Lucky at last

[Tdm]

I have always been wary of using Ebay, and up to now all my bids for something I have wanted have every time been "gazumped".

However today I was told I was the successful bidder on an Ibertren car transporter that I have been after for some time, and although I had to pay by PayPal (which has caused problems in the past because I have a Spanish address), this time everything went through smoothly.

Got carried away with my 1st success and immediately put a bid in on another Ibertren transporter being advertised - will see what happens with this one.

Been a good day all round as a couple of outstanding purchases from Gaugemaster turned up - 2 viaducts needed to complete my layout.

[DELETED]

I hear you.  I've tried to win auctions on E-Bay for many years and it never worked until last couple of months then I finally won an auction   Notwithstanding I will still stay well clear of bids mostly.  Got caught out with my second auction win though -not as described (small parts missing), no response from seller but not worth me disputing.

...not been a great day as no work next week.  But I bought a £1 scratch card which was like a mini lottery style (never seen it before) and won a fiver!  Biggest single pay-out in 15 years!  Minus my £1, it leaves me £4 small change for parking fees this next week going round agents in town looking for work again.

Rich

[Webbo]

EBay auctions are exactly that - auctions. The person who is prepared to pay the highest price wins no matter if that bid is placed immediately that the auction starts or 10 seconds from its end. Many think that 'gazumping', or sniping as its really called, is not sportsmanlike, but it is 100% legal and anyone can undertake it.

I live in Australia so if I want to bid on something in the UK near the auction end, I have to be on the computer at 5 or 6am -ugh! So I use a software tool called Auction Sniper to place a bid that represents the maximum I'm prepared to pay for an item. No chance of my getting drawn into emotional bidding wars is another advantage. If someone wants to pay more than me, they will win and that's fine with me. I win some and lose some.

Webbo

[Bealman]

Yeah I had my very first flea bay experience a month or so back (documented in this parish ), and was totally underwhelmed.

[railsquid]

I got most frustrated the first couple of times I tried to bid on something on Ebay.

The trick, I worked out, is to find something you want, set yourself a limit on how much you want to pay for it (to avoid bidding wars), add to watch list, and only bid shortly before the auction ends, literally in the last 90 seconds or so. That doesn't always work if someone is using a "sniping" program (though I think I've manually outbid one at least once, hah).

From my experience, unless something is ultra-rare, someone is bound to offer the same thing again within a few weeks so unless you Want It Right Now, patience pays out. (Then when you do finally win it, the same thing will come up shortly afterwards as a "buy it now" offer for half the price...).

So far all the items received have been as-described; I've probably paid slightly (occasionally even somewhat) over the odds for some items but on the other hand from here I don't have any other way of getting them.

I do keep away from any seller who keyword-stuffs descriptions ("suits Hornby Grafar Bachmann Dapol") or is overly vague or effusive or USES ALL CAPS and/or sounds barely literate, or only posts one photo of the item in question.

[Webbo]

I got most frustrated the first couple of times I tried to bid on something on Ebay.

The trick, I worked out, is to find something you want, set yourself a limit on how much you want to pay for it (to avoid bidding wars), add to watch list, and only bid shortly before the auction ends, literally in the last 90 seconds or so. That doesn't always work if someone is using a "sniping" program (though I think I've manually outbid one at least once, hah).

From my experience, unless something is ultra-rare, someone is bound to offer the same thing again within a few weeks so unless you Want It Right Now, patience pays out. (Then when you do finally win it, the same thing will come up shortly afterwards as a "buy it now" offer for half the price...).

So far all the items received have been as-described; I've probably paid slightly (occasionally even somewhat) over the odds for some items but on the other hand from here I don't have any other way of getting them.

I do keep away from any seller who keyword-stuffs descriptions ("suits Hornby Grafar Bachmann Dapol") or is overly vague or effusive or USES ALL CAPS and/or sounds barely literate, or only posts one photo of the item in question.

If someone uses a sniping program and outbids you in the last 10 seconds, it simply means that they are prepared to pay more than you are for an item. Let them have it and as railsquid says, there will probably be similar items up for auction or sale before very long.

My experience with EBay has been 95% good, with the only real problem being items not properly described occasionally. Have a good look at the photos posted. If they are blurry - forget it. The big advantage with EBay is that you can buy items that are no longer for sale or may be collector's items. I also sell or auction off stuff I no longer need or want. More fun than buying.

It's also really important when buying stuff from EBay to know what something is worth. Compare what EBay wants for an item versus how much you would pay at a shop or at an online dealer. Warranties and postal costs need to be included when assessing the relative prices.

Webbo

[Agrippa]

Before bidding I always scrutinise everything about the item for
sale and the seller, feedback, delivery times and methods, photo
description etc, etc. In the feedback I  check out as far back as
possible to see if the seller has been in a slanging match with
a buyer.

I always regard the postage as part of the cost.
It's easy to think you've got a bargain when you buy a wagon
for a fiver then forget about the postage of £3 making it the same
as a brand new one.

I remember the buyer who bought a photo of a laptop (I think)
believing he/she was buying the real thing. One thing is it's
pointless carping on about "greedy sellers", when anyone selling on
Ebay wants the maximum price for their stuff.

[port perran]

When I first started in N Gauge I bought a lot of items on Ebay and was always happy.  Prices seemed to be good and postage reasonable.
In the last year or so though, I think prices have risen and I nearly always get outbid. I've probably only managed to buy one Ebay item in the last year.  I agree with Agrippa, it is important to treat postage as part of the overall price. I think that postage costs are often greatly overstated which certainly puts me off. No point in paying more for a second hand item that you might pay for a new one.

[oscar]

I dont use sniping anymore, i put in my maximum, click and wait for 5 seconds to go then hit the submit button, never failed to win an auction in this manner..

But you're just doing the sniping yourself, instead of a machine.....

[Bealman]

I dont use sniping anymore, i put in my maximum, click and wait for 5 seconds to go then hit the submit button, never failed to win an auction in this manner..

But, as Webbo points out, it is inconvenient for us antipodean types. 

[Tdm]

Thanks for the interesting comments - I was only vaguely aware of "sniping" software.

I used Ebay this time as that appeared to be the only place the product I was after was being advertised.

Also as regards postage I use my son's U.K. address for delivery to keep costs down and pick the goods up when over, or he comes out to Tenerife, and using a U.K. address also means PayPal will talk to me in English and not Spanish as it does if I use my home address.