Ebay

greetings fellow philatelic enthusiasts

is it just me, with my limited finances, or does any one else have a hard time winning an auction on ebay. I just can't seem to win! must be just so many betting on so few. I think there's a lot of buying and reselling also. I have a lot better luck on stamp wants.

robert

***Edited by Forum Dad to move to eBay forum***

Hi robrtvt

Can't say about all eBay auctions, but I have a terrible luck when it comes to Penny Blacks---haven't got a single one yet

Robrtvt

Ebay is like a lot of other auction sites many people only bid in the last seconds. So you almost need to stay right on top of items you are bidding on. Good luck

You're right about that Rick. I just go ahead and bid my max amount and then let the chips fall where they may. If someone wants to pay more than an item is worth, then I'm happy for them. Sometimes if I want something really bad I'll disguise my bid and hop in at the last second also, but usually I go with the philosophy that there will always be another chance somewhere.

I also use StampWants a lot and like their format a lot.

BTW, to the family!!

I guess it depends on what your'e looking for. Because my collection is quite young I still bet on mostly lots to build up my inventory. Usually 500 plus stamps is what I bid on. I have won quite a few for $1.25 and the seller is usually quite good about waiting a week or so and combinning lots to save on postage.

I suppose when I get in to more specialized wants it'll be a different story.

Dianne

That's a good way to do it Dianne! I've built up a large portion of my "accumulation" that way!

Greg

I agree about stampwants I am using them more than Ebay

It's simple math. There are probably at least 50 times more buyers on eBay to compete with, which is why they bring better prices.

Thanks Greg

I've trippled my American and Candian Collections this way. I have many spares but it's great for trading and sharing.

Dianne

Hello everyone.....

I guess I've had exceptionally good luck bidding on ebay items, I've won 80-90% of everything I've bid on, and I always feel that if I loose it's only because someone was willing to bid more. Swabbie is right.....something just as good or better can be found fairly easily.

If you really want it, whether or not you wait to snipe, you have to make your bid outrageous. There have been some things on eBay that I wanted badly enough to make some preposterous bids. I got them, and well below my insane max.

I discovered something interesting with the last batch of 20 lots that I bought on eBay. They were in three groups and each group closed within minutes on three different days. The first day, there were a lot of bids and I came to recognize the bidders by their disguised ID's. I won all but three of them that day - one of them I really wanted but it went way too high. The second day I noticed that all but one of the previous bidders dropped out early. The third day only one guy bid against me and he only bid the minimum.

My point is, I think you can develop a reputation if you bid against the same folks often enough. I was bidding a strict 10% of SCV and it seemed to scare them off.

I have used Ebay for the last 7 years or so and have found
that my chances for winning an auction have also dropped.
My bids are normally for lots that contain both pre-1900
items for my own collection and additional post-1900 items
that I can list for resale on my own site. I see the reasons
for this as: 1. more collectors are using the web for finding
items for their collections, 2. the closing of brick & mortar
stores (only 2 that I know of here in NYC) 3. younger collectors
who are more familiar using the web and have a higher amount of disposable income for purchases. As a result, I have started to deal
directly with a few sellers to file my pre-1900 want lists. I also
use several smaller web auctions sites where the bidding
competition is not as large as on Ebay.

Recently, my experience has been similar to modern_who's. If I really want something, I have to think of an outrageously high bid and then bid a bit higher than that. For the truly scarce and desirable single items, the most insane bidder takes the prize.
Often I find better deals on other web sites.

Nearing top of the list of my things to do is creating a few sections here to help members find some deals on eBay. Similar to the Cheap Coins section on CC.

I'll probably throw together a Most Watched section too.

It appears what Bobby and T360 say are true...i can not win any above average Guatemala items on eBay..the competition is way too fierce..i know I am competing with people from the Guatemala society..many of whom had high level jobs ..diplomats,lawyers, engineers and assignments in Guatemala..catalog value means nothing to them if they need a specific item...and for the low end stuff..when you add on the 3 dollars shipping or whatever..it stops being a bargain !!