Thrill bidding

[Ares]

I thril bided on this baby!

[Red Hook]

The details, please....you PSYCHO!

[Calamerica]

Cal, would you care to give a teaser on what kind of things your are going to be listing in your next wave?

OK Redhook I can give a few, even though I feel bad in doing such...

 

I am still moving my Amazing Spider-Man's that have paid the bills the past 3 months. I sure would like to keep them all, but unfortunately I need to move these.

 

I try to sell some excess DVD's, VHS that just sit here. No one watches them.

 

I really like the comics, and I gave everyone the impression that I am in it for the money, but I can honestly say that I really like comic books a lot and I used to bid tons more than I do now on eBay.

 

But to sum up my A to your honest Q, there will be raw AND CGC Spideys.

 

I hope I did this A ok without too much puffery.

 

CAL

[Red Hook]

Puffery? PUFFERY!

 

WE DEMAND PUFFERY ON THESE BOARDS AT ALL TIMES!

 

Actually, Thanks for the info Cal.

[Ares]

The details, please....you PSYCHO!

this auction

I sniped it away from paradicecomics on ebay

[Calamerica]

I can't believe I posted that... PUFFERY! I had not used that word in a long time!

 

CAL

[Harvey Dude]

I have bid to support a comic I own and have bid an amount that, if I win,I would be thrilled to add the comic to my collection. I win either way I either get a bargain or help improve the market value on a comic I cherish.

 

I wonder how many times I overpaid for books because people artificially drove up the price? When I am sitting on the fence deciding if I want to purchase a book, one of my deciding factors is the level of demand that I see for the book. It does not sit right with me to bid up books for my own self interest. Just my thougts.

[Mr. Zipper]

I have bid to support a comic I own and have bid an amount that, if I win,I would be thrilled to add the comic to my collection. I win either way I either get a bargain or help improve the market value on a comic I cherish.

 

I wonder how many times I overpaid for books because people artificially drove up the price? When I am sitting on the fence deciding if I want to purchase a book, one of my deciding factors is the level of demand that I see for the book. It does not sit right with me to bid up books for my own self interest. Just my thougts.

 

 

I can't believe what I'm reading in this thread. It's self-centered greed like this that makes me want to quit collecting and sell off the whole collection. Of course, I wouldn't get top dollar because I wouldn't think of asking others to thrill and shill my auctions. How many thousands of dollars are out of my pocket now because someone took it upon themself to be sure a certain book didn't sell for below a certain price? (To protect their own self interest.)

 

It's unethical to artificially raise prices for any reason. It's market manipulation. Period. With all this shilling, no wonder prices are through the roof and it's nearly impossible to get a good deal anywhere.

 

If a major auction house or dealer came out and said some of the things that have been admitted to by "collectors" in this thread, they would be crucified.

 

[Harvey Dude]

I have bid to support a comic I own and have bid an amount that, if I win,I would be thrilled to add the comic to my collection. I win either way I either get a bargain or help improve the market value on a comic I cherish.

 

I wonder how many times I overpaid for books because people artificially drove up the price? When I am sitting on the fence deciding if I want to purchase a book, one of my deciding factors is the level of demand that I see for the book. It does not sit right with me to bid up books for my own self interest. Just my thougts.

 

 

I can't believe what I'm reading in this thread. It's self-centered greed like this that makes me want to quit collecting and sell off the whole collection. Of course, I wouldn't get top dollar because I wouldn't think of asking others to thrill and shill my auctions. How many thousands of dollars are out of my pocket now because someone took it upon themself to be sure a certain book didn't sell for below a certain price? (To protect their own self interest.)

 

It's unethical to artificially raise prices for any reason. It's market manipulation. Period. With all this shilling, no wonder prices are through the roof and it's nearly impossible to get a good deal anywhere.

 

If a major auction house or dealer came out and said some of the things that have been admitted to by "collectors" in this thread, they would be crucified.

 

 

I was getting worried that my way of thinking was old school. Good post.

[mrwoogieman]

The subject of creating a 'floor price' for high grade books has been discussed here before, if I recall correctly, in the context of super-high grade keys being bid on by the BSD's to keep their collections' value up. Who remembers this topic?

[eddly]

can someone tell me what BSD stands for?

 

Anyway, I see nothing wrong with people bidding up books that they also own. As long as they don't know the seller... nothing wrong is being done. In my case, as in most all others I'm sure... I would be more then happy to pay for the item if I won it.

 

Lets say you have a book that is averaging $1000 on ebay... You see an auction for this same comic that just started... what's wrong with bidding say $800 on it at the beginning of the auction? It ensures that the auction will mostly likely meet the market value, and will possibly go over the market value. And... if you did win it at $800, which is unlikely, well thats awesome. I don't see anything wrong with this.

[Red Hook]

I think there is a distinction made between bidding on an item you would actually purchase if you won, and trying to manipulate the baseline price of a book by bidding on it without any real aim of winning the auction.

 

And BSD is short for Big Swinging Danglything.

[Jeffreykli]

Maybe I'm just being optimistic about all of these thrill bids, but I think when people are bidding to support the market price, if they win, they purchase the book. If it's a book I like, at a great price, why not add another copy? I always follow through on my bids, and if I as a Seller, finished an auction and the high bidder didn't follow through, they'd get a neg.

 

Another thought...for thrill bids, I'm usually not even close to the final auction price. In that case, what's the harm? For example, if there's a $1000 book, and I bid $800, and the winning bid is $1050, there had to be someone else who bid $1025. Did my bid really matter?

[Mr. Zipper]

what's wrong with bidding say $800 on it at the beginning of the auction? It ensures that the auction will mostly likely meet the market value, and will possibly go over the market value. And... if you did win it at $800, which is unlikely, well thats awesome. I don't see anything wrong with this.

 

But who are you to "ensure" any book meets market price? Why would you care?

 

The answer: Your own self interest in the value of the book.

 

That is market manipulation. You are not ensuring anything... you are creating the market price.

 

What if you didn't bid $800 (to ensure the price YOU want) and the next 2 bidders only drove it up to $725? Then other people saw that auction and the next time it only went to $718? What you are doing could have a chain effect on the market.

[eddly]

 

Another thought...for thrill bids, I'm usually not even close to the final auction price. In that case, what's the harm? For example, if there's a $1000 book, and I bid $800, and the winning bid is $1050, there had to be someone else who bid $1025. Did my bid really matter?

 

Yes, your bid does matter in my opinion. If the bidding for an auction starts relatively high... or has multiple bids placed early... that seems to lure in more bidders. Bidders seem to be more willing to bid higher when they see other people puting faith in the same product.

 

This is one reason why sniping occurs... it is best to bid at the last second for an auction if you want to get the best deal for that comic.

 

If there is one day remaining on an auction, and there are no bids yet... and say the starting price is $500... people are sometimes hesitant to bid because... they notice no one else has placed a bid... and they think "maybe this isn't a good price?"

 

However, if the bidding starts right away... as I already said, that lures in more bidders...

 

Another tactic I sometimes use... when manually sniping... say there is 5 minutes left on an auction... and say I am the only one that has bid... I sometimes bid a few more times just so it doesn't show in the listing that the auction has had only one bid. As when an auction only has one bid... I think this gets the attention of bidders as well... as it may appear that I am "stealing" the auction...

 

Maybe this doesn't make sense.

[Mr. Zipper]

Another thought...for thrill bids, I'm usually not even close to the final auction price. In that case, what's the harm? For example, if there's a $1000 book, and I bid $800, and the winning bid is $1050, there had to be someone else who bid $1025. Did my bid really matter?

 

What if 3 people get the same idea you do and the 3 underbidders are all thrills? Wouldn't you be pissed if you were the winner and learned that you could have gotten a book for $200 less if the next 3 underbidders weren't thrills or shills?

 

If you are placing a lowball bid in hopes that you might get lucky, that's one thing. But placing bids just below what has been the market price to assure a certain price level is achieved is market manipulation and not good or fair to other bidders.

[eddly]

 

But who are you to "ensure" any book meets market price? Why would you care?

 

The answer: Your own self interest in the value of the book.

 

That is market manipulation. You are not ensuring anything... you are creating the market price.

 

What if you didn't bid $800 (to ensure the price YOU want) and the next 2 bidders only drove it up to $725? Then other people saw that auction and the next time it only went to $718? What you are doing could have a chain effect on the market.

 

In the beginning of this thread, I indicated that I have only done this a couple of times. I will expand on this, in those few instances I did do it, it was for cheaper comics. I just wanted to know if people with collections far greater than my puny collection bid in this way.

 

The fact remains... I have nothing wrong with it. As, I would have gladly paid $800 for the item... if I had used a shill account... and used that for the sole purpose of inflating the market... and did not intend to pay for items I had won... well certainly that is very wrong.

[eddly]

Another thought...for thrill bids, I'm usually not even close to the final auction price. In that case, what's the harm? For example, if there's a $1000 book, and I bid $800, and the winning bid is $1050, there had to be someone else who bid $1025. Did my bid really matter?

 

What if 3 people get the same idea you do and the 3 underbidders are all thrills? Wouldn't you be pissed if you were the winner and learned that you could have gotten a book for $200 less if the next 3 underbidders weren't thrills or shills?

 

If you are placing a lowball bid in hopes that you might get lucky, that's one thing. But placing bids just below what has been the market price to assure a certain price level is achieved is market manipulation and not good or fair to other bidders.

 

I think I would be overjoyed that I got it for $200 less then the market value... and I would be making plans of flipping it in the near future...

[Rocketeer]

 

...While I agree with you Zip, and don't agree that it's right,...it's still a little naive to think that it doesn't happen daily especially on keys,....there's no way to stop it...the only thing you can do is avoid the dealers who do it blantantly,...and I'm setting up my make-shift cross right now cause I know I'm going to need it in a moment when I get crucified, but some major dealers don't even try to hide it..

 

...There is a major dealer with some high grade silver, non-key DC auctions up right now that have the most ridiculous bids on them and I've noticed that his books are consistently overbid early on in the auction process,..especially when there are high profile buyers bidding on them like Serpi....

[Mr. Zipper]

...While I agree with you Zip, and don't agree that it's right,...it's still a little naive to think that it doesn't happen daily especially on keys,....there's no way to stop it...the only thing you can do is avoid the dealers who do it blantantly,...and I'm setting up my make-shift cross right now cause I know I'm going to need it in a moment when I get crucified, but some major dealers don't even try to hide it..

 

Oh, I know dealers and auction houses do it all the time. I'm just astounded that some collectors do it to "ensure" the market price stays up on books that they own. And, they are proud to admit it. I guess I WAS naive in that regard.