What Does "Winning" At Auction Mean?

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates






PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Status
Not open for further replies.
Mar 2, 2021
3,473
14,254
Alabama USA
Like so much on the Internet, linguistic features on a given site are designed to get people hooked on it. On-line is designed to be addictive.
eBay doesn't exist to give people bargains. To the extent that it's an auction house its job is to get the highest price the market will offer at any given time. But, the story eBay will spin is that you get the best prices on items when you buy, and a lot of people buy into that.
Maybe, maybe not.

ive gotten stuff that would be otherwise unavailable.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
21,171
51,214
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Maybe, maybe not.

ive gotten stuff that would be otherwise unavailable.
The ONLY reason I go to eBay is to find things that would be otherwise unavailable. That is different from expecting eBay will offer up steal deals. If eBay's raisond'etre was to guarantee the lowest prices, few people would sell on it.
Auctions are designed to result in the highet price an item will bring at that particular auction. Pretty simple and pretty obvious. No maybe about it. The results depend upon who's engaged in the bidding.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tobefrank

americaman

Part of the Furniture Now
May 1, 2019
946
3,127
Los Angeles, CA
Yeah, I always thought it was a strange term because a lot of the time the person who puts down the most money wins. (People can put massive bids near the end.)

But other times you can sneak in there and snipe an item for a good price. That is likely what people mean when they say they “won” an eBay item.
 

americaman

Part of the Furniture Now
May 1, 2019
946
3,127
Los Angeles, CA
Winning for me, is finding pipes cheap enough to be able to on sell at a profit, and yet still give the new owner (invariably a forum member) a good deal. Oh and this mark up has to cover all of my pipe/tobacco related expenses. This is winning, because my wife says it is.
You still need to find me the rest of the Lord of the Rings pipes. Get on it.
 
Mar 2, 2021
3,473
14,254
Alabama USA
The ONLY reason I go to eBay is to find things that would be otherwise unavailable. That is different from expecting eBay will offer up steal deals. If eBay's raisond'etre was to guarantee the lowest prices, few people would sell on it.
Auctions are designed to result in the highet price an item will bring at that particular auction. Pretty simple and pretty obvious. No maybe about it. The results depend upon who's engaged in the bidding.
Maybe, maybe not. I won’t argue. If you don’t like eBay, then go elsewhere.
 
Mar 2, 2021
3,473
14,254
Alabama USA
"You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealin's done "
Songwriters: Don Schlitz
 

karam

Lifer
Feb 2, 2019
2,613
9,991
Basel, Switzerland
I often contact the seller before any bids are made and make a reasonable offer. The success rate is fairly high, I avoid bidding wars, and have walked away with some very good deals.
I don't know when was the last time you did this, but ebay has gotten smarter the last 5 years at least. I saw some estate pipes being sold by someone from Greece so I sent a message to the seller asking whether we can do without ebay's shipping charge (which was ridiculous by the way) and instantly got a message from ebay that what I'm doing is prohibited.
Turns out the pipes were sold by a guy in Athens, to another guy in Athens (me), the shipping charge was about 5 times what regular Greek post would be - in fact it cost the same as ordering 2 cobs from Missouri, US, to Athens, Greece. I could have driven to the guy's house and picked them up at the cost of my time and petrol, but no.

As for ebay, 20 years ago when it was both almost exclusively P2P I believe there were genuine deals to be found. Not anymore for at least 10 years now, particularly when actual businesses and shops started having a massive presence on ebay, once analytics, scripts and bots joined the game the party was well and truly over.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ofafeather

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
45,530
120,959
don't know when was the last time you did this, but ebay has gotten smarter the last 5 years at least. I saw some estate pipes being sold by someone from Greece so I sent a message to the seller asking whether we can do without ebay's shipping charge
Just last month.

You were inquiring about ebay policies while I was making a transaction. Nothing against that if there are no prior bids.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ofafeather
Status
Not open for further replies.