I bid on a set of Sport Classics. No one had bid on them for 10 days (they've been on ebay twice). With less than 30 seconds left someone bid $25 more than me and I lost. This person was only the second person to bid on the damn wheels in 10 freakin' days.

 

You are not alone my friend- I'm beginning to use e-bay as a price reference point only.
37 items bid on- and watched very closely to be outbid in the last 5 seconds.
None won.
Maybe I'll have to go to Sid Vicious's sniper school..

 

They should extend the auction time by at least an hour if there is less time than that when a bid is made, it's only fair.

 

I hate Ebay I have ben trying to get the shop manuals there for a while now. It seems people are running scams with them once you are out bid you receive an email that you can purchase the manuals from somebody on CD. I don't know if it is the people selling that are running the scam or somebody watching the auctions. I finally found somebody on Rennlist to purchase the manuals from for a good price too!

If I do find something on Ebay I want I wouldn't bid on it until the last minute either.

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by tazman:
<strong>I hate Ebay I have ben trying to get the shop manuals there for a while now. It seems people are running scams with them once you are out bid you receive an email that you can purchase the manuals from somebody on CD. I don't know if it is the people selling that are running the scam or somebody watching the auctions. I finally found somebody on Rennlist to purchase the manuals from for a good price too!

If I do find something on Ebay I want I wouldn't bid on it until the last minute either.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">...purchase manuals?! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

 

I lost a nice car on ebay to a sniper
It was a silver technodyne 951... god how i wanted that car.

 

I really really wanted the Sport Classics but new they are just too expensive. This seemed to be my chance and I got sniped. I'm so freaking mad I need a Bloody Mary.

 

The sad truth if you lose to a sniper, is this: You obviously didn't bid your top dollar for the item. When you bid on an item, you need to ask yourself, "how much am I really willing to pay for this? Will I be upset if it sells for .50 or $500 more and I lose?" The price will only go up to a number that tops competitors bids, not to your max (unless they push you there).. Bid your top $$ and you can walk away with a win or no regrets. If I'm serious about an item, I'm online when it closes, and have a strong bid in, ready to re-snipe. Sniping is an unfortunate fact of online auctions, and it's also a good way to score an item without chancing a bidding war. I personally believe auctions should not close until 5 minutes after the last bid is placed. Of course, sellers should be able to de-activate the feature. As a whole, Ebay is an AWESOME tool if ya know how to make the most of it.

 

Ebay is not really an auction because a real auction accepts bids until they stop coming in. If you got sniped by $25 then you were outbid by someone who was willing to pay more than you, if you were willing to pay more for those and you thought that they were worth more you could have put in a higher proxy bid. SOOO WHAT THIS COMES DOWN TO IS: YOU WERE TRYING TO BUY THEM REAL CHEAP AND ARE NOW CRYING BECAUSE SOMEONE WAS BETTER AT IT THEN YOU. I hate to hear whiners who were trying to get something for nothing and then complain that it did not work. On the other hand I try bidding on items and I only bid in the last minute, if I don't get it I say "well it was only worth that much to me or I should have placed a higher bid". Quit your crying because if you were playing the game fairly the only way someone could have outbid you is if they were willing to pay more for it than you are at which point you would just say those were too expensive.

 

****EDIT*****

BartW,

You're right, I'm whinning and I'm over it now. I bid topdollar, $1400, that I wanted to pay and I lost in the last seconds. Oh well I'll find some more and win those.

Who knows, I emailed the seller 3 times asking what kind of tires were on the wheels and he never took the time to write back. Maybe he's a fraud anyway.

Oh well, I'll live with the Fuchs for now.

Patience young Padawan!

 

I absolutely hate e-bay, and will never buy anything off it again.

 

fuchs kick *** anyways LSU, don't sweat it too hard.

 

See, now you are realizing that an item that you cannot inspect in person or meet the person you are dealing with is usually not worth as much. Shipping on wheels and tires is a bit pricey, I sold a set of 17" wheels with tires on Ebay and the packages weighed 49 lbs each so it cost like $138 to ship them from MI to Olympia, WA and that was with Fedex, Ups wanted $200. Good deals are everywhere and I recommend that if you like to bargain hunt go to several of your local wheel retailers and let them know what you are on the lookout for and you may just find it at below cost because somebody changed their mind or whatever, if you don't want to wait and look around just pay full price that is our choice. Anyhow, I am glad that you are no longer distressed and remember to never pay above what you set out to pay, you will regret it later, just walk away and keep looking.

 

Ebay is great! I buy everything off ebay. If you are serious for an item, watch it at the end. I refresh constantly from 1 minute on down. If someone out shoots me, i have time (love DSL..) to re-bid. I have one in the last 15 seconds. If i dont care that much, i put my TOP price in. If some beats oh, congradulations, they obviously needed it much more than i did. Ebay is a tool. Learn it well, and you will save hundreds of dollars on new stuff and used too. I love ebay!

 

I have no problems with e-bay sniping - I use that method the majority of times myself. My personal thought is that bidding early on only goes to drive the price up because it allows others time to think it over and bid again. I always wait until the last 20 seconds and then put in my maximum bid. If I put my maximum bid in with 5 days to go in the auction chances are the price will have gotten driven up past my maximum by the close of the auction. Just my $0.02