Oh no, not again...

[Reid Malenfant]

Has anyone here ever gotten up at stupid o'clock to have a go at an online auction? :scratch:

It's happened to me loads of times & it looks like i'll be up at about 2:30AM to bid on a certain item :rolleyes: Hopefully i'll have managed to digest enough alcohol whilst sleeping to make some kind of sensible decision at that time of the morning :eyebrows:

Right now it's a no brainer as the items bid is just over $10 & the new price was over $3000 :lol: Shipping is ok at about $58, i'll not worry about import taxes & VAT ;) I'm not going to bid now though as i'll only encourage more bids (most likely) & put the final sale value up :mental: Gotta be done in the last 10 seconds to do the trick...

I used to do this all the time when collecting my Fax CD collection, i never enjoyed it but i got some bargains. Here's hoping tonight is no exception :eyebrows:

[Clive]

You could use snipe s/w.

[Beechwoods]

Or Auctionsniper (http://www.auctionsniper.com).

Cue inevitable thread divergence on the ethics or otherwise of automatically bidding on auctions at the last minute! :doh: ;)

[Spectral Morn]

Or Auctionsniper (http://www.auctionsniper.com).

Cue inevitable thread divergence on the ethics or otherwise of automatically bidding on auctions at the last minute! :doh: ;)

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....exterminate :steam:


Regards D S D L

[Reid Malenfant]

Hi Nick, i honestly prefer to do the sniping myself & then pay straight away :) It was a bit of a sod before ebay introduced the countdown method as i had to go by a digital clock & count down myself as they only had minutes to go :doh:

With seconds it's easier :eyebrows:

I just wouldn't trust giving out my password to ebay to anyone, i may be backwards but probably because of this i have never had any problems ;)

5H 48M to go & still at $10:50 :cool:

[Clive]

Trouble is you're competing against s/w able to bid in the last microseconds of the auction. It's horrible, I don't use snipe but I hate ebay anyway.

[Reid Malenfant]

Trouble is you're competing against s/w able to bid in the last microseconds of the auction. It's horrible, I don't use snipe but I hate ebay anyway.
Agreed, i often do lose auctions to ;) However, i'd expect this item to be at at the very least $300 if not a load more already by now :eyebrows: The thing is our transatlantic cousins may not know too much about it as it's a UK product.

Bringing it back to the UK may involve some VAT & if it gets expensive enough import duties.

I can't tell you what it is for obvious reasons :eyebrows: I wan't no competition! I have got a hell of a lot of real bargains off of fleabay so i'll never put it down ;)

[snapper]

it looks like i'll be up at about 2:30AM to bid on a certain item :rolleyes:



Were you successful?

[Reid Malenfant]

Unfortunately not no :( You never can tell if there is another that like yourself is waiting to pounce & knows what said item is worth. I also probably had a distinct disadvantage knowing that returning something to the USA is going to cost a bomb via tracked delivery if it failed to work.

It was a $2899 video scaler imported from the UK, the present model is about £1700 on this side of the pond & only has minor differences.

I lost out with a $450 bid..

Not to worry, it's the name of the game :eyebrows:

[snapper]

Unfortunately not no

I lost out with a $450 bid..

Not to worry, it's the name of the game :eyebrows:


Oh well,you'll probably get the next one and possibly cheaper too.

[Reid Malenfant]

Oh well,you'll probably get the next one and possibly cheaper too.
:lolsign: I'm nothing if not patient ;)

Yes you are quite correct, though these beasts don't come up very often. Actually that's probably down to me using a rubbish mode of searching rather than them being listed.

I'll happily wait for the latest blu ray releases to drop in price for a few months before i have a go at the cheapest one i'm watching :eyebrows:

[Beechwoods]

Auction Sniper and similar services won't win you auctions if you've not got the highest bid, but it does save the hassle of having to remember when an auction ends, and it keeps you away from the temptation to keep eking that bid up and up, past your original value assessment.

You can stay up and put your faith in your connection and your reflexes or leave it up to the technology…

Sorry it didn't work out for you. I know there have been times for me when I've thought I was on to a good deal only to be thrashed in the closing seconds. But don't you feel like you've actually saved money when you've lost out like that?!

[The Grand Wazoo]

Auction Sniper and similar services won't win you auctions if you've not got the highest bid, but it does save the hassle of having to remember when an auction ends, and it keeps you away from the temptation to keep eking that bid up and up, past your original value assessment.

You can stay up and put your faith in your connection and your reflexes or leave it up to the technology…



That's the thing isn't it? You can have any software you like, but if you aren't prepared to pay the highest price you won't win. I must say I love to think that I've beaten someone who relies on their invincible software!
As for late bids, I do the same on Ebay as I do in real life auctions - sometimes I fire a ranging shot, but always go in hard at the end.....right at the end!

[Reid Malenfant]

Sorry it didn't work out for you. I know there have been times for me when I've thought I was on to a good deal only to be thrashed in the closing seconds. But don't you feel like you've actually saved money when you've lost out like that?!
No worries Nick & yes that is exactly the way i look at it ;) It's money in my pocket or bank.

I always or should i say nearly always bid inside of the last 8 seconds. If i get the impression that there will be another bid i might drop it at 15 seconds just so i might get there first & put someone else off bidding. It just depends on how i see it panning out. Others i might bid up to an hour before it ends as i really don't care if i win or lose as i'll only pay the starting bid or a tad more. If i lose it's no skin off of my nose :eyebrows:

It all depends on what it is & how it appears to be going. Each auction is individual though i swear you can often get a feel for these things unless there is another like myself that drops the biggy :lol:

I'm not one of these plonkers that gets in a bidding war & actually forces the price up beyond other buy it now auctions. I can't believe some peoples stupidity tbh :scratch:

[colinB]

Good strategy. Lull them into a false sense of security then at the last minute kick them in the teeth.

[Reid Malenfant]

Good strategy. Lull them into a false sense of security then at the last minute kick them in the teeth.
Or the balls :eyebrows: 2663

E2A:- Talking of which i have 3 auctions coming up in 12, 15 & 23 minutes... Let the fun begin :)

[colinB]

I love e bay. Half my system is from there. I got sniped recently on a ortofon 2m black id been waiting months for.
Hope the bastard drops it.:eyebrows:

[Reid Malenfant]

Me to, got my Krell from there :) As well as my ARC MP1 ;)

Two down & won :eyebrows: Maybe 2 to go... Or more :scratch:

[Beechwoods]

It's the only place to find old factory-manufactured reel to reel tapes*.

The last thing I missed out on was a very nice original reel of Kraftwerk's Autobahn which went for something over $150.

But the last thing I won was this:

http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss49/aos_images/beechwoods/B1RS-gmkKGrHqEOKikERFWBYUqBMdV7vyQ_12.jpg

Mine for 'only' $69.88 plus $9 postage. But it was a bit of a holy grail of mine :)

* Ones by bands you've ever heard of at any rate!

[Alex_UK]

I think patience is the key. I've been an ebay buyer for over 10 years now, and there are still some things I've been after all of that time, but waiting for the right one, at the right price (mainly diecast toy cars - another of my addictions but some records and other items.) With things like that for a collection, it makes it even more worth while when you win the bugger, but equally on a commodity item it can get frustrating if you're a cheapskate like me! I've bought over a thousand items in those 10 years, and only sold one thing - a Blu-Ray when they were very new - I accidentally bought the wrong one of Amazon, then sold it the same week for £5 more than I paid for and the price it was still available on Amazon!

I actually buy more CDs now off Amazon Marketplace - some are available for 1p, with £1.24 shipping (listening to First Contact by Roger Sanchez right now as it happens, which I got for a penny) - a lot of ebay discs start at 99p but have £1.00 shipping so I always check Amazon first.

[Beechwoods]

I picked up another disc I'd been looking for for ages for 1p off Amazon Marketplace recently too. The case was slightly scuffed by the disc was parfait. There's some good deals to be had; though some of the inflated prices on there are laughable. A CD only has to be out of print for a few years and suddenly it's £40! Current bugbear is there's a tape I want on the Discogs marketplace that's £68... for a cassette. I have an MP3 copy to keep me going, but I just know I could get better sound from an original tape. Someone hold me back, please!

[The Grand Wazoo]

But the last thing I won was this:

http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss49/aos_images/beechwoods/B1RS-gmkKGrHqEOKikERFWBYUqBMdV7vyQ_12.jpg

I think I called you a jammy sod when you told me this the other day. I didn't realise you wanted it that badly! (.......nearly $80 badly).

I'm still jealous though!

[Beechwoods]

About 6 months I missed out on one that went for over $100. The Who's reel to reels do go for premium prices. Most were released at 7½ ips and you get things like the libretto with Quadrophenia. The box looked in really good condition in this example... I passed on a rough looking one that went for $45 a week or so earlier.

[The Grand Wazoo]

I'll bet 5:15 sounds great on a R:R!

[Beechwoods]

Should know when it arrives in a day or so!

[Reid Malenfant]

I picked up & brand new & sealed blu ray of White Stripes (don't think i have ever heard any of there music) Under Great White Northern Lights (http://www.discogs.com/White-Stripes-Under-Great-White-Northern-Lights/release/2196323) this morning.

As i say, i feel pretty sure i probably haven't heard their music but it was so cheap that i thought i'd give it a go just for a laugh :eyebrows: I bid in the usual last few seconds & expected to be seriously outbid as there was already a bid on it. However i was genuinely surprised to pick it up for £1.04 with £1 P & P :lolsign:

At that price i'll give any blu ray a go ;)

[DanJennings]

a few weeks ago I got 4 Terrorvision albums for the grand total of 7p from Amazon Marketplace. :D