Buying Anything on Ebay Can Be A Pain in the Rear

[Zeno Marx]

I don't understand why these pipe sellers who use these 1" grid pads don't place one end of the pipe squarely on a line and then take the photos from directly above so you can get a clear idea of the length and height of a pipe. Isn't that why you're using the grid pad in the first place? Not only do they just haphazardly drop the pipe anywhere on the grid, but then they take their photos from odd angles that makes the sizing even more confusing to figure. The whole thing baffles me.

 

[Ranger107]

I prefer they just measure the damn pipe and list specs. I like to know in particular the ID and depth of the tobacco chamber. Hard to figure out from a stupid piece of graph paper.

 

[Ranger107]

I don't understand why these pipe sellers who use these 1" grid pads don't place one end of the pipe squarely on a line and then take the photos from directly above so you can get a clear idea of the length and height of a pipe. Isn't that why you're using the grid pad in the first place? Not only do they just haphazardly drop the pipe anywhere on the grid, but then they take their photos from odd angles that makes the sizing even more confusing to figure. The whole thing baffles me.

Talk about crazy. Was watching a NOS Pete on ebay. Got up this morning and high bid was at $71 with 2 min left to bid so I went $72 with a high of $80. Was high bidder till 5 sec left. Got outbid at the last 2 sec with a bid of $151. Totally nuts.

 

[Niblick]

Ranger, when that many bids are put on that late and that high those bidders are using a snipping software that they pay a percentage of the item they purchase to them. It allows them to put bids in earlier in the week and ensures their high bid gets placed in the last few seconds of auction close. The others (like us) without the software have to waiting till the auction ends with 3 seconds left and hit the bid button.

I've checked into it and wish I had it on several pipes I have missed due to my lack of attention.

 

[EZONSLOW]

I learned one thing on E-BAY early on,. if I really want something bid late and incredibly high.
I very rarely do this though because as a rule,I don`t like to overpay for anything.

 

[RSteve]

... when that many bids are put on that late and high, those bidders are using a sniping software that they pay a percentage of the item they purchase to them. It allows them to put bids in earlier in the week and ensures their high bid gets placed in the last few seconds of auction close.

There is some snipe software in freeware, that is absolutely free without a percentage pay. Years ago, I was bidding on an item and as soon as I placed a bid, it was outbid instantly. I knew snipewear was at play, but took a risk and made an outrageous bid, far more than the item was worth, planning to contact Ebay immediately that there was a computer error, if the snipe software hadn't outbid me. The snipeware outbid me instantly.

 

[Niblick]

There is some snipe software in freeware, that is absolutely free without a percentage pay. Years ago, I was bidding on an item and as soon as I placed a bid, it was outbid instantly. I knew snipewear was at play, but took a risk and made an outrageous bid, far more than the item was worth, planning to contact Ebay immediately that there was a computer error, if the snipe software hadn't outbid me. The snipeware outbid me instantly.

In general, when something is free it makes me wonder why and should it be trustworthy. I just make up my mind on a price that I'm willing to pay days before the auction ends. With a few minutes left I'll open the bid tab and enter the amount. At 45 seconds left I hit my refresh button and wait till the clock hits 3 seconds and hit the bid button. Many times before I bid the price goes above my bid before the clock hits 3 seconds and I'll move onto the next listing on my list. When I'm buying pipes it's usually for a weeks at a time after selling all of the ones I just cleaned up and restored.

 

[Ranger107]

Ranger, when that many bids are put on that late and that high those bidders are using a snipping software that they pay a percentage of the item they purchase to them. It allows them to put bids in earlier in the week and ensures their high bid gets placed in the last few seconds of auction close. The others (like us) without the software have to waiting till the auction ends with 3 seconds left and hit the bid button.

I've checked into it and wish I had it on several pipes I have missed due to my lack of attention.

I can understand a last minute bid but why go from $72 to $151?? Makes no sense. Could have gotten it for $81 as my high bid was $80 and I had no intention of going higher. Nuts.

 

[Niblick]

It got bid up by other bidders higher than your $80.00. In other words more people than you were bidding on that pipe with a person's max bid of $150.00 which took the winning bid up to $151.00. Only the winner and e-bay know what the max bid on a pipe was for the winner. He might have had a max bid in at $250.00 and got it for $151.00. Next time take a look at the bid history at the end of the auction and you will see how the bidding ended. It will not show you the winners max bid however but what they got it for.

 

[Zeno Marx]

I don't understand these X% off messages. Is it ebay making the discount, or is it the seller? The ones in particular that I don't understand are "$129.99, and you can buy it for $126.99." I love to save $3, but do these tiny discounts make anyone snap up these items? I have to think this is up to the seller, because very often they are items that haven't sold for months.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Sellers who are mad for the buffing wheel. Some of these guys shouldn't be allowed near power tools. It bums me out when I see logos nearly buffed clean so they can get the shiniest black stem possible. And they do it to acrylics, too. I don't understand that at all. Or worse yet, when they buff the crap out of a plateau top to make the tops of the birdseye match the rest of the bowl. They must sit on these things while they buff to try to get deep into the creaveses.

 

[sobx]

I haven't bought anything from feebay in a decade. I think it was 2000 or 2001 when I dumped them and praypal, too.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Sometimes making the mistake of looking at what has sold, to see if I missed a listing. A pipe sells Buy It Now for a little below common market value, and had I seen it, I would have snatched it up. But I thought, "Eh, someone got a nice pipe for a good deal." Wrong. Some scuzzball picked it up so they could try to resell it a week later for more than 3Xs the price, which is WAY out of whack for the market. And since there's an offer option, I offered the original price. A passive-aggressive move to sort of say, "Hey, a$$hole, I know what you paid." Everybody has to hustle. I get it. This clown is just doing the hustle, but it still rubs me the wrong way.