Bidding Against An SRP Member?

I was watching a couple of auctions on Ebay yesterday. One was for a DD razor and the other was for a polishing stone(Thuringer, sp?). I got out my list of Ebay names and noticed that a couple of members were bidding. I thought,...would it be ethical to bid against them? I don't know how I feel about this! What do they say?...."All's fair in love and war"...and perhaps bidding for razors and stones on Ebay???

As it turned out, one member was outbid and did not rebide at the end of the auction. The other was actually won by a member.

A few questions:

Would you resist bidding if a member was high bidder for something you wanted? - and would that decision be based upon a member you are familiar with, or not? (a popular member??)

Would it be okay to bid if that member was no longer high bidder, but was on the list of people who had bid previously. - meaning, they could be waiting for the last few moments of the auction to put in a last bid. - of course, you wouldn't know that.

How do you feel about bidding against other members? - and what is your criteria, if you do? - or if you don't... A lot of this could depend on what the item was, and how much you wanted it!

Regards,

Steve Boyd

I don't think you should worry about it. If its a member and they are the ones selling I like to know that.

For me if its a Senior Member I will bid and if its a newbie I won't. Thats just me. I only have about 6 razors and I find that to be more than enough.

I've got no problems bidding against a senior member, and have been known to bid against a junior member if its something I really want.

Sometimes I've gotten together with the other member via PM and figured out which one of us wanted it more, then laid off so they could get it - no point driving up the auction price if his max bid is higher than mine.

I don't mind bidding against another SRP'er, and I don't mind one bidding against me. If I happen to see something that another SRPer is bidding on, I might send a PM to figure out which one of us would have the highest limit.
It would be pointless to engage in a bidding war that would only benefit the seller.

Also, if I don't really REALLY want it, I will probably let go.

FYI, I never, ever bid on an auction until the last 10 - 15 seconds of the auction. I, too, do not wish to drive the price up, or get in to a bidding war. I just lurk in the shadows 'till the very end, and then I strike!!

I am "MASTER BIDDER" :D

Steve

If I see another member bidding on an item I don't particularly want but that would be nice to have, I give him my high bid and if he wants to go over, it's all good in the hood. Ever since I was a total n00b, I haven't come across a blade that I needed to have, so I don't mind letting a blade go. Actually I'm trimming down my rotation, so my next 2 purchases won't be from e-bay. However, Mr. Williams and Mr. Abrams should get ready for orders from me, with the first one probably in about 6 months to a year :nj

my ebay bidding has been dropping off a lot of late. i tend now only bid if i see an unusaly design feature or i simply don't have one of that brand i usually bid on ones that seem to have little of no interest and they are on the last day. i don't bid on item that people have asked about on this form, of course if the seller announces their sale on the form you might find me bidding.

when i'm the first bidder, my oepning bid is generally real close to sellers opening offer, if i want the item there is a snipe and i do not look back. i never snipe without making a regular bid. if i see a fellow srp member bidding i tend to skip the auction, and if they out bid me, unless it is on my must have list, i'm done bidding, i often will drop snipes for them as well.

I'm subsyscrusher on ebay... it in the list, if you see me bidding send me a pm i'll let you know what your odds are on me outbidding you.

when it comes the the blind bidders type auction, all bets are off.

I have been bid against many many times by members and I'm sure I'v bid against many members, and with the growing amount that have come on board since my joining I don't see any way around it. What would be cool is if this forum had its own auction area.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zepplin

FYI, I never, ever bid on an auction until the last 10 - 15 seconds of the auction. I, too, do not wish to drive the price up, or get in to a bidding war. I just lurk in the shadows 'till the very end, and then I strike!!

I am "MASTER BIDDER" :D

Steve

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Like you I don't bid till the very end so I would not know who's bidding. I don't bother to look at who's already placed a bid, because I know they will most likely be outbid by someone anyway if they placed a bid so early in the auction (there's way too many lurkers, to trust that). I've been at ebay way too long (almost 10 years counting a job I had to get supplies, way back when ebay was super scary).

If someone in the ebay part of this forum said "hey guys don't bid on this one" I would most likely pass on it to help the guy out. But you also have to consider other bidders that are not apart of the forum. Maybe his bid is only going to go so high, maybe someone else not on the forum would pay a little more, then maybe you would have even gone higher. Then you're sitting there scratching your head wondering why you did not place a bid.

My personal opinion, ebay is every man for themselves (it's a scary place, just like a ship sinking). If you have a good offering and you want to sell it to get a far price and see a good guy get it, offer it up in the Buy/Sell/Trade section. The same if you're looking. You want a good item and you'll know where you got it, that's the place to be.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Damon

I have been bid against many many times by members and I'm sure I'v bid against many members, and with the growing amount that have come on board since my joining I don't see any way around it. What would be cool is if this forum had its own auction area.

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You hit on something there. Instead of offering up something at a set price on the B/S/T part of the forum, just run an auction for 1 week on each item. The highest bidder wins. You could see each persons bid right there as comments in the thread. It would be like a real auction house. No snipes, just real deal bidding and outbidding. Any bid after the time set for auction end does not count and is disregarded.
Start out say with a $20 reserve (or what ever you want to set it at) and go from there. And no ebay fees for the seller. Point out what method of payment you take, and shipping and it's a done deal.

Great idea!

I tend to bid low and early, I don't fret over last minute bids, unless thats when I find the item. I'll tend to bid the full amount I'm willing to go right off. I have no time to play games, ether I win or I don't.

I have no love for snipers but thats another issue and there is nothing that can be done about it, so why waste time with it. I'm also not worried about being over bid by a member, as I know my bid is low. Heck if someone is going to walk away with something nice for next to nothing... why not me :D

Knowing another member is bidding can sometimes help too. I recently noticed a stone on the Australian ebay site. One of our more senior members had put in an early bid and emailed a question to the seller. They then dropped out of the bidding.

Made me think twice about something I almost certainly would have over-bid for had the other member not been there. I either dodged a bullet, or let an Escher slip by for 45AUD. I think it was the former....:eek:

James.

I tend not to bid against other members without pming them first and asking if they really want it or are willing to go to a higher price range than me as I don't want us bumping the prices up for each other (after all if you could have bought something for $50 but end up paying $90 because two members bid against each other it's a bit of a waste when you could have sorted in with one pm).

Sometimes I don't notice if they aren't the high bidder or it's near the end of the bidding (I also put in small bids to start with just to try and keep items on my radar).

If you want something on Ebay you bid to your threshold. If another forum member has a higher threshold then he wins. If you want the item then bid away and dont worry about another member bidding, he has his limit the same as you. Yes you could pm each other to settle this threshold before the auction ends but isn't that a kind of bidding also :)

Oh :cen if I want it I buy it, no friends on Ebay :)

PuFF

Edit: That sounds so mercenary

The way eBay is set up, it's meant to drive up the sale price by buyers bidding against one another. And yes, we're not the only ones bidding on straights (gasp!) so I don't mind people here bidding against each other, especially if it's a special or rare item
... but I don't mind if they make deals to, say, not bid against each other ... I'll lay off the Boker you want if you lay off the W&B I want ... and maybe it's a good idea to PM each other your max bids and see who 'wins', and then that guy can maybe get it cheaper (like Bruno said ... if he and I are the only ones bidding on a W&B, and he'd pay $100 and I'd max out at $90, there's no point in finding that out the hard way and letting the seller reap the benefits if a couple of PMs between us lets me know I won't win it so why bother and I'll concentrate on something else, and Bruno wins it for $10.)

If i ever outbid a member they should contact me and see if i will sell to them at the auction price.