been surfin ebay all day and all I got was this stupid mouse clicking blister..

I have lost THREE 8/8 blades today.. I even use ebay countdown for my bidding.. What's worse is i missed out on a perfect W&B wedge because I was off on the time... sad thing it there were NO bids on it and it was at 9.99... plus the shipping.. I looked at the picture and it didn't seem to need much TLC at all... the sellers reviews were at 100%..

Does anyone think a lot of these guys Shill bid their own stuff? had one that I lost and almost immediately got a second chance offer on it... I thought it was hokey to send that almost immediately after the auction was over..

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i missed out on a perfect W&B wedge because I was off on the time... sad thing it there were NO bids on it ...

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If there were no bids, you were just too late man

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Does anyone think a lot of these guys Shill bid their own stuff?

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I have never thought they did. If they want a minimum price they could set it at auction start. Ebay is a huge market, and there usually are more than one watching the auction as it ends. If there is an object you want, bid only once, but as high as you are comfortable going. I've seen many objects go from zero bids to regular sale price during the last few seconds. Like, zero bids and 10 seconds left, enter bid, discover 5 ppl had placed bids after that. The good news, there will be other nice items out tomorrow, or even right now.
Best of luck :tu

Yea I know it was late.. I figured the person would just relist but no go on that one.. it's sad too because it was a decent looking work piece..

Oh believe me I have seen the prices blast off.. The only bad part is the good ones always seem to end when I am putting my little one to bed... guess an itouch or something would come in handy.. hahahaha..

As to the one you missed, set up a standing search with notification on "razor" from that particular seller. He might wait a while, or change the title, in hopes of a higher price. You should also scan the pictures, the description, auction conditions and his feedback, to see if anything put other bidders off.

The rest of the problem is a matter of how much you were prepared to pay. It was less than someone else was. Perhaps you should consider looking for a slightly narrower razor, for the really wide ones seem to attract prices that are hard to justify. If the buyers have noses as usually constituted, it sounds like they are only collectors.

I use Auctionsniper, a website which puts in your last-moment bid for you, regardless of time zone or the quality of your own connection, and charges about 1% commission for the service. I thginjk it has paid for itself many times over, by avoiding the competitive feeding frenzy which is sometimes triggered by bids placed late, but within human reaction time.

There are also sniping programs to download on your own computer, but these are dependent on how well connected you are at auction's end. The websites will do it in the middle of your vacation if you need them to. Auctionsniper also allows you to set up a bidgroup, or list of items for which it will place bids until you have won the number you chose, most often one, and then leave off. If you want to bid the lowest prices you can imagine items going for, you can do it this way, and eventually one will.

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Originally Posted by Nervin

Does anyone think a lot of these guys Shill bid their own stuff?

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Naw , they can't do that . They get their friends or relatives , to do it for them . I wouldn't feel too bad about losing some auctions . At least you didn't end up winning , and paying too much .

In this age of information, you can go to bidders, see who is bidding, look at their activity with the seller. Use your instinct from there. I sometimes think I have paid a premium this way, but HEY! it's my own fault! Besides, there is nothing wrong in paying a premium, as long as you get what you pay for! Schill bidding is somewhat detectable, but is hard to do. I say bid what you are willing to pay. There will be more razors along!

If something gets passed in you can contact the seller directly for a private sale. I've done that before. Worst that can happen is that they tell you to sod off.

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

Schill bidding is somewhat detectable, but is hard to do.

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First , let me say that I've never sold anything on ebay , and I've never been involved in shill bidding of any sort . But it can be done easy , and be virtually impossible to prove . I would give an example of how , but I don't want to give unscrupulous people any ideas , so you'll have to take my word , for it . I think the majority of sellers are honest , but you'll always have some bad apples . As long as you don't get carried away , and bid past your max , you can snipe without worries .

+ what Dave said.

I've been involved in an e-bay auction that involved shill bidding. Certainly leaves a bad taste in the mouth. But you don't have to be an Einstein to come up with less obvious ways than how it was done to me.

I guess shill bidding is when I see the same user apparently bidding against themselves?

I do the trigger finger thing 15 Secs before expiry, but you need fast browser and 12 Mb/sec broadband connection. I fill in my bid and wait as the seconds go by before pulling the trigger. Lost a nice Bismarck last week by $1 and 2 seconds but got a nice Frederick's ($19) and a Thiers-Issard with a small chip ($12).

Just register on esnipe, program tour bid in way early and wait for the email notification saying you won! :D

Much easier and much less stressful.

Just set the highest bid you wish to pay and let it ride. Be sure to pay attention, they may relist it, even several weeks later.

The worst that can happen is that you get caught and suspended, but that is uncommon. What is much more likely is that you don't get what you pay for, and you find you don't have any of the protection available with an eBay sale.

You can't normally see the identity of a bidder.

If you know your maximum bid, say I was willing to pay $50 for something, and not a cent more, you just put in $50 as your initial bid. Lets say the set increments of bidding on this item are $1, the current price of the item is $10, and you're max amount willing to pay is $50. You put in your bid of $50, the current price of the item goes up to $11. If somebody bids $20, Ebay automatically will increase your bid to $21. This will continue until the bidding stops, or your $50 limit is reached. I think I remember reading somewhere, somebody correct me if I am wrong, that even if a person puts in a bid a second before the auction ends, ebay will still slip in the higher limit-bid of an opponent.

Heheheh It happened again tonight.. I put my Maximum in and was out bid, then I a few minutes after the auction ended I got a second chance offer. Oh well, win some lose some. I did get ahold of a W&B for a decent price last week.. But I just get a little suspicious of those that rise quickly then a few minutes later a second chance offer gets sent to me. Each time it's happened it was always an estate type seller. One guy actually tried to convince me that my bid was a contract and since the original buyer didn't pan out I was contracted to buy.. Needless to say the Navy boot pusher came out in me and I said a few choice words and left it at that. Some people are just straight up shiesty..

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Originally Posted by adbuett

If you know your maximum bid, say I was willing to pay $50 for something, and not a cent more, you just put in $50 as your initial bid. Lets say the set increments of bidding on this item are $1, the current price of the item is $10, and you're max amount willing to pay is $50. You put in your bid of $50, the current price of the item goes up to $11. If somebody bids $20, Ebay automatically will increase your bid to $21. This will continue until the bidding stops, or your $50 limit is reached. I think I remember reading somewhere, somebody correct me if I am wrong, that even if a person puts in a bid a second before the auction ends, ebay will still slip in the higher limit-bid of an opponent.

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That's all true, but someone is more likely to hid higher if he sees you bidding, than if he doesn't.

As for bidding in the last second, it is within the auction period, so it can win. I don't think it is wise to set up sniping software or website to do this, though. If two people bid the same amount, the first of them wins. The only real point of sniping is to get in later than the bidding process can react to you.

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Originally Posted by Nervin

Heheheh It happened again tonight.. I put my Maximum in and was out bid, then I a few minutes after the auction ended I got a second chance offer.

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That happened to me once , when I was new to ebay . Seller told me they had another razor just like the one I didn't win , and would let me have it for the amount I bid . I accepted the offer . What they sent me was a rusted piece of crap . Fortunately , I didn't pay enough for it , to make it worth shipping back . Needless to say , I never fell for that one again .

Yeah, theres lots of shill bidding that goes on. They even have "rings" where sellers agree to shill for each other. It was somewhat easier to trace back before ebay decided to hide buyers names. Makes me pretty sure ebay doesn't really care about it, or at least they don't unless its really obvious and could upset customers. As long as they get more money, they aren't worried.

I don't think that there is alot in razors, yet. But if the prices keep going up there will be more.

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Originally Posted by dave5225

That happened to me once , when I was new to ebay . Seller told me they had another razor just like the one I didn't win , and would let me have it for the amount I bid . I accepted the offer . What they sent me was a rusted piece of crap . Fortunately , I didn't pay enough for it , to make it worth shipping back . Needless to say , I never fell for that one again .

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That wasn't a second chance offer, which is still an eBay transaction with all the usual protection. As to shill bidding, I think eBay is very interested in it, but regards it as hard to prove. If they can't be sure it is happening, we can't be sure it is happening.

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Originally Posted by Nervin

I have lost THREE 8/8 blades today.. I even use ebay countdown for my bidding.. What's worse is i missed out on a perfect W&B wedge because I was off on the time... sad thing it there were NO bids on it and it was at 9.99... plus the shipping.. I looked at the picture and it didn't seem to need much TLC at all... the sellers reviews were at 100%..

Does anyone think a lot of these guys Shill bid their own stuff? had one that I lost and almost immediately got a second chance offer on it... I thought it was hokey to send that almost immediately after the auction was over..

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Auctions are something you can't count on winning. You just have to decide the most you are willing to pay for an item and bid. If you lose, it wasn't worth it.

I use ebay sparingly because it chaps me to have to wait 4 days and 5 hours on one item and two days and three hours on another one and may wind up with nothing. The moment I decide I want it is when I want to get it. Probably people that get a rush from risk taking are the ones best suited for ebay.

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Originally Posted by adbuett

If you know your maximum bid, say I was willing to pay $50 for something, and not a cent more, you just put in $50 as your initial bid. Lets say the set increments of bidding on this item are $1, the current price of the item is $10, and you're max amount willing to pay is $50. You put in your bid of $50, the current price of the item goes up to $11. If somebody bids $20, Ebay automatically will increase your bid to $21. This will continue until the bidding stops, or your $50 limit is reached. I think I remember reading somewhere, somebody correct me if I am wrong, that even if a person puts in a bid a second before the auction ends, ebay will still slip in the higher limit-bid of an opponent.

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I do what you do, but bid a strange number like $50.13 or $51.93 if my limit is $50. That might give me an edge in a close auction.

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Originally Posted by CaliforniaCajun

I do what you do, but bid a strange number like $50.13 or $51.93 if my limit is $50. That might give me an edge in a close auction.

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I just did that and the extra 13 cents actually won me the auction.. cool..

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Originally Posted by CaliforniaCajun

I do what you do, but bid a strange number like $50.13 or $51.93 if my limit is $50. That might give me an edge in a close auction.

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I can see where that would give one an edge to battle people trying to snipe. If I bid $50 against you at a few seconds left, I'm SOL. I guess if I were to bid $50 an hour to the end, I would be outbid at $50.13, so I just bid $51.13. I usually do what you said in your previous post; do like Ron Popeil: Set it...and forget it!

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Originally Posted by adbuett

I can see where that would give one an edge to battle people trying to snipe. If I bid $50 against you at a few seconds left, I'm SOL. I guess if I were to bid $50 an hour to the end, I would be outbid at $50.13, so I just bid $51.13. I usually do what you said in your previous post; do like Ron Popeil: Set it...and forget it!

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You can still get sniped by one of those nasty old snipers if one of them puts in their snipe at , let's say $52.01 .

It's definitely a game of chance.. sometimes worth it and sometimes not.. I have seen what i would consider not worth it go for hundreds easily.. but twice now I have done the odd number and won.. However there were a few that did it to me..