"intimidation" Bid On E-Bay

[turast]

As a relative newbie, I've recently sold items on e-bay at 99p, which I've been very disappointed about, because similar items, or ones in worse condition, had sold elsewhere for a decent price. In each case an early bid has gone in at 99p, and, although there have been several other watchers, no other bid has come in. Is it possible, on e-bay, to place an early silly bid of "the maximum you are prepared to pay", say £20 on a 99p item (which will only register as 99p), so that other bidders who come in at say, 1.99, are put off until the deadline, thus ensuring that the original "silly" bidder gets the item at a knock-down price? Should I be ignoring the e-bay advice to start the bidding at 99p?

[2sp_]

Other bidders cannot see someone's maximum bid, so wouldn't know if someone had set it at £20.

I would start the bidding at a fair price for the item.

Am I right in thinking that eBay charge to list items depending on the starting price and/or how much you get for it?

[turast]

Thanks 2sp. You are right about the charges. Although other bidders cannot see a "maximuum bid", they are told that their bid doesn't exceed the existing high bid. Once the price went beyond what they were prepared to pay, they would give up. Does anybody recognise the tactic I'm describing?

[jomifl]

99p starting prices are risky on items that won't draw a lot of interest. Try a starting price at say half of what similar items go for on ebay. I've seen a 99p start price end up going for several hundreds of pounds. Ebay probably recommend a start of 99p in order to get a bidding war under way, statistically a good ploy for them but obviously not for you.

[GRUMPY]

Why do you not put a reserve price on your items?

[jomifl]

you can only know there is a higher bid than yours if you commit to your bid.

[2sp_]

Say you list an item starting at 99p.

Person A sets a maximum bid at £20.

The item now shows as selling at 99p.

Person B places a maximum bid of £5. The item now goes to £5.10 and A is still winning the bid.

If B then gives up, A will get the item at £5.10.

It sounds to me that only one person bid on your item, or the price to be paid would be higher.

[GRUMPY]

Spot on 2sp

[vulcan42]

// Once the price went beyond what they were prepared to pay, they would give up\\
I think this would happen whether somebody else had a large maximum bid or not.

[roslyn251254]

No listing cost for items 99p & below. Wait for a free listing day, then you can have a higher starting price more inline with what your item is worth

[ToraToraTora]

as 2sp says what you describe is exactly what can and does happen. If I want something I wait until about 1 minute to go then bid what I'm prepared tp pay. So if it's 99p and I think it's worth £15 I'll bid £15.02p and usually it just skips up a bit so I'll probably get it for £5.

[jomifl]

Tora, I use 'goofbid' as recommened on AB. Once you have an account you can register the item you want and how much you are prepared to pay and it is all done automatically with bids up to 5 seconds to go absolutely free. The real advantage is that you can go out for a drink and when you get home there is an email telling you that you have won:o) or lost:o( It is also independant of you web connexion so if someone else wants to use your computer around the time of the end of bidding it is not a problem.

[andres]

Minimum reserve used to be £50 fixed and then if the item didn't sell ebay would let you lower the reserve. Years ago the 99p starting bid used to be popular and encouraged bidders to start a bidding war but that doesn't seem to work now. In fact all the fun has gone out of ebay .

[Hypognosis]

If only eBay functioned like an actual auction house - bidding continues until all but one bidder ceases placing further bids.

The bidding deadline should be the equivalent of 'date and time of auction event' and not the absolute end of proceedings.

Too many people have cottoned onto the late-bid trick (I found about it from a website, a year ago) and the existence of automated apps to do it for you is a depressing development of that idea. A distinctly non-level playing field and it's the sellers who lose out. The logical upshot is that people abandon eBay in favour of whatever gives them better value.

[DrFilth]

the 99p start will attract more bidders if they want the item, what puts some people off is the feedback and the wording of the add.

[jomifl]

Hypo, I find 'sniping' a far better way of bidding on Ebay as it avoids the bidding war that Ebay tries to encourage in order to maximise the commission it receives.
turast, in order to get a good price for your items you need to give as much information as possible including serial numbers and year of manufacture if applicable. Don't say 'I don't know much about these' as prospective buyers will suspect that there is a defect that you are pretending not to be aware of. Post up as many decent photos as necessary to show the item in detail and have the auction ending on a sunday afternoon or evening. Buyers will have more trust in you as your feedback score builds so post items promptly, pack them well and don't try to make a bit on the postage. I was looking at a clarinet on Ebay today, The one photo showed something that could have been a clarinet in a box, there was no information about the make or model or even what it was made of or what condition it was in ie. whether it played or needed a service. It was described as 'lovely' which would put most discerning buyers off immediately. So far no bids.

[turast]

Thanks to everybody for their input. I've probably been very naive in my efforts to make some money. I've always put up 12 photos and described the item with honesty, but, as often seems to happen with me and TINTERNET, there are all sorts of people out there and a million different interpretations and angles being played. There certainly isn't much trust. I think I've sold two items where I got a genuine price for what was on offer. As some correspondents have pointed out, the whole thing seems to depend on a bidding war occurring. If it doesn't you end up selling to "last minute sharks" buying items for 99p or £1:04p. I can't blame people for getting items as cheap as they can, but I certainly feel, as a seller, that the system is stacked against me. When I've tried putting starting prices at levels which make it worth my while, but still very cheap, items are just ignored for the full period that they are up for sale. Definitely a buyer's marketplace.