed within minutes of each other. we ended up winning 5 and lost the others. On nthe one we lost, we lost by $1 over our high bid. It also takes several minutes for the site to notice you dib. anyway, in that auction we wanted the last 2 items, one we syayed to make sure we won it, and when we went to the 2 nd it had closed.

We have had this happen many times. Somebody said, well you just bid you max and forget it. Yes, you can bid a million and probablely win evry auction, but we have a budget . There are many scenarios, here just one for example. Looking at 10 auctions and have a budget. It depends on the 1st item, if it a winner, I have less to bid on the others but if I lose, I can bid more with if I choose. Also, if they all close within a minute it becomes impossible to to catch up with the string, you have to skip down several items to get to one that is still active. In any case, if you as a buyer have not had this problem then this discussion does not mean anything to you.

The benefit to sellers and eBay is obivios and too buyers it is a matter of more options and choices. I may well let an item go for a final amount, but if I am overbid by a $1, I may go the extra whatever, ie $1 or more or just pass. At least I have the optionh. Choices which by the way happen at a live auction. Bought a lot of art in my l;ife and at live auctions, once you bid, the auctioneer will notice you and in mast cases give you a look before ringing down the gavel.    It is a part of numan nature, in the heat of the moment, you may go that extra amount or not.

Auctions are not for everyone. EBay is supposed to be about options and choice and win - win. The trend recently mis the elimination of choice.   I wish people, buyers and sellers would think outside the box. EBay has been shrinking the opions and freedom on the site . They however, seem to never do things that have the potential to increase winning for everybody. Auctions are the heat of the moment. Fixed listing are not.   eBay is becoming a zero sum gane where eBay gets more and well everybody else gets less. That pie needs to get bigger.

My discussion is to expand the conversation. Looking for solutions as I gather many of the memebers that post here are not 100% happy with their situation.   We are always looking for tools , fixes, and helpful talk and experiences.   Had a great follow up from our last post and learned something that we did not know. You may be all happy and satisfied with your situation but people may open topics of concern to them and evebn though it may not apply to you, one day it might. The more options that you develop for you uses can only help you.

Persoanl note, I wish it was not like this but it is what it is.

In the past, we have posted about postal and shipping rate increases, alternate payments and other gerneral topics. I wanted to get general conversations goiong and while we got some constructive comments, som,e support and ideas, we got many well what I would call pokes in the eye that left all of us blind.    We have been on eBay for over 20 years, our current business for over 30 years and business in general since 1971. The saddest ones are the comments that they were very happy with the current situation and they did not want any change no matter waht and the attacks there upon.   I am sad and happy at the same time. ( Irony)

One last observation. The CEO of eBay has been talking to Wall Street, as you all know the stock is down. one critical change is Wall Street has reclassified eBay from a Tech company to another catagory, one with a lower p/e ratio that tech cos enjoy.   In the eyes of wall steet eBay has become an annunity. There is a link between that change and what eBay has been doing for many years.   One of our largest sales catagories is MTG and one of my favorite cards is " Frankensteins Monster" .    "nuff said"

And again, just because the auction ended at $1 over your highest bid, that doesn't mean that the person who won didn't bid $100 more than that. So you go back and bid $1 and then it's another dollar higher for your to bid again. It's about bidding your TRUE max, and if you did, you wouldn't be disappointed when someone paid more than that because it wasn't worth it to you.

amricons · ‎12-05-2018

Love it, great conversation. We used to go to live art auction, rug auctions etc. back in the day . It was in the late 70's and got a lot of art that way and what I really loved was the action etc. Sucked at it in the beginning but at the end got really good and got an education at it was well. So I always chalked off the early mistakes to my "education" . Certainly, those days helpedus out today on eBay.

I really believe in the pay it foreward philosophy. When we have a good day, we go right back to ebay and buy more stuff, LOL

You cannot compare a live auction to an internet auction but but I hate to lose by a $1 when the action is over $500. The biggest headache is when you get a large seller that posts over 100 lots lets say and they claose within 1 minute or less. I have to go to every 5th item, etc. All I know is that I never spend what i budgeted so there is money left on the table that somebody did not get and we spent a lot of time onnothing. Part of the equation is what is your time worth ?

On the flip side, there are many items that are expensive, ie over $1000 that we will not or can not post because of the severe restrictions of the platform. As I started, we do have a lot of art etc.

In your field I cannot imagine the issues you must face.

I guess, I am looking for more balnce in the system. I started the conversation over my frustrations as a buyer. Last weel I had a budget of about $2500 on 10-14 itrems. ebeded up with 6 and spending $1600. Some selle4s have so much cool stuff, you as a buyer have to keep your cool. As the system is set up, I cannot switch to alernatives as there is not enough time and, yes the platform has glitches, and they have put eveb more blocks into the system to slow down the bidding process. Does anyone remeber the 1 click bid system ?

amricons · ‎12-05-2018

So you like snipping ?

jason_incognito · ‎12-05-2018

I would ask, would anybody object to eBay ending auctions completely.

"Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything" Colin Kaepernick the new face of NIKE

buyselljack2016 · ‎12-05-2018

Bid once.

Bid a late as you can.

Bid the highest amount you want to pay. If you lose it was more than you want to pay.

The only way I bid is in the last 10 seconds. I did that with a sniping service before I retired when I would not be able to bid in the last 10 seconds.

Bid early, bid often is a fools errand.

emerald40 · ‎12-05-2018

I have a new computer and a very fast connection.

I always snipe. My record under 2 seconds.

On a very wanted auction why bid early and call attention to it.

bubbleman2010 · ‎12-05-2018

To bad we're not allowed to post sites were what you're asking about can be seen and folks could see in real time how a set up internet auction is ran and ran correctly. ebay is still stuck in 20001 has a hard time managing whats going on now let alone put somemore on their plate...

the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth · ‎12-05-2018

Sniping is the only way I bid. I don't know how many auctions I've participated in, I'm guessing north of 20k over the years. I wouldn't bid any other way.

emerald40 · ‎12-05-2018

Why is the way ebay runs an auction not correct just because other venues do it differently.

amricons · ‎12-05-2018

Tell that to all of the buyers that left eBay because of snipping, but I understand if you are for it there are many sides to any issue. The original post was not about that. There are many flaws in the current system. Note I thing I said from point of view, in this case as a buyer. I can tske issue with your post, does that mean that a non-sniper is a slow payer ? The post was a suggestiion about extendign the time for an auction. I we brought up several reason from our POV why . There are many more reasons and probably many reasons for not. I take it that you would vote not extending and your reasons are noted.

There are at least 2 sides and many more sides to every issue. One of my points is that after I thought it was cool, and moved to another auction, my original item was snipped. If it was extended , I could go back and bis some more if I wanted. Choice is worth someting too me, just saying.

The counter is that so,mebody may keep shill bidding. Yes, but cheatres will aways cheat, lie steal etc. You cannot stop that, which is why i set a stop or budget number. Somebody suggested just bid the max. Love to do that, but you need the flexibility for that +/_ over the budget and having a biy of time to do that is very important to me, hence time extension is important and when faced with yes or no, I would vote yes right now. I have also been disappointed when I have run into to the extension that soem other sites have as it seems to aways cost me more, LOL. It is agame of trade offs.

Maybe snipping should be against the rules, food for thought

bubbleman2010 · ‎12-05-2018

Something with a ending time is not considered a auction in the beginning ebay called them a auction and the term stuck.... a usually public sale of goods or property, where people make higher and higher bids (= offers of money) for each item, until there are no higher bids and it is sold for the most money offered:

emerald40 · ‎12-05-2018

Not all snipers use a service. I do it on my own.

Also it is not cheating if the service is open to everyone.

amricons · ‎12-05-2018

Hey, back in the old days, going to a live auction was one of the favoriet things to do on the weekend. Give it a try, It may not be your cup of tea, but man, once you get involved it is one of the most exciting things going. Hey, it becomes an ego trip for you alpha's types. Of course, after the battle and a well won victory, and you found out you overpaid, well that is another matter.

LOL