I don't understand why people worry about sellers on auctions 'profiteering'. Why should it matter to you?

For example imagine a seller auctions three locos that would cost you £100 each to buy new. You bid £200 for the set of three and win, thereby saving yourself £100. Why would it matter if the seller only paid £3.50 for them? You bid what you were wiling to pay, saved yourself a wedge of money, and the seller made a huge profit. Who lost out there? As far as I can see everybody won, yet there are till peple unhappy with sellers making profits.

I buy and sell lots of stuff on eBay. I rarely make a loss on them, because I pay less than I think they are worth and sell for as much as I can get away with. If the buyer is at ll unhappy they get a refund, and I sell it again. The profits go on things I've bought which I'd like to keep.

50% of my rolling stock came from eBay.

Just my two penneth
Cheers
Dave

I totally agree. I have no issue with the sellers that put things up for big money, if someone is prepared to pay that price then that is the deal.

What I do like to do is watch what items when I know full well that the exact same item can be bought from a local retailer where you can check it over before you pay for it.

Maybe it's me but I do wonder at the psychology of it all. What goes through peoples minds especially when Google tracks your searches and pops you adverts of the things you are looking for and they still pay over the odds.

some people feel they have to win.   it's amazing how logic departs in the last few seconds.

as said previously patience is your friend, for example i needed a GBRF spine wagon to complete a rake of 7, these can go up to £30 with or without the coupling bars that go missing, watched a few go for silly money but i always bid up to the point i think is reasonably valued.   Eventually one came up with a poorly entered description, finishing at midday on a Wednesday and it was mine for a reasonable sum.

the ebay search engines that look for typo's,incorrect attributes applied (ie scale) are worth investigating, i used to win a lot back in the day by doing this manually but no it can be automated and although easier more are doing it

Whoooooo Certainly opened a can of worms when I started this thread I only wanted to find out what would be a fair bid in % of a new priced Item. Would it be 1/2 price 2/3rds or what.

You bid the lowest amount you can , say  £1 , and wait for other bidders to join in
and you will see if you have been outbid. There's no point in bidding a high
amount to start off because  if you are the only bidder you'll pay over the odds
when the auction ends.

Quote from: Agrippa on August 21, 2014, 01:13:34 AM
There's no point in bidding a high
amount to start off because  if you are the only bidder you'll pay over the odds
when the auction ends.

No you won't

If the starting price is 99p it doesn't matter if you bid £1 or £10,000, if you're the only bidder when it ends you'll still only pay 99p


Paul

Quote from: UPINSMOKE on August 20, 2014, 10:51:13 PM
Whoooooo Certainly opened a can of worms when I started this thread I only wanted to find out what would be a fair bid in % of a new priced Item. Would it be 1/2 price 2/3rds or what.

Yeah this subject always brings a lot of emotion. I am sure if I searched I could find similar thread that goes on for pages 


So what are going to choose to fire up next ? 

Any criticism of the Blue Pullman would do it with me   

Quote from: Agrippa on August 21, 2014, 01:13:34 AM
You bid the lowest amount you can , say  £1 , and wait for other bidders to join in
and you will see if you have been outbid. There's no point in bidding a high
amount to start off because  if you are the only bidder you'll pay over the odds
when the auction ends.

Absolutely not. At least on eBay bids go up in specific increments up to your maximum bid. So for example, between £5.00 - £14.99 and the bid increments are 50p.

That's why I said earlier the rational thing to do is simply decide the maximum you're willing to pay for that item. There's no need for gamesmanship like sniping unless your aim is to win rather than to get the item for the price you deem appropriate.

So if you think a Farish brake van is worth at most £5, then you bid that maximum amount, and eBay will automatically make bids (in this case, 5p up to £0.99 and 20p bids up to £4.99) until your maximum bid is reached.

Now, eBay might encourage you to bid an odd amount in this case, like £5.25, rather than exactly £5 because people tend to enter "round number" maximum bids, so if someone else thinks £5 is a fair price and uses that as a maximum bid, then your £5.25 maximum will win. But you can immediately see the catch here: eBay sellers benefit by this approach because you've actually increased your maximum bid above what you actually deemed a fair price. You've actually made a less rational move in return for a better chance of winning -- in other words, the auction is now a competition rather than a way to obtain an item at a fair price.

Cheers, NeMo

Quote from: NeMo on August 21, 2014, 07:50:13 AM

Quote from: Agrippa on August 21, 2014, 01:13:34 AM
You bid the lowest amount you can , say  £1 , and wait for other bidders to join in
and you will see if you have been outbid. There's no point in bidding a high
amount to start off because  if you are the only bidder you'll pay over the odds
when the auction ends.

Absolutely not. At least on eBay bids go up in specific increments up to your maximum bid. So for example, between £5.00 - £14.99 and the bid increments are 50p.

That's why I said earlier the rational thing to do is simply decide the maximum you're willing to pay for that item. There's no need for gamesmanship like sniping unless your aim is to win rather than to get the item for the price you deem appropriate.

So if you think a Farish brake van is worth at most £5, then you bid that maximum amount, and eBay will automatically make bids (in this case, 5p up to £0.99 and 20p bids up to £4.99) until your maximum bid is reached.

Now, eBay might encourage you to bid an odd amount in this case, like £5.25, rather than exactly £5 because people tend to enter "round number" maximum bids, so if someone else thinks £5 is a fair price and uses that as a maximum bid, then your £5.25 maximum will win. But you can immediately see the catch here: eBay sellers benefit by this approach because you've actually increased your maximum bid above what you actually deemed a fair price. You've actually made a less rational move in return for a better chance of winning -- in other words, the auction is now a competition rather than a way to obtain an item at a fair price.

Cheers, NeMo

you are right and wrong. 

in your example  if you bid max of £5 and someone else later says a maximum of £5 then you will win as your bid was in first when an equivalent auction value is reached.  If they have valued it higher and put in £5.25 then they value it more than you and win.

where you are right is around the round numbers then it is a slight advantage to bid an increment over the round number if as you say the goal is to win not to pay your best price

I tend to decide what something is worth TO ME, deduct p&p and then make that my max bid.

then wait for it to finish.

don't get involved in bidding wars, seen things go for more than you can get them new from Liverpool 

just my view

Quote from: class37025 on August 21, 2014, 08:19:15 PM
don't get involved in bidding wars, seen things go for more than you can get them new from Liverpool 

That's absolutely the key, do a bit of research and don't pay more than you can get it for elsewhere.

I sold a whole batch of Seep PM2 point motors at £1.50 each more than you could buy them new. Nuts!!

Cheers
Dave

I've found a rule regarding eBay auctions-

If I'm buying the item will nearly always go for more than I think it is worth.

If I'm selling the item will nearly always make a lot LESS than I think it is worth..........

Fallacy somewhere, I fancy.

All the very best
Les

Quote from: Les1952 on August 24, 2014, 09:53:16 AM
I've found a rule regarding eBay auctions-
If I'm buying the item will nearly always go for more than I think it is worth.
If I'm selling the item will nearly always make a lot LESS than I think it is worth..........
All the very best
Les

I think we should call that Les' eBay Paradox.

Cheers, NeMo

I think that over the top prices can stem from having sold an item yourself for much more than you ever anticipated. This can make you feel artificially cash rich in your paypal account so you may subsequently bid over the top. If you are joined by 1 or 2 more in the same position this can add to the bidding frenzy.

I reckon that many are clearing out oddments these days compared to a couple of years back. As prices of new rise as we have seen with Bachfar some will be inclined to hang on to what they have. I have re-evaluated what I have as I do not have an endless supply of cash to play trains. If I can make do or modify then this will happen. On a supply and demand basis this could mean that prices for secondhand on ebay rise. Ebay is a constant source of entertainment when I see OTT prices being paid compared to what certain items can be bought for brand new. It is an auction site which I have both bought and sold on a lot. It must surely have affected attendances at swop-meets?