02-16-2006, 04:20 AM
Here\'s MY frikin\' peeve... You find an item listed with an opening bid of say $49.99 and a BIN price of $99.99 so you quietly place a bid of $99.99. You figure if no one else bids, you get a bargain, and if they do, you\'ll do no worse than the BIN price and be assured of a win...right?
WRONG! Some jackass will invariably then take the auction OVER the BIN price! You\'re out the item and the moron who outbid you has just demonstrably overpaid! Makes my freaking blood BOIL!! All the little idiot had to do was a little research to see that he should only bid so much!!!
The key to eBay is research and a tiny bit of strategy. Find out how much the item has sold for in the past - easy to do, just click on completed items. Now you have a reasonable range for your max bid. If all the completed items like the one you\'re looking for have sold for substantially more than you want to pay, then wait. Chances are there is a surge of demand for the item at that particular time (like a Psycho on October 25th) and you can ride that out.
If you locate an item that you want that already has a bid or two on it, look for an identical item from the same seller or a different seller with a later close date and go for that one. If there are no other identical items up for bid at that time, find out who your competition is. What have they bid on over the past month or two. How much were they willing to pay? What\'s their feedback quantity and quality?
If you can peg a bidder as a newbie without a clue, you can generally wipe him out with a shock and awe snipe. If you find you\'re up against a guy with 7,000 feedbacks who has paid $47,000 for a Lamson shaped potato chip, move on - you\'re just going to get F\'d up.
It\'s really not rocket science, so it sends me into a RAGE when I get derailed by a rock-headed twerp who couldn\'t find his ass with both hands...
I\'ll stop now.
WRONG! Some jackass will invariably then take the auction OVER the BIN price! You\'re out the item and the moron who outbid you has just demonstrably overpaid! Makes my freaking blood BOIL!! All the little idiot had to do was a little research to see that he should only bid so much!!!
The key to eBay is research and a tiny bit of strategy. Find out how much the item has sold for in the past - easy to do, just click on completed items. Now you have a reasonable range for your max bid. If all the completed items like the one you\'re looking for have sold for substantially more than you want to pay, then wait. Chances are there is a surge of demand for the item at that particular time (like a Psycho on October 25th) and you can ride that out.
If you locate an item that you want that already has a bid or two on it, look for an identical item from the same seller or a different seller with a later close date and go for that one. If there are no other identical items up for bid at that time, find out who your competition is. What have they bid on over the past month or two. How much were they willing to pay? What\'s their feedback quantity and quality?
If you can peg a bidder as a newbie without a clue, you can generally wipe him out with a shock and awe snipe. If you find you\'re up against a guy with 7,000 feedbacks who has paid $47,000 for a Lamson shaped potato chip, move on - you\'re just going to get F\'d up.
It\'s really not rocket science, so it sends me into a RAGE when I get derailed by a rock-headed twerp who couldn\'t find his ass with both hands...
I\'ll stop now.