EBay "jump" bidders

[brainiac]

Is this just so obvious that I can't appreciate its cunning or what? Does eBay hire people to jump in on every auction and bid the owner's minimum? Or is it a friend of the owner who does this? I am seeing so many auctions with no reserve and an opening bid of $1000 (or thereabouts)! Is it a stealth system for setting a minimum?

[David Houck]

I'm not sure I understand the question; but I'll give it a shot.  A person's bid works in relation to the seller's minimum as it does to the bids of others.  If the current high bid is $1,200 and the minimum increase is $50, and you bid $1,500, then your posted bid is $1,250 until someone else bids higher than that.  If someone comes in and bids $1,300 then your bid automatically becomes $1,350; and the same thing continues to happen until someone bids higher than your $1,500 maximum.  Similarly, if the seller's posted minimum is $1,000 and you are the first bidder, then even if you bid $1,500 your bid is going to be posted as $1,000.  Then if someone comes in and bids $1,050, your bid automatically increases as before.  But if no one else were to bid and you were the only bidder, then all you pay is the $1,000, even if you actually bid $1,500.  Thus the first bid is always going to be posted as the same amount as the seller's minimum.  Hope I haven't misunderstood your question.

[brainiac]

My bad. I was mainly commenting on how SOMEONE always jumps into an up-to-that-moment-in-time zero action auction and makes an outrageously high bid. ..from 0 to $1000 instantly. Or SOMEONE enters an auction with no action and a single bid of $750...and proceeds to jump it up to $1100! This doesn't appear to be salting the mine or rigging the bidding?

[kungfusheriff]

www.esnipe.com

[george_wright]

John said quote:I was mainly commenting on how SOMEONE always jumps into an up-to-that-moment-in-time zero action auction and makes an outrageously high bid. ..from 0 to $1000 instantly. I (unwittingly) bid like this once.  The item (a C tenor sax) had a $50 bid recorded and a reserve-not-met status.  This wasn't an item I was going to watch closely, so I bid the max I was prepared to pay, $1400.  The recorded bid immediately jumped to $1200 and the statuse changed to reserve-met.  
 
I infer that any bid over the reserve immediately jumps to the reserve, not matter how low any previous bid---if any---might be.
 
Edit: Oops, I just looked up and noticed John was talking about no-reserve auctions, so nothing I just posted applies.  Never mind :-)!
 
(Message edited by george_wright on January 21, 2006)

[essencetimestwo]

eBay bids are what they are. People bid what they want when they want. All of the descriptions above accurately describe any of the possible experiences a person can have on eBay while bidding. I would encourage Brainiac not to worry so much about it. It all evens out by the end of the auction anyway. True value and worth is defined by what someone is willing to pay for an item at any given time and not  by what the last one listed sold for. Just relax and enjoy playing the game.

[j_gary]

Hi George, thanks for the info, I did not know that little bit of information as to resreve bidding.

[mizpah]

I would just add a warning regarding some sellers.  Twice lately I have been the winning bidder on items and the sellers just will not send me an invoice.  Does anyone know if there is an easy way to make dissatisfied sellers honour their side of a contract?
 
Robin

[bsee]

Robin, I think it's called small claims court.  We had that problem a couple months ago and that was the only alternative.  Since, as eBay says, your bid is a contract, you get to argue that in court if it seems worth it to you.  We weren't even able to get eBay to act against the seller's account (this guy did at least four auctions where he wouldn't complete the transactions).  
 
-Bob

[phys49]

I believe your only realistic recourse is negative feedback. If you and the seller are in different states, where would you file a suit?
And would this action be financially worth the trouble?
eBay has its problems and this is one of them.
Perry

[grynchin]

Robin, I have had many dealings with eBay and auctions ranging from $2.00 items to over $1,000.00 items.  I have had many instances where a seller might send an invoice and they might not.  I don't look at it as they are dissatisfied with the amount that their item sold for, I just assume that they don't send invoices.  Maybe because they have too numerous auctions going on, or don't send invoices period.  I just send them the payment.  Especially if they have a set shipping price, you can easily do the math to the actual amount you owe.  As long as you have done the background on their reputation as far as feedback is concerned and you feel safe with it.  I prefer to pay with Paypal, I send the payment, then e-mail them to let them know that the payment has been sent, so they know to ship the item.  I probably would prefer they not send an invoice and I pay them on the eBay auction winner's page.  That way some random person doesn't send you a third party e-mail saying that it is the real invoice when in fact they are just scamming you.  Anyway, I hope that makes sense.  
 
Another possibly helpful hint.  If the shipping is say $25.00 set price,  I will add $5.00 to it and tell them in my e-mail that I wish to have it insured.  If you are dealing with a $600.00 item or something it is well worth it.

[grynchin]

I will add 2 pennies to the negative feedback comment.  I think that negative feedback is a double-edged sword.  Even if you do your end of the transaction flawlessly, and they royally burn you, be careful.  If you leave them negative feedback, you can guarantee they will leave it to you.  You have to decide if ruining their status is also possibly worth ruining your own.  If they are some big number, like 2175 feedback, and you have 73 feedback like me, who do you think will be hurt more by a negative feedback?  Me.  Be careful how you use feedback