Bert66

I'm in the market for a 65 or 67 original BB. A real bidder/hobbist on Ebay, my pockets have money but not overflowing. My question is, does a person really bid the first day of an auction?? I'm tried of seeing the same name on Ebay drive up the bids the first days of the auction without ever buying one. Watch the 1967 427 car - same guy, 5 purchases in 4-5 years and bidding on multiple cars at the same time sometimes ....

Is this for real ? How do you feel about this ?? Can you guess who I'm talking about??

vintagecorvette

There are a few dealers which bid under names which do not sould like dealer names. I bid as soon as I see something I want, weather that be a spare rim, seats, a real BB or a new pair of shoes. Sometimes I throw a low bid, just so I can stay in the game as well as watch the auction. If you do not bid anything you have no chance to win, even if it is a low ball bid.

oWEN

0KEN W ANDERSON

THAT'S CALLED SHILL BIDDING

Grey Ghost

I mark the auction to be watched. I usually wait/snipe at the last second.

Bert66

Why bid against yourself !

vintagecorvette

It is not bidding against yourself, go and read how ebay works. It is called proxy bidding. Because it is not live, it is quite different.

oWEN

65RDSTR

Thats what I do. Come up with a max bid and wait til the last minute. bid once. If you bid twice you'r paying more than you wanted to because of emotions. If you bid too early other peoples emotions will get involved and you will get out bid. Good for the seller not good for the buyer.

JohnZ

Bid once, at the last second - otherwise you just drive up the price and increase interest in the auction.

Patrick67

If you really want to win the item, don't make a bid right away...all you're doing is laying your cards on the table. The more visible bids that are shown leave the possiblity of a bidding war.

I figure the absolute highest bid I will make and then go to www.auctionstealer.com and they will place my bid in the last 10 seconds of the auction. About a half hour before the end of the auction, I check the listed bids again to make sure it hasn't beat my snipe bid and I may adjust my bid up a little.

I've never lost an auction this way, but it was for stuff less than $100. I would think the principle would be the same for a car though. PT

Grey Ghost

Also - http://esnipe.com/

tentuna

If you are serious about buying a car I would be very careful with fleebay, remember it's buyer beware and many of the cars if looked at closely are not worth what people are bidding. That said many are legit sellers and you will at the minimum agreethe sale is contimgent upon a final inspection.
I buy and sell a few parts on EBay, be very careful, not all are honest people

jerrybramlett

I think there are valid reasons for placing an early bid in some eBay auctions.

I sometimes bid early to let my friends know I'm interested in an item. I don't bid on top of a friend, and most treat me the same way. Of course, if you bid using an eBay Secret Fairy Princess Alias, then I probably won't know who the hell you are anyway...

I also place an early bid at times to show that someone is willing to buy the item. I do this when the seller has some chicken**** excuse posted for ending the auction early: "I have it listed locally...", or "I haven't asked my wife if I can sell it...", or just "I'm a greedy jackass...".

However, I agree that all the serious bids to win come in the last 10 seconds of any auction. All earlier bids are just posturing.

vetarun

If I am interested in an item on Ebay, I place it in my watch list. I go to Esnipe and set it up for the end of the auction. It never fails to be a bunch of RETARDS bidding on the item until it pushes the price up to where its not a great deal anymore. I hate idiots on ebay who think that just because they bid and are on top at day one that they are going to win the item. These guys just push up the price.

vettepoor

I have always been skeptical about ebay until I sold my Infiniti FX on the first day of the auction! I couldn't give it away locally, so I put it on ebay and sold it right away - I first thought it was a scam, as the guy had an accent and wanted my bank account # so he could wire me the money! I almost hung up on him. Told him to send references, and after setting up a separate account # at my bank, he wired the money in full as promised. Turns out he was a car dealer from Canada looking for the Infiniti FX's to ship overseas.

Bert66

I see a lot of these cars back again on Ebay a week later. I'm not likely to buy a "collector" car without seeing it. I'll ask to end the auction early, but I'm not likely to get in a bidding war with a person who has little intention on buying the car. Bert

vettebuyer6369

You don't understand what he means. He knows what proxy bidding is. If you bid any time during the first 6 days you are literally "bidding against yourself" because there is no value in having the "high bid" at ANY time other than when the dust has cleared. ALL prior bids do nothing but raise the eventual selling price.

I do understand that in some instances people put low early bids in to "mark" the auction or to let their friends know they are interested in something. There's no need to mark anymore because of the "watch" function, and if you need to tip off your friends, I suppose that works.

However, serious bidders bid hard and late. I have over 700 transactions on ebay and I will say if you really want something for the best price you can pay, you never, ever bid any sooner than the last minute. I usually wait until the last 10 seconds, but sometimes the 'ol computer lets me down!

Also, regarding actual car sales on ebay, the fact is many people buy after the auction. I've bought and sold Corvettes that way, and it makes me feel better to see the car. But, sometimes ya gotta have it, so you take a calculated risk. I feel there's ALWAYS another car.

Chuck Gongloff

I'll put in one bid, the max I'm willing to pay, and that's it.

I don't have the time to mess around, watching auctions in the last minutes or seconds.

If I'm willing to pay $200.00 for a part, I'll proxy bid $200.00 If it goes over that, I wasn't willing to pay that anyway.

Your theories work on "regular" auctions, but on auctions with a reserve, bidders tend to play games till the last seconds, then the item doesn't meet reserve, and doesn't sell.

I also think that there are a lot of bidders on EBAY who are dreamers, and people with no money. They get a vicarious thrill out of bidding $20,000.00 on an item with a $35,000.00 reserve.

Chuck

rayvaflav

[
I also think that there are a lot of bidders on EBAY who are dreamers, and people with no money. They get a vicarious thrill out of bidding $20,000.00 on an item with a $35,000.00 reserve.

Chuck[/QUOTE]

Oh, so you got a few of my bids, eh ?

wmf62

bidding any earlier just runs the price up...
Bill

corvettethomas67

By bidding up front, you don't know if a phantom bidder is just driving up the sale price. If you wait until the last second, you run the risk of losing the item. I'm with waiting. I've only been successful when I watch the item in my account and (if I feel it's a good value) in the last twenty seconds, post my bid.
Good Luck,
Tom Spurgeon
corvettethomas67 (my eBay user name)