Ebay $&@!?

[sablebrush52]

It's not when you bid, but how much.

That's the alpha and omega of eBay. Everything else is just drivel. Use bots, don't use bots, bid early, bid late, sacrifice your dog, don't sacrifice your dog, none of that makes a particle of difference. You either pay the most or someone else does.
Auctions don't exist to offer bargains. They exist to obtain the highest price possible from an interested market.
Know what you're doing and you are unlikely to become roadkill on the eBay highway. And if you do become roadkill, don't blame eBay. You did that to yourself.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

They exist to obtain the highest price possible from an interested market.

BINGO!!! and what drives people to eBay is the possibility that they will get a bargain. Bargain -v- highest price, that's the gamble.

 

[oldgeezersmoker]

The bargain element that is part of the typical eBay bidders motivation actually deters manyn9f them from offering full value for truly premium pipes.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

The bargain element that is part of the typical eBay bidders motivation actually deters manyn9f them from offering full value for truly premium pipes.

I'm sorry, I am just trying to understand. "People wanting bargains on pipes, is preventing people from paying full price on really good pipes?" I don't understand.

 

[peteguy]

I have recently taken over a small ebay esate pipe "hobby". I don't post as much on message boards since getting involved with this as I do not want to break any rules. I think my experience might provide some insight in this case, so here I go.
Here is what I have noticed over the last 4 months or so since I started being around this particular ebay niche.
80% of sold pipes have bids within the last 10 seconds. At least 50% in the last 3 seconds.

If it is a pipe that has a following, a quality name or a collector pipe, the watch numbers can get crazy. These almost always have last second bids.

Certain sellers seem to get more $$ than a pipe is worth imo. Are you looking for a nice pipe or a pipe from a certain seller?

If you really want to go after the well know pipe names, the collector pipes, or the ones with a following, learn to snipe or don't be concerned with trying to get the pipe for the lowest amount possible and simply bid enough to win.

There are still "steals" out there but you need to be willing to buy a lesser name pipe. I have seen some amazing pipes, at least in my eyes, go for less than $20 just because it was a big names second or sub brand.
These suggestions are based off ready to smoke pipes. If you are losing to the same bidder, and I don't know how you would know that, maybe you are bidding on auctions from the same seller and they are shill bidding over you? Maybe you are low balling to try and get a steal? Anyway, I hope at least some of this helps. Message me if you want to talk more specifically.

 

[alan73]

I bid on 500 or so pipe auctions a year, I win only 1-2% because I’m looking for a pipe selling at a 20% discount to what I think the pipe will sell for.

My advice is to figure out what that pipe should cost in your mind and be a deal or fair price and bid that and walk away. Win or lose you bid appropriately.
On the other hand sometimes you got to do whatever: , there are 3 pipe makers that I bid very aggressively and over fair value, because I collect them, I like the pipe makers or their story, and not many are available but once or twice a year on eBay
There will always be more pipes every week

 

[ssjones]

I updated the Ebay link for the 9438. I hate the new way Ebay doesn't direct you to a completed auction, but yet an alternative.

 

[oldgeezersmoker]

@Cosmic, markets are, at least at the margins, based on fear and greed. The greed for a bargain runs into fear of "overpaying" and often allows truly premium pieces to go for only slightly more than similar, but by no means truly identical, pieces. eBay is a great venue for cherry pickers, though it is harder to do with some of the big name sellers.

 

[donjgiles]

If you look around, you can still find little treasures...

SavinellI Jelling Pipe Shop Capri Root
I can't wait to give it a deep cleaning and see what's up.
Don

 

[cajomu]

@anglocatholicpiper,
eBay is an auction, not a lottery. If you don't win, it's because you didn't bid enough. If you never win, it's because you never bid enough. The solution would seen to be clear, bid higher.
I'm guessing the reason you always lose is because, for whatever reason, you place less value on pipes than others. Noting wrong with that and it means that you've saved a lot of money on pipes that, from your perspective, were over-priced.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Savinelli Jelling Pipe Shop Capri Root

This one?

 

[donjgiles]

Yes, $27.00 worth of fun.

☺
Don

 

[cwarmouth]

I agree with what many others have said. You either have to be patient and be willing to lose a lot to get a great deal, or be willing to be be the highest bidder. As for myself, my approach to ebay is to keep 15-20 pipes in my watch list all the time. This gives me a good idea of the realistic fair market value of the pipes I am interested in. Out of all the pipes I watch, it seems that there is occasionally (about one out 50) that nobody bids on for whatever reason and I get them dirt cheap. I've bought a bunch of Dr. Grabows in the $2-$9 range and several Petersons, Savenellis, Aldo Velanis, etc. in the $18-$25 range.

 

[snagstangl]

No one is bringing up shill bidding? I don't know enough about it to complain about the possibility of its existence. If you are bidding on Barling's Make pipes and keep putting in $100 max bid, I can understand why you aren't winning. But if you can't win bidding on Dr. Grabows you may be getting confused... The dollar amount goes after the dollar sign but before the decimal point or period in the middle of the number.

 

[cajomu]

@snagstangl
Unfortunately, there's virtually no way to detect shill bidding on internet auction sites. But, while I'm sure it exists, it's doubtful that many sellers bother with it since you can't drive prices higher what someone is willing to pay. It's only utility would be to prevent someone from getting a great deal due to a lack of bidding interest but, in my experience, whenever a quality pipe is put up for sale, there is considerable interest. Moreover, the seller can protect himself by picking a reasonably high starting price or by employing a reserve.

 

[alan73]

I could be wrong, but i don't think shill bidding occurs with the most well known pipe sellers. . I Bid with confidence or perhaps ignorance

 

[ashdigger]

Absolutely this ^^^

 

[pipestud]

I actually was suspended by eBay for two weeks and had to take a tutorial on Shill Bidding before the suspension on my account was lifted. This occurred back in 2006.
The Story - I was still working as CEO of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. The museum's curator was also an avid eBay buyer and seller. He knew that my all-time favorite athlete was Muhammed Ali. One day at work he told me that he had found an old Sports Illustrated Magazine with Ali on the cover and a great story in the mag written about him. I wanted to add that magazine to my collection. So, I went to my curator's eBay site and bid on and won the magazine. Three days later I discovered that my account had been suspended. eBay sent me an email explaining that my account had been suspended because I violated their policy on Shill Bidding. They cited the fact that both my curator and I had the Texas Sports Hall of Fame name listed as our work address in their system which may have given me an unfair advantage in the bidding They sent me a link to their shill bidding policy and also a link to a tutorial that I must complete. And that once the tutorial had been successfully completed I would be allowed back on eBay 14-days after completion of said tutorial.
So, to keep others here from also becoming a dastardly criminal like me, here is a link to eBay's Shill Bidding policy -
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/selling-practices-policy/shill-bidding-policy?id=4353

 

[ssjones]

@pipestud - with all the fraudulent activity that goes on with Ebay, and that they monitor. You got to be shitting me.

 

[sablebrush52]

You got to be shitting me.

That sounds painful! 8O