Zero Feedback Bidders On E-Bay

[Bruce E. Rathbun]

Maybe it's me.......anytime lately that I have been bidding on ANYTHING from E-Bay there is a zero feeback bidder driving up the price. In the latest instance I am bidding on a dry mounting press. There is a "zero" that has bid 10 times and driven the price up to the point where I will most likely bail out. This bidder may be legitimate yet I see WAY too many instances of this type of bidding. Back in the day E-Bay was a good place to find gear. Sellers and potential buyers hooking up to make a sale. Anymore it seems to be about the bottom line.

-Bruce

[Michael Kadillak]

Patience my friend patience.

After all, these are regular items on this venue.

Rule #1. Establish a price that you know is what you are willing to pay from a reputable seller. Never go above that price.

Rule #2. See Rule #1.

In any auction you must not let your desire to acquire anything override your good sense. Let the other knuckleheads go for it. One less person that you will be competing with down the road.

Good Luck!

[Bruce E. Rathbun]

Michael,
As always you are the voice of reason. I failed to mention that the items that have zero bidders are often high dollar amounts. Most times it looks very suspicious. I know of one auction last year that had a zero bidder that turned out to be bogus. He was rasing the price to help his friend sell the item. That is what I object to. I do not object to prices rising as I do follow the #1 rule that you mentioned...always. I fail to get into a bidding war on an item that can be purchased new elswhere for not much more money. Looks like I will be calling B&H to order a new mount press. Thanks for the advice.

-Bruce

[Nick_3536]

Shill bidding is against the law. Didn't somebody go to jail last year over shilling on Ebay?

[Scott Rosenberg]

i wonder if that's the seller... possibly they created a new id just to bid on their own item.

there got to be a REALLY good reason for me to buy anything off e-bay.

[Michael Kadillak]

I have had nothing but good experiences on E Bay and have acquired many great deals there. Sorry that you are finding the experience less than optimal.

I find that if a seller has numerous positive feedback postings, chances are that they are a straight shooter.

Before I called B&H, I would try some other alternatives as these things are expensive new with a capital E.

I will talk to you off line.

Cheers!

[John Kasaian]

FWIW, a friend who refers to eBay as "Satan's Spawn" and spits on the ground everytime eBay is mentioned (I learned my lesson and now avoid bringing up the subject indoors!) advised me that if I can't get what I want at a steal of a price, not to buy it on eBay. YMMV

[Ole Tjugen]

For peace of mind I bid what I consider would be a decent price to pay, and then avoid looking at the auction until it's over. I'll bid early, too, if I really want it

[Mark Sawyer]

I tend to bid a little lower for ebay items as it's a riskier venue. Even buying from positive-feedback sellers, I've had a few things that fell short of their described condition. But most are very honest. Then again, if it's rare and I really want it, I'll sometimes bid more than it's worth.

What surprises me is people who bid common items way up. There was a used George Tice book a while back that I stopped watching when it went past $35 dollars or so. (Don't know what it finally went for.) I did an ebay search instead and found it new as a "buy it now" for $17. Amazon had them for around $20, I think...

[Dave Moeller]

I've been using BidNip.com lately...I can put in my maximum bid and walk away knowing that my bid will be placed (if the high bid isn't already higher) near the close of the auction. This gives me the peace of mind that comes from not watching the auction as well as knowing there's not someone out there bumping up their bid repeatedly in small increments to see if they can beat my bid. It's worked for me, and I have managed to get some items for significantly less than I thought I would. (I recently picked up a near-mint Crown Graphic for less than they've been going for recently this way, as well as getting a Yashica-D for about half of what I was willing to pay.)

I think the fear of shill bidding is a reasonable one, and BidNip has let me sidestep my worries about it. (The sad fact is that this is the only way I feel I can trust a sale on eBay any more...either this, or sit by and try to snipe at the very end. eBay's changed a lot...)

Luckily for me, no negative experiences yet.