Ebay questions ??

[Silencer]

I'm not a fan of Ebay, and everything I've heard about the place I frown upon.  But I said, what the heck.  I found 3 floating goose dekes that would work perfect for my river spread, all I need is 3 so if someone on here can part with 3 floating goose dekes PM me 

I go and make my bid, within mili-seconds someone outbids me.  Coincidence ?  Do people make accounts and place it on autobid to up their $$$$$$ ? 

I'm not familiar how it all works, I just wanted them 3 dekes and to be outbid just after I hit the enter button seems fishy.

Thanks   

[LORDDAL]

usually Silencer they put in a max bid thats why you got out bid someone else has a higher bid ebay is notoriuos for that happening specially at the last few seconds of the auction

[Ladobe]

Ebay uses a proxy bidding system.   As LORDDAL said, a previous bidder placed a proxy bid that is higher than what you bid, but that only showed high enough to be the high bidder before you bid.   If you place another bid, and his proxy is still higher than it, the system will automatically outbid you in his name up to the next higher level based on what the minimum increase is for that particular auction.   Only way to have the top bid now is to bid high enough to out bid his maximum bid.   And as suggested, since Ebay doesn't enforce a 15 minute (etc) rule, a bid placed in the very last second of the auction can take the item if higher than the maximum on any other proxy bids placed before that last second.   For years many buyers "sniped" during the last few seconds to win items at the lowest possible cost, but there has been several software applications written just for Ebay now that will also do the sniping for you if you can't be on-line when the auction ends.    I sniped in the early years of Ebay, and wrote my own sniping software years before they became available to buy.   Got a lot of very cheap deals, especially back in the days when you could still buy/sell modern firearms on Ebay.   None of this applies if the auction has a "buy it now" option and you bid that amount to stop and win the auction immediately.

The days of real "steals" are pretty much long gone on Ebay, but good deals can still be found if you are patient enough.   Still can't get over all the people selling cheap common items though considering how expensive shipping has become.   Buy something for $3 and it costs $12 to ship it when you can buy it locally new for $5.99 plus tax.   

Auction fever has always been alive and well on Ebay.

[KySongDog]

Ladobe pretty well summarized Ebay.  A "real" deal is hard to come by but, with lots of patience and time, you can occasionally come across a good buy.  Carefully look at "shipping and handling" charges.  Lots of times the low bid price is a gimmick and the seller is making his money on the shipping charges.

Getting outbid at the last second is a common occurrence on Ebay.  I wish they had that 15 minute rule that sites like Gunbroker.com uses.


Semp