Someone Who Can Decipher Bidding Patterns Please Explain This
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Body shops are happy for moronic drivers of $100,000+ cars!
As to my question above, I was thinking of the number of items that one guy bid on, and very high concentration. (Not this one auction by itself)
As to my question above, I was thinking of the number of items that one guy bid on, and very high concentration. (Not this one auction by itself)
I don't buy pipes on eBay but I do from time to time bid on the only thing I can truly be said to collect (that is, a thing I buy just to own, and not to use): 19th Century fighting steel from around the world. American Bowie knives, French bayonets, Pashtun Khyber knives, Ghurka kukris -- that sort of thing.
I have a pretty good sense of what a given piece is really "worth," insofar as that means something withing this very little and odd marketplace. Now and then something comes up on eBay that appeals to me. I set an auto-bid at what seems like a fair price, plus maybe 10 percent. Then I ignore it. Utterly. I don't even read the emails that come in, until the bidding is over. I've done this perhaps a dozen times; I've secure the item four times.
Since I don't "have to have" anything so utterly unnecessary as a camel-bone-handled, highly engraved, still beautifully functioning, 205-year-old Bannochi lohar from near Peshawar, I have no psychic investment to lose if I don't "win" the bid. And if I do "win" the camel-bone-handled, highly engraved, still beautifully functioning, 205-year-old Bannochi lohar from near Peshawar -- and I did -- then it's a happy surprise.
I realize this post is a little off topic, and more joy and power to those who enjoy the elbow throwing of active eBay bidding. But it seems always to end in tears.
I have a pretty good sense of what a given piece is really "worth," insofar as that means something withing this very little and odd marketplace. Now and then something comes up on eBay that appeals to me. I set an auto-bid at what seems like a fair price, plus maybe 10 percent. Then I ignore it. Utterly. I don't even read the emails that come in, until the bidding is over. I've done this perhaps a dozen times; I've secure the item four times.
Since I don't "have to have" anything so utterly unnecessary as a camel-bone-handled, highly engraved, still beautifully functioning, 205-year-old Bannochi lohar from near Peshawar, I have no psychic investment to lose if I don't "win" the bid. And if I do "win" the camel-bone-handled, highly engraved, still beautifully functioning, 205-year-old Bannochi lohar from near Peshawar -- and I did -- then it's a happy surprise.
I realize this post is a little off topic, and more joy and power to those who enjoy the elbow throwing of active eBay bidding. But it seems always to end in tears.
I suspect you're correct. Used to be that the location of the bidders was provided as part of their ID. I kind of miss that because it would provide some interesting data. Asian buyers have been snapping up vintage tobaccos and pipes at record prices for the past decade. They're willing and able to spend the money to get what are for them very hard-to-get items.
The auto bidding system still awards the item to the highest bidder right? No matter if someone submits their offer at the last second. Your higher offer will be accepted.
Jesse -- I just remembered that you live in SoCal, and your work brought you into contact with Hollywood VIPs as a regular thing.
One day you have to tell us an Adventures of the Glamorous & Spoiled story or two. (I'm imagining a producer who dropped a $3K bottle of wine while wining and dining you to join his project, but didn't even flinch. Just ordered another and finished his pitch.)
If something catches my eye on eBay, I contact the seller, and offer them as much as I am willing to pay. This has often worked in my favor, and when it doesn't, I bid that same amount at the five second mark of the auction, and have often gotten some good deals.
"If something catches my eye on eBay, I contact the seller, and offer them as much as I am willing to pay. This has often worked in my favor, . . . ."
I honestly don't know, but (barring "buy it now" sales) wouldn't violate eBay terms for a seller to post an auction, then sell to someone who contacted them on the side with a fixed offer?
I honestly don't know, but (barring "buy it now" sales) wouldn't violate eBay terms for a seller to post an auction, then sell to someone who contacted them on the side with a fixed offer?
"That's not the buyer's problem/concern."
I suppose I agree -- unless by participating as a buyer you have expressly agreed not to do that (and it wouldn't surprise me if the click through agreement does obligate buyers as well as sellers to abide by a list terms.)
Just wondering if that would constitute violating terms of the system. [Heck, I'm sure not going to read the entire click through agreement to find out. I just clicked it, like everybody, and I'm a lawyer who has brought suits to ENFORCE click through agreements, so you see how bad it is.]
As I explained, I'm a very casual eBay user, so I don't know. Don't know what's in the policies. or the click through, or if buyers and sellers agree to the same policies. It just seems like eBay wouldn't/shouldn't be very attractive to those interested in actual auctions if they aren't actual auctions, so assumed eBay had a policy to discourage/prevent that.
I suppose I agree -- unless by participating as a buyer you have expressly agreed not to do that (and it wouldn't surprise me if the click through agreement does obligate buyers as well as sellers to abide by a list terms.)
Just wondering if that would constitute violating terms of the system. [Heck, I'm sure not going to read the entire click through agreement to find out. I just clicked it, like everybody, and I'm a lawyer who has brought suits to ENFORCE click through agreements, so you see how bad it is.]
As I explained, I'm a very casual eBay user, so I don't know. Don't know what's in the policies. or the click through, or if buyers and sellers agree to the same policies. It just seems like eBay wouldn't/shouldn't be very attractive to those interested in actual auctions if they aren't actual auctions, so assumed eBay had a policy to discourage/prevent that.
I think I've bought from that seller or at least looked at that seller's other auctions. I'd be interested to see if that one comes up for sale again due to non-payment.
Ebay definitely does not want any contact between users and sellers going in any direction to make deals off of Ebay. They call it "fee circumvention". The messaging system blocks email addresses from being sent, you are not allowed to post contact info in your ads or pics, etc.
Perhaps the winner is the same guy, I noticed right away that the winner bids with few others, and has a lot of bids in the past. Only one retraction, though. It seems odd that he would want to win his own auction, although he still could retract the bid and offer second-chance at the first losers full bid. No guarantee of a sale that way, though. The auction should be listed as a sold item at the max price, unless Ebay actually cancels the sale for some reason and deletes the item number from their records. So, he simply re-lists it after paying his own fees. He's uncovered the mystery of what someone else was willing to pay a day ago, and anyone searching currently-available items vs. past sales will see that and perhaps their future bid be influenced by that, whether or not they realize or care that it is the same item. If the numbers still work out for the seller in the end, perhaps that is what is going on, if you want a really abstract scenario! :puffpipe:
Perhaps the winner is the same guy, I noticed right away that the winner bids with few others, and has a lot of bids in the past. Only one retraction, though. It seems odd that he would want to win his own auction, although he still could retract the bid and offer second-chance at the first losers full bid. No guarantee of a sale that way, though. The auction should be listed as a sold item at the max price, unless Ebay actually cancels the sale for some reason and deletes the item number from their records. So, he simply re-lists it after paying his own fees. He's uncovered the mystery of what someone else was willing to pay a day ago, and anyone searching currently-available items vs. past sales will see that and perhaps their future bid be influenced by that, whether or not they realize or care that it is the same item. If the numbers still work out for the seller in the end, perhaps that is what is going on, if you want a really abstract scenario! :puffpipe:
At that price you get 3 small sized Dunhill Shell Brier (Brand New) or two Bruyere (Brand New) from smokingpipes.com - They may not have the pedigree / rarity of an old estate Dunhill though
Edit - the picture has some personal info - so removed - will replace soon
Edit - Replaced picture and personal info removed
Edit - the picture has some personal info - so removed - will replace soon
Edit - Replaced picture and personal info removed
I believe this happened to me. $60 shipped including a Dunhill, I should of known it was to good to be true :crying:
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/ebay-tranasaction-cancelled
It's considered one for such a fat shank. Significantly wider would be uncomfortable.
There was a Dunhill worker in 1949-50 who did a dramatic wasp-waist fishtail on LB's, where the shank tapered way in before the stem flared back out, but the resulting button wasn't much wider than the pipe in the pic. (The worker either left the company or was told to tone it down, because they were never seen after that.)
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