Let's all beat eBay like a red headed stepchild WITH freckles.
First off, here's a site where you can vote on the quality of the job their CEO is doing:
Give Meg a Neg!
-ANT
Stop that. To reply change my ISP to @hotmail.com
I don't like ebay or their service very much. I would much rather (if I had any money) purchase my VW from thesamba.com. It is much easier than playing games bidding on some item, only to have someone place a bid right before the auction ends. Not sure the name of it, but I heard that there is a company that will bid for you (for a fee) a certain price at the last minute of the auction. That is just not fair competition to the guy that is bidding on it in good faith.
Bill Berckman Cincinnati VW/Porsche Family Reunion Show 2003 Pictures
Well, I have to admit I like ebay for gettig rid of stuff fast. I can clean out my closet and put it all up on ebay with a low buy it now price and it's sold within a day to someone who actually wants it. Usually I'd just give the stuff away but finding someone who wants whatever weird vintage item has been sitting in my closet is usualy a challenge. I find some comfort in knowing that the person who wins an auction wants it and wont just throw it away a week later. If they do decide they no longer want it, they are more likely to sell it again on ebay to someone who wants it rather than just toss it in the trash. I keep my buy it now low to avoid the bidding wars. Usually the first person who sees it buys it without bidding. Sometimes I dont even allow bidding... just buy it now, period. I sort of think ebay would be a lot more honest without the bidding wars.
Now, the fact that ebay tracks everything in the world... well, I admit this makes me uncomfortable. But, at the same time, suppose you heard your stolen bus has been auctioned on ebay, and you wanted the police or FBI to follow up. Suppose ebay said "Sorry Charlie, we dont save any personal info about sellers". How would that make you feel?
I admit there needs to be a middle ground... and the fees ARE gettig way out of hand, but the fact that I am almost guaranteed to sell something for those fees still makes it worthwhile.
Tom
The fees have to go up if eBay is a publicly traded company. That's the rule for services. Ain't no other way to milk the cow. The only way you can balance that is to gamble by buying their stock _and_ use their service.
On Thu, 08 Jan 2004 03:44:43 GMT, "ANT" scribbled this interesting note:
I'm assuming everyone here has actually sold items in a real life, traditional auction? Ever notice how those auction houses really stick it to you, the seller, as well as the buyer? Typical fees go something like this; 20% to 30% commission from the proceeds that go to the seller and a 10% buyer's premium. On top of that the buyer also must pay sales tax, that in some areas approaches another 10%!
eBay, by comparison, is cheap. Dirt cheap. And they have the traffic that guarantees, to me at least, that at least half of what I may list (miscellaneous stuff I have around the house. We have to clear out our house!:~) will sell. That being the case, why would I tote my vintage and collectable and miscellaneous crap out to an auction house only to have them take a fifth, or more, away from me for their service, which is only as good as the crowd they attract? eBay is, if you will consider it this way, the largest retailer in the world. If you consider the individual auctions as their inventory and the completed auctions as sales, they make Wal-Mart look like a penny-ante outfit!:~)
Yes I'm not happy about their fees going up. But when you look at the fee structure it is a bargain. Really.
-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)
.........................As some others have posted, Ebay is still a good deal for the seller even though the fees are going up. Your complaints, Bill, are quite valid however as a bidder. Automated sniping services have corrupted the process so that the 'average buyer' must place an unreasonably high proxy bid inorder to have any real hope of winning a bidding contest against the hardcore Ebayers who often win with an incremental bid increase when there's only one or two seconds left in the auction. The common response from these experienced Ebay experts is that you should bid as much as your willing to pay and let it go if someone else wants it more. In a real life auction, there's a 'going going gone' period where everyone gets a chance to respond to the lastest bid and there's no way to outmaneuver the casual participant with a last second 'trick' which is what automated sniping services provide to their clients. It would be possible to provide for last second responses that go past the specified time for the auction until the rate of bidding tapers off, but Ebay hasn't yet decided to upgrade their level of service in that manner. At this time, they can make a lot of money without modifying their auctioning format and will continue with the current system until someone else provides a competitive service that threatens their dominant position in the online marketing business.
blah...bullshit...plain and simple....win or be *BEATEN* that is the system and it works...
well i'm no "expert" but that is damn good advice....you don't really want to pay more than an item is worth or more than you can afford because you got caught up in a "that asshole isn't going to beat *ME*" type bidding war.... if you want to be realistic for a moment you will realize it is these "bidding" wars that run the bids up to the need for that "unreasonably high proxy bid".....bid *once* is my motto....all or nothing
why compare apples to oranges? if you want to buy on ebay, do it...if you don't then don't...its pretty simple really...
anyone that would *pay* a sniping service is a novice.... i win *most* of what i bid on...i bid late and once....and i also bid what i think it is worth to
*ME*...if i win, fine, if not i will keep looking....give it a shot...
------------------- Chris Perdue
*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug"
......................Apparently, it works for you Chris. There are a lot of potential buyers who are staying away from Ebay because they've learned that the system works in a way that doesn't seem very fair. If you outbid me on lets say a $300 item by the minimum incremental increase of lets say $5 when there's exactly 2 seconds left in the auction, and if I have a PC that isn't very fast, then I was BEATEN by a system that didn't really give me a reasonable chance to respond to your very well timed but only incrementally better bid. You win, I lose, and then I stay away from future auctions because I want a better chance to compete for the things that I want without having to get BEATEN all the time by guys like you who are smarter and much more dedicated to winning than me. It's good that we now know how the other feels about this issue.
On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 23:05:45 -0500, "Tim Rogers" scribbled this interesting note:
This is no different from proxy bidding in a real life, traditional auction where you leave the amount you are willing to bid with someone at the auction and that person is authorized to bid on your behalf up to the specified amount. You are not required to be present to win. Nope. No different at all.
-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)
On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 23:05:45 -0500, "Tim Rogers" ran around screaming and yelling:
i guess i just don't understand Tim....seriously, i don't....if there is an item worth 400 bucks and the current bid is 300 and i place my bid at the last second(not two seconds to go as you said ) and i bid the full 400 i am willing to spend, you are beaten by one bid increment if that was your *highest* bid...its a very fair system...i don't understand the part about needing a "second" chance...i really don't...its nothing personal to you tim, but i don't see why its unfair...YOU have just as much opportunity to win as I do...if i want it more than you do, then i will win...but believe me, there have been many, many auctions that i did *NOT* win, even though i bid at the last second...the item obviously wasn't worth as much to me as to the actual winner....it is an equal opportunity system because of the proxy bid....if the person that was leading till the last bid should get a "second" chance to respond with a higher bid, then so should the one you just outbid(that had outbid you)..then the auction may never end till you or the other party decide it is more than they want to pay...basically exactly like the proxy bid...
hehe...yes it is...but if you *really* want to know how i feel(i know you don't but you know), i feel it is down right crazy to bid on an item that has six days left in the auction...hell i don't bid untill close to the end...actually i usually bid *ONE* time... if we all did this the bids would be alot lower, equalling "better deals" that we are all seeking...
Chris
i guess i just don't understand Tim....seriously, i don't....if there is an item worth 400 bucks and the current bid is 300 and i place my bid at the last second(not two seconds to go as you said ) and i bid the full 400 i am willing to spend, you are beaten by one bid increment if that was your
*highest* bid...its a very fair system...i don't understand the part about needing a "second" chance...i really don't...its nothing personal to you tim, but i don't see why its unfair...YOU have just as much opportunity to win as I do...if i want it more than you do, then i will win...but believe me, there have been many, many auctions that i did *NOT* win, even though i bid at the last second...the item obviously wasn't worth as much to me as to the actual winner....it is an equal opportunity system because of the proxy bid....if the person that was leading till the last bid should get a "second" chance to respond with a higher bid, then so should the one you just outbid(that had outbid you)..then the auction may never end till you or the other party decide it is more than they want to pay...basically exactly like the proxy bid...hehe...yes it is...but if you *really* want to know how i feel(i know you don't but you know), i feel it is down right crazy to bid on an item that has six days left in the auction...hell i don't bid untill close to the end...actually i usually bid *ONE* time... if we all did this the bids would be alot lower, equalling "better deals" that we are all seeking...
------------------- Chris Perdue
*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug"
sorry ramva for the double post...aol was being crappy...
------------------- Chris Perdue
*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug"
Yahoo auctions is an alternative to Ebay. There is not a ton of VW stuff there, (mostly toys) but the prices seem to be a little better.
Bill Berckman Cincinnati VW/Porsche Family Reunion Show 2003 Pictures
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.