eBay The eBay Official eBay Thread eBay 33 33

[Jesse-Lee]

On 5/5/2024 at 8:59 PM, Nschenks said:

Not sure where else to post about this, but I'm curious for the community's opinion on this:

Just won an eBay auction for an expensive book, but I'm a little suspicious of the way the auction ended. Basically, I won the auction with a bid of $866 when my max was $866.01...but I used a sniping service so the bid went in like 3 seconds before the auction ended. Only one other bidder bid anywhere close to that, and it was $856. This was a private listing as well. I don't honestly know how someone could shill against a sniped bid, but it feels incredibly suspicious to me. Anyone know how this could be done? Or if it could be done? Or is it just the freak case where someone legitimately bid just below me (it said the bid went in at the same time as mine, indicating it was a snipe as well...just feels odd it was so specific and so close to my max...). I'd thought sniping eliminated the chance of getting shilled, but maybe I was wrong. Would love to hear thoughts on this. Maybe I'm just paranoid lol...

But unless I'm reading this wrong, that's how eBay is supposed to work. If the current winning bid was $856, that bidder could have bid all the way up to $866 - eBay will only reflect the max winning bid. So unless some one comes in and bids higher than $856, the current high bidder wins at the current leading bid (even though their max could be higher). So the $856 bidder likely set a max bid higher, but your snipe bid was just enough to outbid their max...

[Nschenks]

On 5/5/2024 at 11:04 PM, Jesse-Lee said:

But unless I'm reading this wrong, that's how eBay is supposed to work. If the current winning bid was $856, that bidder could have bid all the way up to $866 - eBay will only reflect the max winning bid. So unless some one comes in and bids higher than $856, the current high bidder wins at the current leading bid (even though their max could be higher). So the $856 bidder likely set a max bid higher, but your snipe bid was just enough to outbid their max...

Ah k that’s fair, but since the increment is $10, wouldn’t their bid if it was over $856 trigger my $866.01 high bid instead of $866? So maybe their high bid was just $856 and because the increment is $10 it only pushed my max to $866? Crazy how our high bid was so close, but I guess it’s reasonable that our math was similar.

Thanks for the input! Figured it wasn’t likely foul play since that probably wouldn’t work against a sniping service, just always weird when the max bid on a snipe hits almost exactly. I was comfortable with my max, so not really all that bad. 

[Nschenks]

On 5/5/2024 at 10:37 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

Your sure it was a snipe bid? 

That bidder hadn't bid beforehand at any time? 

There used to be a way to see how often a bidder had bid with a particular seller, is this still true?

Under the bid history it should say. Usually mischievous bidders on fake accounts don't bother to win on other people's books I don't think, so possibly that could help 

Unfortunately it was a private listing, so I can’t check bid info or know how many times someone bid. But the time was the exact same, so figured it was likely a snipe (most big items end with sniped bids).

Guess we had the same math lol. Always funny when that happens. Appreciate the feedback though!

[Tnexus]

On 5/5/2024 at 9:17 PM, Nschenks said:

Unfortunately it was a private listing, so I can’t check bid info or know how many times someone bid. But the time was the exact same, so figured it was likely a snipe (most big items end with sniped bids).

Guess we had the same math lol. Always funny when that happens. Appreciate the feedback though!

What's the GPA on it? Was your bid around the average?

[Chip Cataldo]

I'll tell ya, I've never seen such an avalanche of lowball offers in my life. I listed 6 Planet of the Apes figures today, from the first of the newer batch of films. They're not that common, and as usual I priced them all the lowest currently on eBay. Nealy 40 offers have come in across the 6 figures with the highest being a whopping 50% off my listed price. One guy offered 70-90% off on each of 3 different figures.

I had to walk away from the computer and phone and go sit outside in the peaceful sunshine for a while just to calm myself.

What's wrong with people? Has mental capacity really declined that badly in this country? Do people really have THAT much time to waste and zero empathy toward wasting others' time?

Very frustrating. Thanks for reading my vent.

[CHASEnBLUE]

I get the same s h e e t  on my store...ugh.

[Poka]

On 5/12/2024 at 11:58 AM, Chip Cataldo said:

I'll tell ya, I've never seen such an avalanche of lowball offers in my life. I listed 6 Planet of the Apes figures today, from the first of the newer batch of films. They're not that common, and as usual I priced them all the lowest currently on eBay. Nealy 40 offers have come in across the 6 figures with the highest being a whopping 50% off my listed price. One guy offered 70-90% off on each of 3 different figures.

I had to walk away from the computer and phone and go sit outside in the peaceful sunshine for a while just to calm myself.

What's wrong with people? Has mental capacity really declined that badly in this country? Do people really have THAT much time to waste and zero empathy toward wasting others' time?

Very frustrating. Thanks for reading my vent.

I guess some people do it with the hope that once in a while either a seller is desperate of press the wrong button. Have you considered to use auto-decline with a set percentage?

[Chip Cataldo]

On 5/12/2024 at 6:40 AM, Poka said:

I guess some people do it with the hope that once in a while either a seller is desperate of press the wrong button. Have you considered to use auto-decline with a set percentage?

Yeah, but if for some reason I press the wrong button (which I never have) I'd cancel the sale and re-list.

The amount of listings that I do, setting an auto-decline with a percentage is just one more step that I don't have time for. I have thousands of items backed up and it's just me doing this.

Unfortunately, dealing with m0r0ns takes up less time even though it's frustrating.

[Jesse-Lee]

On 5/12/2024 at 5:40 AM, Poka said:

I guess some people do it with the hope that once in a while either a seller is desperate of press the wrong button. Have you considered to use auto-decline with a set percentage?

I also get the same stuff with the lowballs, but I do look at their user/feedback history and see if they're potentially worth countering - I feel like some people do it as an attempt to open a negotiation, no matter how misguided the tactic is. But I have reached common ground with a lowballer once or twice and it all worked out. So that's why I personally leave off the auti decline.

[1Cool]

I had the auto decline on a few years ago and it didn’t allow me to see if the market was correcting.  If you get 3 or 4 people offering 50% off on a book it may actually be going for that price.  It’s a pain to sift through all the low ball offers right now but seeing offers and being able to reassess is better than never getting all those offers in my opinion.  But I do wish I wouldn’t have gotten the $50 offer on a $180 slab that I got this week - pound sand sucker.

[Chip Cataldo]

On 5/12/2024 at 10:43 AM, 1Cool said:

I had the auto decline on a few years ago and it didn’t allow me to see if the market was correcting.  If you get 3 or 4 people offering 50% off on a book it may actually be going for that price.  It’s a pain to sift through all the low ball offers right now but seeing offers and being able to reassess is better than never getting all those offers in my opinion.  But I do wish I wouldn’t have gotten the $50 offer on a $180 slab that I got this week - pound sand sucker.

I have my "Block List" linked right right to my eBay seller page link. I've already blocked several people that keep offering $5 increments starting at 90% off my listed price.

They're not worth dealing with and hopefully they get bit by hundreds of mosquitoes.

[captainzombie]

On 5/11/2024 at 10:58 PM, Chip Cataldo said:

I'll tell ya, I've never seen such an avalanche of lowball offers in my life. I listed 6 Planet of the Apes figures today, from the first of the newer batch of films. They're not that common, and as usual I priced them all the lowest currently on eBay. Nealy 40 offers have come in across the 6 figures with the highest being a whopping 50% off my listed price. One guy offered 70-90% off on each of 3 different figures.

I had to walk away from the computer and phone and go sit outside in the peaceful sunshine for a while just to calm myself.

What's wrong with people? Has mental capacity really declined that badly in this country? Do people really have THAT much time to waste and zero empathy toward wasting others' time?

Very frustrating. Thanks for reading my vent.

I get the same old garbage on both of my ebay stores and it is annoying as hell. People must think that we get all of our items for free and can give them whatever lowball offer they can throw our way. It is very annoying, and a lot of it is eBays fault for fostering this kind of behavior.

[jcjames]

Why do buyers message you asking "What would be your best price with shipping?", and so then you send them your lowest "best price" discount - and then they STILL counter with an even lower offer? 

WTF are you wasting my time with an even lower counter-offer when you already STARTED with asking to know what is the lowest (i.e. "best") price I would go to??? 

 

 

[FigaroToe]

On 5/15/2024 at 9:34 AM, jcjames said:

Why do buyers message you asking "What would be your best price with shipping?", and so then you send them your lowest "best price" discount - and then they STILL counter with an even lower offer? 

WTF are you wasting my time with an even lower counter-offer when you already STARTED with asking to know what is the lowest (i.e. "best") price I would go to??? 

 

 

I ALWAYS get this. Some people have absolutely no thought into how offensive/annoying it is to low-ball. 

[CHASEnBLUE]

Unless it's a higher priced item, I normally write back something to the effect of it's the lowest price right now that is posted. This usually happens from books that I don't set for accepting offers.

Edited Thursday at 04:16 PM by CHASEnBLUE

[Artifiction]

On 5/15/2024 at 12:39 PM, FigaroToe said:

I ALWAYS get this. Some people have absolutely no thought into how offensive/annoying it is to low-ball. 

Almost as offensive as a high-balling seller! 

[Stefan_W]

On 5/15/2024 at 12:34 PM, jcjames said:

Why do buyers message you asking "What would be your best price with shipping?", and so then you send them your lowest "best price" discount - and then they STILL counter with an even lower offer? 

WTF are you wasting my time with an even lower counter-offer when you already STARTED with asking to know what is the lowest (i.e. "best") price I would go to??? 

 

 

It is definitely kind of strange. I started setting my auto-accept at the lowest price I will take, and my auto-reject for anything below that. When people contact me I just tell them my best price, but a few will insist on negotiating more anyway. When that happens I just direct them to put in that offer and see what happens. So far everyone who reached that point has gotten the hint. 

Even though my auto - settings filter out most of the I still sometime look through offers on my books when I am bored. It never ceases to amaze me that some people will go through a series of books and make offers on all of them at 25% of market value. I just block those folks since there is zero chance I will sell a book to them now or in the future. 

[october]

On 5/15/2024 at 11:34 AM, jcjames said:

Why do buyers message you asking "What would be your best price with shipping?", and so then you send them your lowest "best price" discount - and then they STILL counter with an even lower offer? 

WTF are you wasting my time with an even lower counter-offer when you already STARTED with asking to know what is the lowest (i.e. "best") price I would go to??? 

 

 

I ignore 100% of messages regarding offers, lowballs, "my best price", etc. If make an offer isn't enabled I don't take offers. If it is enabled the buyer is free to send an actual number and the auto-decline weeds out the smoothbrains for me. Most people who send messages like that are not serious buyers and/or broke and/or black holes for time. 

Edited Thursday at 06:52 PM by october

[jcjames]

On 5/16/2024 at 11:51 AM, october said:

I ignore 100% of messages regarding offers, lowballs, "my best price", etc. If make an offer isn't enabled I don't take offers. If it is enabled the buyer is free to send an actual number and the auto-decline weeds out the smoothbrains for me. Most people who send messages like that are not serious buyers and/or broke and/or black holes for time. 

Yeah.