richhotrain tstage richhotrain When I do participate in an eBay auction, it is usually when I am after something New, not Used, because that way, I can put an accurate price on it. Let's face it, it is totally stupid to pay more as the winning bidder than what you could buy it for retail. I totally agree, Rich. But that hasn't stopped some bidders (who don't do their homework) from bidding on an item and paying waaaay more than they needed to because they got caught up in the moment. Yep, I agree with you on that point, Tom. Rich
tstage richhotrain When I do participate in an eBay auction, it is usually when I am after something New, not Used, because that way, I can put an accurate price on it. Let's face it, it is totally stupid to pay more as the winning bidder than what you could buy it for retail. I totally agree, Rich. But that hasn't stopped some bidders (who don't do their homework) from bidding on an item and paying waaaay more than they needed to because they got caught up in the moment.
richhotrain When I do participate in an eBay auction, it is usually when I am after something New, not Used, because that way, I can put an accurate price on it. Let's face it, it is totally stupid to pay more as the winning bidder than what you could buy it for retail.
I totally agree, Rich. But that hasn't stopped some bidders (who don't do their homework) from bidding on an item and paying waaaay more than they needed to because they got caught up in the moment.
Yep, I agree with you on that point, Tom.
Rich
I don't use a sniping software but pretty much otherwise will come in near the end and put in my max bid. I win a little more than half the time that way. Sometimes I get a pretty good deal like recently an Atlas Evans 50' box car for $8.50 (they usually go for $17 - 25 range).
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I have never lost an eBay auction that I felt bad about. I know when to hold them and when to fold them, so to speak. The only eBay auctions that I ever lost were those that I did not need to win.
Alton Junction
mobilman44 OK, got to put in my 25 cents.......... If you see something you really want, mark it as a watch and get back to the auction right before closing. Plug in the highest bid you wish, punch it in about a minute before the end. Then, VERY PATIENTLY wait until 5-8 seconds before the close and hit "confirm bid". If your bid is good enough, you got the item. One thing to note.....when you see a lot of bids, typically they are from the same handful of bidders - each upping the other and driving up the price. But you know what's notable? Most often, none of these frequent bidders will end up winning. It will be someone like yourself (if you follow my preceeding advice) that will come in and sweep it away from the others. BTW, I've been an active buyer/seller on Ebay since 2000, with a couple thousand feedbacks and goodness knows how many transactions.
OK, got to put in my 25 cents..........
If you see something you really want, mark it as a watch and get back to the auction right before closing. Plug in the highest bid you wish, punch it in about a minute before the end. Then, VERY PATIENTLY wait until 5-8 seconds before the close and hit "confirm bid". If your bid is good enough, you got the item.
One thing to note.....when you see a lot of bids, typically they are from the same handful of bidders - each upping the other and driving up the price. But you know what's notable? Most often, none of these frequent bidders will end up winning. It will be someone like yourself (if you follow my preceeding advice) that will come in and sweep it away from the others.
BTW, I've been an active buyer/seller on Ebay since 2000, with a couple thousand feedbacks and goodness knows how many transactions.
This how I do it too. I surf ebay for the items I'm looking for, put them on Watch, note the end time of the bid, then call up the site a few minutes before the end and try to snipe the item by confirming my bid a few seconds before the auction ends.
Many times there is a bidding war. What I think happens is that both persons will look to out bid the other, but in order to keep the price low, they don't overbid the previous bid by much. If they bid, say, $150 on an itme that's currently bidded at 70, they figure the other guy will just keep bidding unitl he reaches 153. OTOH, in a low slow bidding war, there is a greater chance the other guy might lose his frenzy over time, lose interest, or have to get away from the auction for whatever reason. Then the winning bid is 73 instead of the frenzy carrying the price to 153.
I find it more advantageoous to set my max bid at the very end in snipe fashion than to do it early, because guys stuck in a bidding war will tend to keep bidding until they are in the lead. In which case, my early maximum bid merely raised the price for the seller and the cost to me because the other guys couldn't lay off until it was too late.
I win a good share of auctions this way and buy items at prices lower than if I set my max bid early, IMO.
But I recently lost one. The prevailing bid was $98 on screen, which was low, so I bid $133 seconds before the end only to have a higher hidden max bid kick in to push the price to $136.50.
- Douglas
mbinsewi This is a good place: https://groups.io/g/HOswap/topics It's free to join, just have to set up an account at Groups.io This group used to be in Yahoo, and I think there still an HO swap in Yahoo, made up of members that didn't go with the main group. I'm sure there are other sites like this. In Ebay, you got to be like the rest, and YOU be the guy that jumps in the last second. Mike.
This is a good place:
https://groups.io/g/HOswap/topics
It's free to join, just have to set up an account at Groups.io This group used to be in Yahoo, and I think there still an HO swap in Yahoo, made up of members that didn't go with the main group.
I'm sure there are other sites like this.
In Ebay, you got to be like the rest, and YOU be the guy that jumps in the last second.
Mike.
rrebellPrices way high for what I looked at.
Like a yard sale, if you don't like the price, and you or the seller don't want to haggle it out, than I guess you move on to the next yard sale.
My You Tube
There are multiple bidding strategies, and there are ways to counter the snipers.
I generally prefer to buy from buy-it-now listings, especially those with free shipping. I often get what I want at a price I want without having to wait for days to find out. When I see something listed that is a deal, I will jump on it. Sometimes I've even bought and flipped items for profit.
With auctions, if it is an item I really want, one stategy is to bid what you are willing to pay for it, early on. Particularly when bidders see that the first bidder has put in a second bid, they often (in the case of items I wanted) get discouraged when they keep bidding but each time I remain the high bidder. Then they give up and I get the item I wanted. Often I get it at a good price!
So, yes, I am specifically trying to intimidate people out of bidding on my desired item. It works, well! It's fun to watch them stop bidding and give up, too.
As always, know the product you are bidding on. Know the correct item number(s) for which run(s) of which engine(s). You'd be amazed how often sellers are misinformed and list something in the wrong box that is clearly not what they think it is. I use that to my benefit!
Use the manufacturers' catalogue photos as a guide. It becomes easy to spot the wrongly listed items.
John
Before Christmas, a lot of sellers were trying to gouge the would-be buyers.
For example, I do like the Athearn Genesis ATSF "Yellow Warbonnet" F-7A units, but they did have QA/QC issues, including paint that sometimes peals off the plated surface, etc.
Several hopeful sellers listed these items at $400 for a single A or B unit. They are simply not worth that, and you can find them at train shows for close to the original MSRP.
There were lots of other "scarce" train items that sellers tried to inflate the prices on...ExactRail Southern waffle side box cars just are not worth $80 each.
I don't pay inflated prices when I can find the items elsewhere, easily enough.
Learned always put in min bid if you are interested, amazing the times I didnt bid expecting a certain price to be bid but it went for cheap with no bids. Bought a $225 tool that way for $25.
When possible buy from a model railroad store website like Train World or Walthers. Train shows can be a good place to buy also. Buying on eBay can be good or bad. The trick is to be an expert on the item you are buying and know the current price it has been selling for. Know that almost anything you buy has been mass produced so if you don’t win this time there will be another chance in the future and there will be one less person bidding on it. I also prefer to use Buy It Now so I know that it’s mine. The best way to do that is when you search for an item use the sort feature and set it to newest listings first.
First off, I just visited Despatch Junction Hobbies [link removed by moderator] and they have E-R Models RF-16 Sharknoses in D&H -- I think he bought out ER's entire stock.
Ebay: I find the red mist descending too easily, so I tend to lean towards Buy It Now or Best Offers, and if I do bid on an auction I bid the price I want to pay a couple hours before it ends and then turn off notifications and ignore my email. Once the auction is over, I'll check back. Only way to stay relaxed. :)
I've found that most things on EBay will come back around again, and at a price I want to pay. Of course, if you're only modeling D&H, you're casting a smaller net than I am. Have you set alerts for searches? I keep a few running, so I get emails in the AM alerting me to new auctions/sales I am interested in. It's a good way to get familiar with the going prices.
I keep a close eye on the Sale and Special pages at Walthers, TrainWorld, and HogTrainz as well. And I *love* train shows, though as table prices increase at the big shows, it's getting harder to find bargains -- dealers don't bring less-expensive stuff.
I get to travel a lot in my job, so I try to make time to visit model train stores and see what they have. I have a few favorites that I visit a couple of times a year.
The end result of my shopping methodology is that I don't necessarily find what I want right away; I have to wait, sometimes months. But for me, buying and acquiring is part of the fun, so I'm good with that. :)
Aaron