OT: eBay categories

Heh...so, by contrast, no, nevermind. It's funny how strongly people feel about this issue, on either side. And like so many things, it's jarring to find out that someone who seems perfectly reasonable about other, important topics, would disagree on something so fundamental as the motivation for eBay sniping.

Dave

Yep, fairly often. And sometimes "that guy" is me. The point is simple: Maybe I can get one of those quasi-legendary auction deals that you hear about from time to time - What's the worst that can happen? I get outbid? Big fat hairy stinkin' deal."

As I said to Dave: when I "play the auction game", I'm looking to get as much product as possible for the least money possible. Likewise, the seller is looking to get as much money as possible for as little product as possible. Anybody bidding (or selling) in an auction who claims otherwise is either lying through their teeth, a damned fool, or completely clueless as to how auctions work (or all of the above) - It's a "give and take" to get "how much do you want for it" into the range of "how much am I willing to pay for it" - Or, put another way, from the seller's perspective, it's all about getting the number of dollars as high as possible while still GETTING RID OF the item, while from the buyer's side, it's all about keeping the number of dollars as small as possible while still GETTING the item. Any other mindset screws both buyer AND seller.

Once you realize that, you can make a killing at auctions - either as buyer OR seller. Until you realize that and conduct yourself accordingly, you're going to get taken to the cleaners almost every single time you place a "winning" bid.

(That's another one that a lot of folks don't realize, ESPECIALLY on eBay - You don't "win" an auction just because you end up being the buyer. You "win" by paying less than or equal to what the item is worth

*TO YOU*. You can get the item, but still lose your ass 'cause you paid way too much for it - wure, you "won" the auction, but you lost your ass. Likewise, you can "lose" to another bidder, and come out far better off in the end 'cause the other bidder is clueless and jacks the price far beyond your estimate of the item's value. On eBay in particular, "there's always the next one". Bid accordingly, or be ready to lose either your ass or the item.)

OK, so far so good. Example: I've got a pair of high-precision mechanical type pressure gages. Omega, 0.05% or some insane spec of accuracy. They work fine, and retail for $329.00 each.

I don't have a clue what they're worth. No, really. Used lab gear, sure. They agree with each other, so they're probably good. But let's be honest. The seller (me) doesn't know the fair price. The potential buyers, also, don't know the fair price, only what they're willing to pay (which is a variable for each person, not an absolute).

Right. All I'm saying is, give all the buyers who are interested in bidding, the chance to decide that they're not willing to bid any more, before ending the auction. Just like, you know, a real auction.

As you say, so far, so good...

Fair enough, so long as that little tidbit ("...they're probably good.") is up front for all the world (the part of it that wants to bid on them, anyway) to see.

But WHY!?!?!? I wanna play the "let's be dishonest game" - It's more fun! :)

But seriously...

Still with ya so far...

Well, if that's what you're looking for, you need to list them with a "real" auction-house that plays by that particular set of rules - Not eBay, which clearly states that their rules are close, but aren't

*QUITE* the same as those of a "real" auction-house - biggest difference being that what you want is a bid 'til there're no more bidders ("out loud" or "classic" style auction) where eBay offers what is effectively a sealed-bid auction, with fresh bids turned away after a set time, and the highest bid at that time taking the item. No different in either concept or practice than those conducted about 14 bazillion times a month across the country (and around the globe) by pretty much any government entity you care to name that calls for bids to supply a service or merchandise. (only in reverse, of course, since the government entity is looking for the product/service at the lowest price it can get - Which by my standards counts as a very good thing - If they're spending my tax money, then they damn well better be getting as much "bang for the buck" as possible if they don't want me raising unholy hell about it.)

Their house, their rules. Walk in, put your money on the table, and play by them, or walk out the door and go looking for someplace where the house rules are the rules you want to play under. Really, when it comes down to where the rubber meets the road, what else *CAN* you do?

For my part, I'll continue cruising eBay, sniping where it seems likely to be useful in getting me what I want for as little cash outlay as I can get away with. If "the competition" wanted it, too bad. He should have put in a higher proxy bid so that my last-second snipe couldn't touch it, or been sitting there with his finger on the enter key during the last few seconds before the bidding closed. If Mr. Seller wanted a higher price, likewise too bad. He should have either put a reserve on it (in which case, I wouldn't bid at all - If you're going to auction something, my attitude is "take what you get and be glad you got that much") or sold it as a straight "Here's what I've got, here's my price, take it or leave it" deal.

Of course. Last thing I want is a pissed off buyer. These are the highest standards for pressure measurement I have access to, and they agree with each other. The chance of two precision instruments _both_ being out of gain, simultaneously, and in synch (offset is adjustable), is pretty low. The description will reflect how it was tested.

Oh, OK.

The variable thing is key, though. That variable is set with different factors for different buyers. In a auction in our local area, one of the variables is "If Wayne is bidding on it, he knows what he's doing so it's probably worth looking at more closely", or "if Dave is ignoring that (gun/tool/coin) then it's either junk or he's already got one". The bidding environment helps to set that variable of what the item is worth to the (potential) bidder.

Yes, I understand that that is the kind of auction they offer. And at the risk of being astonishingly repetitive, that's _close_ to what I'd like in an ideal situation. Do you really think the intent was to set up a sealed-bid system, or was it set up to show the bids as they come in? Sure, sniping physically works, but if they intended for it to be a sealed bid last-second exchange, then nothing would be shown of the existing bids during the week.

Well, for my gun-related stuff, that won't go on eBay anyway, given their draconian policies. So either gunbroker or auctionarms has, I believe, that option. I'll use it.

Well, I've settled on that last one for things that I'm selling lately (last 200 or so items). Here's the price. I don't know when it'll sell (store listings last 30 days and then autorenew if not sold), but I know I'll get what I want for it when it _does_ sell.