OT: waiting to buy something on Ebay - need some coffee to stay awake
FrigidNDEditing
wrote on 4/11/2005, 9:21 PM
Comments
JohnnyRoy
wrote on 4/11/2005, 9:51 PM
> waiting to buy something on Ebay - need some coffee to stay awake
Why don’t you just use an eBay sniper service. They are fully legal and they work. (and you get to sleep)
~jr
Why don’t you just use an eBay sniper service. They are fully legal and they work. (and you get to sleep)
~jr
FrigidNDEditing
wrote on 4/11/2005, 10:26 PM
meh - no class / work tommarrow - I can get cought up on some of my TIVO shows, and then get the excitement of ordering my software, and not have to pay any extra for the service. The joy of this purchase will be the LOW price, so i'm gonna have to do everything I can to get it cheaper :)
Dave
Dave
DavidMcKnight
wrote on 4/12/2005, 10:39 AM
Out of curiosity - what software and price?
FrigidNDEditing
wrote on 4/12/2005, 10:48 AM
well, sadly - I was unsuccessful, someone with a higher speed connection got in inbetween final refresh and auction end, and I click place bid to out bid that didn't make it through in time (maybe 1 or 2 seconds).
It was a 4pack of Macromedia Dreamweaver 3.0 / Fireworks3.0 / Flash 4.0 / Freehand 9.0
For about 40-50 bucks. I used to own Dreamweaver 3.0 / Fireworks 3.0 but in a move it was lost (only the CD - of course). So now I am trying to find it again, and I almost had it, but I will have to just bid on another one when it comes along. No big loss - I think I found something I can get off ebay as a student for an ok price.
Dave
It was a 4pack of Macromedia Dreamweaver 3.0 / Fireworks3.0 / Flash 4.0 / Freehand 9.0
For about 40-50 bucks. I used to own Dreamweaver 3.0 / Fireworks 3.0 but in a move it was lost (only the CD - of course). So now I am trying to find it again, and I almost had it, but I will have to just bid on another one when it comes along. No big loss - I think I found something I can get off ebay as a student for an ok price.
Dave
Chienworks
wrote on 4/12/2005, 10:57 AM
I'm not quite sure why there is always that rush to outbid at the end of an auction. Yes, i understand that you don't want other people to know what you're willing to bid until the last moment so that the price doesn't get driven up. But, i see so many people spending the last few minutes repeatedly outbidding each other. It's not necessary. As close to the end of the auction as possible simply bid the highest amount you are willing to pay. If you win, you'll get it for some tiny amount over the second highest bid. If you don't win, you weren't going to.
I've even had my boss standing over my shoulder while i bid on some equipment. His instructions were to bid $2000, then if we didn't win, keep incrementing the bid by $100 until we win or we hit $4000. So, i spent nearly 10 minutes entering bids, checking the status each time, and seeing the current bid climb to $2.50 over our bid every time. We eventually lost it and the winner got it for $4002.50. I asked why he had me go to all that effort instead of simply bidding $4000 to begin with. His response, "well, i didn't want to pay more than i had to to win in." The fact that bidding $4000 might still have won it for $101 if the next highest bid was only $100 wasn't something he was willing to understand. I guess he thought that whatever we bid, that was what we would end up paying. Argggggg. It doesn't work like that.
Anyway, i firmly believe that the number of times one successfully wins an auction because they have played the outbidding game at the end is fairly insignificant. I'll wait until a few minutes before the end (or a few hours, if it's the middle of the night), place a single well-judged bid, and be done with it.
I've even had my boss standing over my shoulder while i bid on some equipment. His instructions were to bid $2000, then if we didn't win, keep incrementing the bid by $100 until we win or we hit $4000. So, i spent nearly 10 minutes entering bids, checking the status each time, and seeing the current bid climb to $2.50 over our bid every time. We eventually lost it and the winner got it for $4002.50. I asked why he had me go to all that effort instead of simply bidding $4000 to begin with. His response, "well, i didn't want to pay more than i had to to win in." The fact that bidding $4000 might still have won it for $101 if the next highest bid was only $100 wasn't something he was willing to understand. I guess he thought that whatever we bid, that was what we would end up paying. Argggggg. It doesn't work like that.
Anyway, i firmly believe that the number of times one successfully wins an auction because they have played the outbidding game at the end is fairly insignificant. I'll wait until a few minutes before the end (or a few hours, if it's the middle of the night), place a single well-judged bid, and be done with it.
JohnnyRoy
wrote on 4/12/2005, 12:37 PM
I agree you have to say to yourself, "here is what I’m willing to pay" and stop at that, but bidding early does drive the price up and give people time to think about how much more they are willing to pay. By bidding at the end, the other guy doesn’t get a chance to think about it. If he stops to think, you may just win the auction. I hate when I loose by $2.50 but it does happen a lot. :(
~jr
~jr
Michael L
wrote on 4/12/2005, 4:18 PM
In grad school we had an auction of a $20 bill. It went for $46 (If I remember right, it may have been higher). Moral of the story was to set your price and not get caught up in emotions.
I have almost quit using ebay because it just isn;t fun anymore. Too many snioper programs make it impossible to win.
For what it is worth
I have almost quit using ebay because it just isn;t fun anymore. Too many snioper programs make it impossible to win.
For what it is worth
Chienworks
wrote on 4/12/2005, 5:38 PM
I saw a copy of Vegas 3 sell for $349 on ebay. It had a starting bid of $100 and i bid $150. Funny thing was, it was being sold by a national chain and if you went to their website you could buy it for about $249. Of course, they didn't tell you that in the auction listing. The next day another copy appeared from the same company starting at $100 and finally sold for well over $300.
Grazie
wrote on 4/12/2005, 11:09 PM
Now Kelly - THAT is very very funny . .. I loved it! - Huh! - G
FrigidNDEditing
wrote on 4/12/2005, 11:17 PM
That's done very often, in fact. I just purchased a version of dreamweaver fireworks for $9 that the same place sells for $90 at their onlines store. I guess it goes the other way around too.
Dave
Dave
riredale
wrote on 4/13/2005, 12:06 AM
Interesting thread.
I've bought maybe a dozen or so items on eBay, with the most expensive being my VX2000 camera (for $1,750 18 months ago). So far I haven't been burned once.
I've sometimes thought about the bidding strategy to use. I think the reason people don't bid the final price they are willing to pay is because they know the irrationality of other bidders. Say you are willing to go as high as $4k for an item. If you bid the full $4k now, you have shown your hand in that someone else who keeps bidding $3k, then $3.1k, then $3.2k and losing every time might be tempted by the emotion of the moment to keep on going until he gets the notification that he's the high bidder--in which case, you're out of the game. But if, instead, you do nothing until the last minute, someone else who has already bid $3k and seeing no action might forget about the deadline and realize only too late that you are willing to pay more. It's a fascinating business, and I'm not sure I have the logic of it down correctly.
I've bought maybe a dozen or so items on eBay, with the most expensive being my VX2000 camera (for $1,750 18 months ago). So far I haven't been burned once.
I've sometimes thought about the bidding strategy to use. I think the reason people don't bid the final price they are willing to pay is because they know the irrationality of other bidders. Say you are willing to go as high as $4k for an item. If you bid the full $4k now, you have shown your hand in that someone else who keeps bidding $3k, then $3.1k, then $3.2k and losing every time might be tempted by the emotion of the moment to keep on going until he gets the notification that he's the high bidder--in which case, you're out of the game. But if, instead, you do nothing until the last minute, someone else who has already bid $3k and seeing no action might forget about the deadline and realize only too late that you are willing to pay more. It's a fascinating business, and I'm not sure I have the logic of it down correctly.