Speaking of EBay;

[ssjones]

I couldn't successfully snipe without my phone app, a wonderful program that will help separate cash from your wallet. Last week, we were going to a winery in MD on a Sunday afternoon. I remembered that Charatan was ending, pulled over with a minute to go, waited till the 10 second mark, bid and won. My wife asked me what I was doing. "Checking the GPS app". (I did that too..)

 

[ssjones]

By contrast, I won an auction on Proxibid, which I gather is an auction service for a live auction. My $10 bid turned into a $20 total invoice as they tack on shipping & handling and an "internet premium charge". I still did OK, but the auction ended on Saturday and they just invoiced me today. They only take payments over the phone, from Tuesday to Thursday...so I'll have to wait till next week to make payment. Sheesh. (my bet is a lot of winners just give up and never follow-thru on the payment) Even with the shortcomings, I'll stick with Ebay.

 

[ssjones]

No yachts were purchased, but a lot of motorcycle and car parts over those years. I even sold a motorcycle via Ebay last year (a first time, a good experience).

 

[gloucesterman]

There have been some problems with the retracted bit feature on Ebay. A few unscrupulous people use it to find out what your max bid is, then retract the bid citing "wrong amount bid". Now they know exactly what they need to bid to beat you. I used to "set it an forget it" but now I wait so I don't fall victim to that practice. But I usually enter the bid amount to what I have decided that pipe was worth to me. Throwing in some high bid to make sure your not going to be out bid leads to a $250 pipe selling for $700 when two people do the same thing. It will be a very long time, if ever, before that pipe has an actual value anywhere near what it sold for.

 

[sablebrush52]

I set a price in my mind and never go over it, if I win fine, if I lose fine. I never get emotional about a pipe.

Words to bid by. Exactly none of my really spectacular eBay deals have come from last second bids, exactly none, zero. They came from spending time looking for screwed up listings, mistakes, gems in the shadows, lost in the corners.
I bid what I feel an item is worth and no more. The person who "wins" is the person who bid highest, regardless of when the bid was placed. If someone wants the dingus more than me, they can have it.

 

[okiescout]

You betcha, sable. That is exactly what I tell my self when I do not get the dingus. :roll:

It is irritating to know someone paid too much. Then again, maybe to that guy, it is his treasure and will be for many years.

"A fool and his money are soon parted" At any rate we live on computers and if there is software that helps me and everyone else has access to it, then all is fair in love and war- I must be reading too many fortune cookies :lol:

 

[graydawn]

eBay continues to amuse, frustrate and reward me. It is clear from my experiences and those here on the forum that deceptive and fraudulent practices have and are occurring. I have learned to only bid with sites that are reputable an as mentioned, Pipestd-Steve Fallon, is one of the best. While I certainly appreciate a value or bargain buy, I too find that you more often than not receive what you pay for. I pay for what an item is worth to me because in the end that's all that really matters. If it's worth more to another then I can celebrate that too.