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Journal nizo's Journal: Hints on ebay bidding 16

Journal by nizo

Here is an example of what I see at least 80% of the time on ebay (and it just happened again). Lets say there is a used DVD you want. From amazon you could buy it from one of their resellers for the reasonable price of $10 plus $2 shipping. Why on earth would you bid (multiple times no less) and eventually pay $9.50 plus $4 shipping for the same exact DVD on ebay??? Are people so retarded that they don't even check on the price they would pay if they just went and bought the item somewhere else? Or do they just think, "Oh, I would have to pay $30 for this new at Walmart" and quit thinking there???

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Hints on ebay bidding More

Hints on ebay bidding

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  • eBay: Representing the steerage class of the Internet since 1998.

  • shortened question (Score:3, Informative)

    by RM6f9 ( 825298 ) * <rwmurker@yahoo.com> on Thursday May 25, 2006 @02:09PM (#15403500) Homepage Journal
    "Are people so retarded?"

    Short answer:

    0.8 yes.

  • ...if it's on eBay, it must be a good deal!

    Side note: I just noted as I was walking to the trains station here in NYC yesterday, a small store opening in the remains of a forme T-Mobile store. The premise: drop your stuff off and we'll sell it on eBay. So, rather than all the tedious mucking about with getting your own eBay/PayPal account, these folks will apparently sell your goods for you. I can't wait to see how this works out.

    • There is a store like that not too far from me (15 minutes or so) and it's been around at least a year.

      I know on several auctions I considered bidding on they were serviced by one of these type stores. Problem was their shipping was horrendous. In most cases they were shipping the fastest way possible for an item that might go for $10 but the shipping was $20 - $25. Even if the item was $50 it was too much. This was for camera equipment for the record.

      These places make money on volume. They skim a bit
    • We have businesses like that popping up all over the place as well. Apparently, they cater mostly to baby boomers who want results, without being bothered or being forced to actually learn new stuff. Sort of like people who use valet parking at the mall and act like it's perfectly normal to pay some kid $10 + tips for doing something you could easily do yourself.

      I mean, I can understand why someone would want hire a professional to auction of a valueable painting or a luxury item, but, at least around here,
      • The benefit these services provide are photography, copy writing, and sometimes storage. The pictures and descriptions that accompany an item make or break the sale. If you don't have a good camera or are bad at taking pictures, you'd get someone to photograph your stuff for the auction. If you can't write decent advertising copy, you'd have to get someone to do that too. I think that these places will also store your small items while they are being sold, so you don't have to keep them around your house.

        Th
  • I used to buy SciFi and Fantasy paintings and other artwork at conventions, and I'd always low bid items and walk away, only coming back near the end to see if anyone had bid under the price I valued it at - if it was at or above the price, I left it - if it was below, I bumped it a bit.

    But most people won't stop there. At our recent Spring Party, I picked up a plate of chocolate covered biscotti for $5 (silent auction, minimum bid). Two other plates of the same biscotti (all hand made) went up for auctio
  • Like they say, the vast majority of people have average intelligence,
    and that makes a lot of 'em kinda stoopid, and a few of 'em even more
    stoopid.

    But by and large, a lot of 'em are ignorant, and some are just wary. I mean, it's only recently Amazon got on the ball and started putting in stuff that made 'em more eBay-like. At last glance, it's still rather hard to see just how much business any particular Amazon seller is doing, which can be important; someone who's sold 1000 of something versus someone wh
    • Like they say, the vast majority of people have average intelligence,
      and that makes a lot of 'em kinda stoopid, and a few of 'em even more
      stoopid.

      An old sig of mine read "Remember, 50% of people are even dumber than the average"*

      And since I always get pounced on over average/median, let me preemptively explain it:
      Think of the average person you interact with, now keep in mind that half of the population are dumber than that.

      * This was a fallen Original sig(tm). But I'm not sure I can take credit for all the

      • Well... (Score:2, Informative)

        by Pancho Pistolas ( 846302 )
        Not to be all cocky and $#!+, but the actual truth is that I'm of exceptionally high intelligence, and the average person I speak with...well, statistically speaking, there's quite the variance in there! Some of the most brilliant thinkers are in there, some very wise folks, and still other folks can do things with numbers that would amaze and astound you-- but gods forbid they should actually try to strike up a meaningful conversation with someone of their preferred gender...and a buncha regular...

        Ugh! ::
        • At a previous job the president spoke to all new employees. Regarding the systems department, he said this:

          "We have some brilliant people up there, some of the sharpest minds in the industry. They can solve any problem you throw at them."

          "And one or two of them even have people skills."
  • oooooh so exciting, am I gonna win?
  • I don't think they even get to the process where they think they are saving money because they would have paid $30 for something at walmart.

    I've seen sooo many times where someone paid MORE than if they drove their lazy ass down to the walmart.

  • Same as mail-order ... (Score:3, Informative)

    by tomhudson ( 43916 ) <barbara.hudsonNO@SPAMbarbara-hudson.com> on Thursday May 25, 2006 @04:21PM (#15404705) Journal

    eww-bay does the same thing as mail-order or tv sales - "buy this for just $X.00" (+ shipping and handling, etc).

    Same thing as auctions.

    I've seen people at industrial auctions get caught up in a bidding frenzy and pay $700 a piece for a job lot of drill presses that weren't worth more than $200 new ... and $2k for a used hydraulic lift you can BUY new for $2k (and which you don't have to pay someone to unbolt and dismantle).

    ebay isn't about saving money for most people ... it's a social event. Also, a lot of times, people have a friend "buy" something at the higher price rather than sell it at a loss. This helps them "establish" their good feedback, as well as set a "floor price". Scam, scam, beautiful scam ...

  • The phenomenon you describe does exist, but I'm not sure your example is relevant. If it was just a matter of saving two bucks on one item, I don't think it would be worth the bother.

    Places like Wal-Mart, for example, don't promise the lowest price on each individual item but low prices in general. You will pay less by going to Wal-Mart for everything than by going to another store for everything. You can pay less yet by comparing prices on each individual item, but most of the time it's not really worth th

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