Are eBayers Mad???

ecchi · 2014-03-07, 06:30 AM

I needed a HMDI cable for my father. On eBay UK there are a lot of people selling HMDI cable "buy now" for 99p which includes postage. However I found someone selling by "auction" at a starting price of 1p, so I set a maximum bid of 99p working on the theory that if I got it for less I got a bargain, but if someone bid me up to my maximum it would reach the same price I would pay elsewhere on "buy now". I lost the auction, the winning bid was £1.70 - nearly twice the price of exactly the same item from other sellers. In other words there were at least two people bidding well above the "buy now" price. And when I looked at the "you have been outbid" email eBay sent me, the bidding happened moments before the end of the sale. So at least two people had been desperately price sniping, hoping to beat everyone else in overpaying for an item !!??!!!

Oh, and a few days ago I bought the third Settler's game on eBay. The game box names it in Roman numerals - "Settlers III". Searching eBay UK for that title I found that the cheapest available was already over five pounds for the re-issue with on-disk manual, and the original release with printed manual was over fifteen pounds. I then did a search for "Settlers 3". Under that title there were several copies of the re-issue at under one pound, and I eventually bought the original release with printed manual (the version was over fifteen pounds when listed as "Settlers III") for less than two pounds! I thought a few people do not think of "alternate titles" but the majority must be this stupid going by the number of cheaper copies selling as "Settlers 3".

I saw only one seller sensible enough to list the item as "Settlers III / Settlers 3" so as to get bids from everyone.

Surly the mistakes made by both the cable buyers and the people listing the game as "Settlers 3" are schoolboy errors. I'm amazed that there are people this eBay illiterate in this day and age.

2014-03-07, 06:30 AM	#1
ecchi Banned Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: About to be evicted!!!! Posts: 4,082	Are eBayers Mad??? I needed a HMDI cable for my father. On eBay UK there are a lot of people selling HMDI cable "buy now" for 99p which includes postage. However I found someone selling by "auction" at a starting price of 1p, so I set a maximum bid of 99p working on the theory that if I got it for less I got a bargain, but if someone bid me up to my maximum it would reach the same price I would pay elsewhere on "buy now". I lost the auction, the winning bid was £1.70 - nearly twice the price of exactly the same item from other sellers. In other words there were at least two people bidding well above the "buy now" price. And when I looked at the "you have been outbid" email eBay sent me, the bidding happened moments before the end of the sale. So at least two people had been desperately price sniping, hoping to beat everyone else in overpaying for an item !!??!!! Oh, and a few days ago I bought the third Settler's game on eBay. The game box names it in Roman numerals - "Settlers III". Searching eBay UK for that title I found that the cheapest available was already over five pounds for the re-issue with on-disk manual, and the original release with printed manual was over fifteen pounds. I then did a search for "Settlers 3". Under that title there were several copies of the re-issue at *under one pound, and I eventually bought the original release with printed manual (the version was over fifteen pounds when listed as "Settlers III") for less than two pounds*! I thought a few people do not think of "alternate titles" but the majority must be this stupid going by the number of cheaper copies selling as "Settlers 3". I saw only one seller sensible enough to list the item as "Settlers III / Settlers 3" so as to get bids from everyone. Surly the mistakes made by both the cable buyers and the people listing the game as "Settlers 3" are schoolboy errors. I'm amazed that there are people this eBay illiterate in this day and age.