Detman101 (December 13th, 2020), Farmboy (December 12th, 2020), Sailor Kenshin (December 12th, 2020)
Detman101 (December 13th, 2020)
I have over 1000 pen buys on E-Bay and never had a problem. All markets have periodic ups and downs, and a given auction can be subject to dozens of additional viariables like knowledge of pens, of auctions, of reputable sellers, etc. Besides, if one doesn't like E-Bay, there are many other fora for buying and selling. This website is a good alternative as are several of the other well-known pen chat sites.
Gerry Berg
eachan (December 25th, 2020), Jon Szanto (December 25th, 2020)
If it’s the final (winning) bid price you’re talking about, MANY people wait until the last couple of minutes before placing a bid. And many people have software that simply outbids anyone else at that last minute. So, no, it’s not uncommon, for vintage pens or anything else. You can’t complete with people who have bottomless pockets and want the same thing you do. The best thing you can do is exactly what you are doing — research, decide what’s a reasonable cost for YOU to pay, and cap your bid amount. Sometimes the force will be with you, other times not so much ;-) If you have time to spare and want to bite your nails at the end of the auction you could wait to bid like others do until the very last minute and try your luck that way.
I've checked. EBay prices are not dramatically higher than they were a year ago.
Any of us have seen a strange "auction" in which two bidders try to top each other, $5 or $10 at a time, all the way until bid close...as if EBay were a human auction. We have also seen mistakes in which a pair of bidders lift a humble Parker 45 up to $100 or more. It happens.
I use snipe software. I know the maxi I feel like paying. I put that max into snipe and forget about the "auction". Sniping bids go in five or ten seconds before close. If I lose, so be it. If I win, I pay no more than what I had decided the pen was worth...to me.
EBay is not like an auction.
Chrissy (January 2nd, 2021), jouesdeveau (January 1st, 2021), Ole Juul (January 1st, 2021), TFarnon (January 2nd, 2021)
Well, just watched an auction for a SHEAFFER, FOUNTAIN PEN, CANADIAN VERSION. What was interesting to me was that from around $40 the price was pushed up by one bidder whose history showed that they had bid on 65 items from this seller in the past 30 days, mostly single bids place about 1 day and 10 hours prior to the completion of the auctions. Maybe nothing in it but it's a curious pattern, and the seller is one that I have run afoul of (dropped a pen its nib, ground the tip down hoping I wouldn't notice).
Many of us add to our collections by getting a pen (or two) at a time. Some people, especially those looking at it more as a collection than as pens, and who have the financial resources, can go about buying themselves a collection in very large chunks. I have seen particular sellers active for a short number of weeks or months, buying up many pens in single-pen auctions, and doing so by bidding a price that no one else will match. At the end of the day, a wealthy person can do as they please in these kind of arenas.
"When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."
~ Benjamin Franklin
Detman101 (January 26th, 2021)
It's the hunt that captures my interest. Ebay is fun for me. They have items I could not find anywhere else. I'm too frugal to spend much.
True, in this case though, the buyer limited themselves to about $60, stopped bidding, and was simply outbid by several others. This could be interpreted as someone who knows their own limits I suppose, but it seemed odd to me that they were targetting the same seller so often over a very short period of time. I am sometimes a very suspicious guy, in all parses of that label!
I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood your post. I thought you meant the person repeatedly won auctions from the seller. I have no idea whatsoever what this particular behavior indicates, and nothing I plan on pursuing. People are just, you know, fucking weird sometimes!
"When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."
~ Benjamin Franklin
FTFY
People are just, you know, fucking weird.
I had one person who sent me a message from an item I was selling on eBay 'I am bidding on an item you are selling but your mailing charges are too high. If I win I will leave you one star and give negative feedback', Guess what I did on receipt of that message?
Nutter.
Detman101 (January 26th, 2021), Jon Szanto (January 26th, 2021)
One thing that may be affecting our perceptions is that ebay appears to be moving from an auction to a 'buy it now' model and many of the BIN items are at very high prices. But when you look at actual completed sales, the prices are a good deal lower.
Jon Szanto (January 26th, 2021), Ole Juul (January 26th, 2021)
One practice I immediately avoid are the one's with a low bid and $25 shipping. Also, you can win the bid and the seller will ship by covered wagon without tracking. As long as it eventually shows, I leave a positive comment althought I let them know privately that if things don't show up soon I want a refund.
Shipping cost is absolutely the first thing I look at. If it's either ridiculous or Global Priority I just press the back button with no regrets.
Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens
I had a pen transaction just after eBay's global shipping had gone into effect, a "choice" eBay had then imposed by default. My buyer was charged well over US$100 for shipping to The Netherlands without me even seeing it as seller. The buyer contacted me accusing me of ripping him off, and I had to ask him to email me his eBay invoice to understand what was going on. Once I saw it and done a bit of research, I had to undo the transaction, refund the monies, invite the buyer to quickly buy again, and I took care of shipping outside of eBay/PayPal for about US$13. I made sure Global never came into a transaction again, and eBay sure tried for a while.
It was just another straw being placed on the eBay camel's back.
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