Please excuse my ranting, but this is about gun parts so I figured this was the right place to do it.
There has GOT to be a way to stop people from jumping in with exorbitant and unguessable bids at literally the last minute (OR LESS) when one has been ahead for more than 24 hours. Three times in 24hr, I've been outbid at the last instant - on one occasion with an amount very much higher than my (previously) winning bid. I was still trying to find the upper limit when the auction ended.
I lost a fourth item at the last instant too, but THAT buyer reneged after the auction closed so I ended up getting it anyway on second-chance
I sincerely hope the person(s) who outbid me fit these things to their rifle(s) and shoot(s) with them; I really do. But somehow there's a part of me which doubts it. Does anyone else share my cynicism?
sorry. i can't agree with you. you should bid only what the max you're willing to pay at the last second. that way you won't get involved in a bidding war and end up paying more than you should have.
bidding early only drives the price up. if you bid the max you're willing to pay at the last second and lose, so be it. someone wanted it more than you. i don't let it bother me at all if my bid isn't high enough to win or if my auction sniper doesn't bid because it's allready higher than my max. you'll find you get stuff alot cheaper when you're not in a bidding war with someone else.
check out auction sniper. it takes the work right out of ebay. you just set it and forget it. it does all the work while you're out doing your thing.
__________________ Badges? We got no badges! i aint gotta show you no stinking badges!
I'm not worried about the cost of the bidding war so much as the inability to match an unguessably high last-minute bid. Now that you mention it, I reckon this auction sniper thing is what's being used here - it's why I'm always getting bushwhacked at the last minute after being ahead for days. My only real concern is that it's a shill buyer trying to drive the price up, because the increase in bid for one item just in those last two minutes was stupendously high. It'll be interesting to see if they renege like the winner of item #4 did. If they do, then, to put it bluntly, I smell a rat.
Your point about only jumping in at the last second with your best shot is well taken, though. Shall look up auction sniper and go from there.
Personally, I like how gunbroker.com does it, the 15 minute rule that is. Makes it more like a real auction. FYI, if anyone bids with 15 minutes or less, another 15 minutes is added to the auction each and every time a bid is made within that 15 minutes. Give you a chance at least to still get it if you have the money to do so.
I mean, I've lost out on things the same as you. We all have. But then I've also come out the winner.
On a side note, personally, when it comes to gun related items, the last place I look and will buy from is friggin' eBay. I mean, I'd rather pay a little more and get it from a local or other dealer and keep them in business, as I'm pretty sure they're pro gun, rather then give eBay my money and help keep their anti-gun sorry butts in business.
__________________ "My next door neighbors two dogs have created more shovel ready jobs then Obama has." - Gary Johnson
Please excuse my ranting, but this is about gun parts so I figured this was the right place to do it.
There has GOT to be a way to stop people from jumping in with exorbitant and unguessable bids at literally the last minute (OR LESS) when one has been ahead for more than 24 hours. Three times in 24hr, I've been outbid at the last instant - on one occasion with an amount very much higher than my (previously) winning bid. I was still trying to find the upper limit when the auction ended.
I lost a fourth item at the last instant too, but THAT buyer reneged after the auction closed so I ended up getting it anyway on second-chance
I sincerely hope the person(s) who outbid me fit these things to their rifle(s) and shoot(s) with them; I really do. But somehow there's a part of me which doubts it. Does anyone else share my cynicism?
Mods please delete if this is not appropriate.
I used to ebay quite alot, but have stopped completely when they made PayPal mandatory. I had a stop watch, and would put in my best bid with three seconds to go, usually about 10 bucks over what I wanted to pay.If I REALLY wanted something, I'd go $50. I rarely lost, and I never had to pay my largest bid.I had a 99.8% rating, as a seller and buyer.Sometimes you get lucky in a loss. I lost a NOS Winchester 490 .22 walnut stock with a losing bid of $39.99, one of my rare losses.I noticed the same item was re-listed the following day and contacted the seller.He had 5 NOS stocks that came directly from the New Haven, CT, factory, never used. He was listing them one at a time. I bid on the second one and won it for $35.99. I then offered him $30 bucks for another, and he accepted. I now have 2 brand new, NOS, walnut stocks for my 490.He also had mags for the 490, in their original Winchester boxes, $50 for 10 mags.These are normally close to $20 apiece, and I've found them at gun shows for $35 buck apiece.Of course I bought the ten.He also had brand new barrels, complete with sights, for the 490. I paid $40 bucks for 2...
there is a good chance that the "last minute bidder" is a "schill" working with the seller to drive up the price, then he falls back to you, the 'second chance' high bidder & makes his sale at a much higher price. sometimes it is best to sit at your bid, & let it play out to see if the guy will win & then get your 'second chance'.
have given up on e-bay not just for the reasons you mention but also the disaster known as Pay-Pal. Additionally, the knife in the back shipping charges make the who process a waste.
I haven't bought anything on eBay for a while so things may have changed but don't you put in your maximum bid and it automatically increments it based on other maximum bids so you may never get to your maximum? If it still works this way, why not put in the most you're willing to pay and walk away until it's over with? Saves a lot of time and upset and keeps your emotions out of the last minute bidding war which usually drives the price up. At "real" auctions I've watched people pay more than the price tag price which is still on the item. Emotions again.
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Bob
Beware the fury of a patient man......John Dryden
Snipeing on ebay is fun. I have done it many times. However I have had it done to me as well. I bid on a 35mm zoom lens once and was at 18 dollars. Someone suspeciously bid it up to just under my max at the last few seconds and stopped bidding there. So got it for @#@$# 36 dollars. ARRRRRRRRG.
There really are lots of places to buy items other than e-bay. I check them out find their prices with shipping. Then go to ebay and if I can get it for less I will bid on it to that point. If I dont get it ....hey its an auction. You arent supposed to get everthing you bid on.
I use this at gun shows as well. If I can get something for a certain price somewhere and I see it cheeper at a gun show I will get it there. If not I buy it at the first place.
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It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
On a side note, personally, when it comes to gun related items, the last place I look and will buy from is friggin' eBay. I mean, I'd rather pay a little more and get it from a local or other dealer and keep them in business, as I'm pretty sure they're pro gun, rather then give eBay my money and help keep their anti-gun sorry butts in business.
That's fine for new stuff, but not for old, antique or obsolete items. I buy tons of things that you just can't get in stores.
And as far as I know, PayPal is NOT mandatory, I've never used it, and the shipping charges are up to the seller, not eBay. I've bought several items at once from one seller, and he puts them all in the same box, bingo, one shipping charge. Usually a USPS Priority flat rate box.
The thing that bugs me about eBay is the "reserve price", and not being able to know what the bottom price is that the seller will take. That's what drives me away from a lot of auctions.
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I child-proofed my house, but they still keep getting in!
GlockMeister, the stuff that I'm after just isn't available new (and hasn't been for about forty years). Most of the google results for it lead me back to E-bay. That or I've got to go to once-or-twice-a-year arms fairs and hope to scrounge something.
As for my local dealer, they're next to hopeless and the nearest dealer for rare bits is 300km and five hours' drive away (over winding roads followed by urban gridlock).
That's fine for new stuff, but not for old, antique or obsolete items. I buy tons of things that you just can't get in stores.
And as far as I know, PayPal is NOT mandatory, I've never used it, and the shipping charges are up to the seller, not eBay. I've bought several items at once from one seller, and he puts them all in the same box, bingo, one shipping charge. Usually a USPS Priority flat rate box.
The thing that bugs me about eBay is the "reserve price", and not being able to know what the bottom price is that the seller will take. That's what drives me away from a lot of auctions.
I watch auctions on gunbroker a lot and have noticed that ones with a reserve price simply do not generate many bids - unless it is a truly rare item. On ordinary stuff, you will see many, many more bids on a no-reserve auction. The reserve auctions will generate a few low-ball bids, somebody testing the water, and that's usually about it. Can't blame the seller for having a minimum price they want but there is no way of knowing what that is. There is also sometimes a ridiculous buy it now price that further discourages bidding.
But what the heck - its an auction. Bid what its worth to you and let go if the price goes above that.
If you are the only one playing by your rules, you'll lose every time. Change your bidding strategy. Don't bid on anything with less than 1 hour left to go and only go to what you want to pay...
Personally I love sniping when I have time to wait. Mostly I use buy it nows, but I have sniped plenty. I have DSL internet, so I can refresh until there are less than 10 seconds and then I place my bid and it enters with about 4 seconds to spare. Works great.
i only use the buy now option.
if the item doesnt have it.
i dont buy it.
Yep,that's pretty much what I do.As for PayPal,I got my money back a couple times that if it hadn't been for that I'd got stuck like happens on GunBroker.Bidding hours or days ahead is a waste of time and invites bidding wars.All those bid-sniper programs they have just about guarantees your going to lose unless your max bid is way more than it's worth.I have found when there's something I want,to set my max bid on what the most I'll pay for it and bid everytime one comes up,sooner or later I get one at the price I'm willing to pay and sometimes much less.
