Thread: Before you link to an active auction

Using the images rather than linking is a great idea. However, linking to a live auction generally drives up the price since there are lurkers and members that could be interested in it. While the question the new person has will be answered they will soon learn that the item could have been snagged under the radar for a lot cheaper. I've seen people link to a razor asking "Is this a good price?" and "Should I get it?" to only be greeted with... "It was." and "Thanks, I just purchased it. Better luck next time."

So here is a better idea, try using SRP chat. People link to auctions in there asking questions all the time. You get fast answers and if people don't know they will guide you on the forums and in some cases the people in chat will search SRP for the answer.

On another note, SRP has a vast number of threads and posts that can answer a lot of questions. How does one search for it without knowing exactly what it is? Easy. Start a thread. Once you receive the answer then you'll know what to search for and that is half the fun and in some instances people may have new ideas and will post.

So, I can see your point with allowing a live auction thread or post regarding questions but what would you recommend that would be a perfect blend between both worlds? How could one post without using a link to a live auction? The idea is to allow questions and answers on a specific item without alerting others to a stellar deal on eBay. This is not directed towards you in a negative way, instead think of it as a challenge. A challenge that could benefit everyone on SRP and maintain the community spirit. A challenge for all SRP members. We all have our questions about an item on a live auction. Some of us have had a sweet deal on eBay just to have the price go up when someone posts a link to it.

What is the perfect answer?

Just casting my vote for not posting to live auctions, unless through PM to a member you trust. All talking points I can think of have been covered.

In my experience, if you've managed to find something of interest on ebay so have the ravenous hoards, the chattering classes, the anonymous snipers, your grandmother's hairdresser, and her poodle. As a general rule there is nothing especially special about anyone's ebay searching skills. Yes, we all do know how to spell "razor", "hone", etc in the various important languages - you are not the first to have thought of hitting the French, Latvian, German, etc ebays. We all even know the traditional dimensions of the various important hones, what they might look like under years of grime, and what kind of boxes they may have been in. In addition to that, sellers have become more informed as well, and the chances of a mis-named item are not what they used to be.

So if your use of ebay depends on finding "under the radar" items, you are playing a very low percentage game. Yes, you can make some spectacular shots when you play low percentage, but it is not called low percentage for nothing.

Anyway, by all means don't post active ebay links if you think it helps not drive up prices. But if that is going to be the criteria we need to ban Lynn from ever describing a good razor, or anyone ever talking about good hones, or strops, or any ebay bargain they found. All these things can and have driven up prices in the past.

Back in the day we used to actively declare any interest we had in an ebay auction, and the gentlemen among us would back out of the bidding if it was found to be a head to head. I guess in those days there were less of us, and less vendors trying to make money out of restores and such. Times do change, I suppose.

Here endeth the rant.

James.

Jimbo, I see you put some thought in your rant but it's not very realistic and silly. Not everyone interested in a certain razor or hone is constantly looking for them. So even if you post the most obvious Escher that shows up first in any hone related search there will be people who haven't seen it. Especially the people that aren't looking for (marginal) bargains all day are willing to pay more or whatever it takes. With each additional viewer the chances of a higher price increases.

With all the info on the forum it gets easier to find good razors and hones but the more experienced searchers will always find a few more. To illustrate this 2 weeks ago I bought a €67 Coticule of 33x8cm. It had 'whetstone' in the title and the reason it went that cheap was because the BBW side was up. If someone had posted it at the forum pretty much everyone would have recognized it after a second look and it would have gone for €500-600 easily.

As for posting pictures insteads of links, when you know what to look for you can just search till you find it. It doesn't take much ebay skills to find an item when you have a picture to look for. I can probably recognize any picture taken by almost a dozen sellers and I'm sure others can to.

Personally I would suggest to people who are unsure about an item at ebay to contact a person you trust through pm or chat and ask for advice. I for example am decent at recognizing natural hones and have little interest in the ones at e.g. ebay.com because the shipping is too expensive. Show me an interesting stone at ebay UK and I may put in a snipe if I hadn't seen it yet, but my answer will be honest. Of course if I'm convinced someone is going to outbid me anyway I won't snipe.

I understand there will always be newbies that don't understand yet why not to link to active auctions and perhaps some people that don't want to understand. It happens and it's not the end of the world. Most will understand it's in their own best interest to not do it again because it saves them money. Some newbies seem to get upset when you let them know, I've taken some heat for it, but I don't see any reason to not keep informing them

Gotta say, this whole pissing contest of "dont post an auction' makes me want to start posting every underbid auction I see. Particularly my own.

Go ahead and complain. Go ahead and ban me. If this place has become that petty, I might miss it, but I will get over it.

What pissing contest?

There's discussion of whether or not to post a link. Don't take it so personally.

Yes, really, this is just a discussion. We all have our opinions and are able to express them freely and openly. Me, I am ambivalent to an extent, in that I really don't think it matters all that much one way or the other. But I am neither an ebay seller nor buyer to any great degree anymore so that is where I am coming from. I can also see why it would be annoying to some people to have the auction linked while live, as money is at stake. On the other hand, I can also see why some people would appreciate a live auction link, particularly if they are the seller of said items. That being said, I do believe members who are selling ebay items can make people aware of those auctions? I think that is right, but apologies if not.

James.

Originally Posted by Magpie

Gotta say, this whole pissing contest of "dont post an auction' makes me want to start posting every underbid auction I see. Particularly my own.

The point is not really clear, do you mean you're willing to link every underbid auction including the ones you may be bidding on? Go ahead, you just may bring something to everyones' attention they may have missed, doubtful, but it's possible. If a seller/member wants to post a link to their live auction to increase traffic, so be it. As a buyer, it basically comes down to how much are you willing to pay for an item? Set you max bid and if you win, great, if not, then obviously someone else was willing to pay more. So it doesn't really matter if the auction was linked or not. End of story.

Magpie, I don't understand why you're getting all bent out of shape over this. Mostly considering you are the one who brought this back up. It's not a pissing contest at all, just a group of people expressing opinions in a gentlemanly manor. Post to live auctions if you want to. In the end, you do what you want to so long as it's not against the forum rule. I personally don't care much one way or the other.

I don't know, the forum policy in the subject is very clear:

Linking to active auctions is allowed.

Whether somebody likes it or not, it hasn't changed, so it's probably best to just accept it being what it is. If somebody doesn't want to link active auctions they simply can restrain themselves from doing it, but cannot expect it from others.

If you're getting pissed at others for drawing attention to items that you thought were flying under the radar and were hoping to get at a fraction of their fair market price, may be you ought to reexamine your motivation.