Ebay Bidding by Seller Reputation

[ruth-gehrig]

When bidding/buying on eBay, are you willing or do you bid more on items if they are being put up by ebay sellers you know or who have stellar reputations? Say 2 sellers are auctioning identical items with the same number of positive feedbacks, etc. Everything else being equal, will you bid more on a item if you've already had a positive transaction with said seller or you know through others that the seller has an outstanding reputation??

[thekingofclout]

Absolutely. Henry Yee, Scott Gaynor, & Bob McCann immediately come to mind.

[bobmccann]

Hello Guys,
Thank you out there for the kind words. Take care, Bob McCann (Bthoven14) on ebay.

[Wymers Auction]

Absolutely it just makes good business sense.

[Bilko G]

yep i sure will. I will throw up higher bids on items from ebay sellers i know, trust and/or have done prior business with.

Reputation means a ton when buying/selling especially even more on Ebay.

[ruth-gehrig]

So when at least 2 people throw higher bids towards a more trusted seller's items does that make that item more "valuable"? Something is worth what someone is willing to pay correct? So then the trusted seller's item is worth more, at least to the 2 bidders, than an identical item from an unknown ebay seller?

[Hankphenom]

Don't know if I bid more, but I sure do appreciate what these guys do and the way they do it, going out and finding great and rare stuff, bringing their vast knowledge and experience to presenting and describing it in the best possible way, and being impeccably honest in their dealings. What more can a buyer ask for? Nobody's better at it than Bob McCann; Henry Yee comes up with a museum's full of listings every six months; Scott Gaynor, Josh Leland's mom Andrea, the John Rogers machine, and others make the hobby so much more than if they weren't part of it. Yes, we do thank them with our money, but it's so easy to take it all for granted, nothing wrong with some props, too, on occasion.

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by ruth-gehrig

So when at least 2 people throw higher bids towards a more trusted seller's items does that make that item more "valuable"? Something is worth what someone is willing to pay correct? So then the trusted seller's item is worth more, at least to the 2 bidders, than an identical item from an unknown ebay seller?

It may not make sense on every item, but for those items where there are possible fakes or frauds floating around, it does make sense to bid more aggressively with a seller you know doesn't sell such items. There are plenty of situations where a collector will bid on an item with something less than 100% certainty that it's legit, and as that percentage decreases, so does the amount of money they are willing to risk on something that could be a fake. If his certainty is 100% with a knowledgable and reputable dealer, then that dealer is going to get the collector's top-dollar price.

Same thing goes for undisclosed flaws or damage. If you know that a particular seller takes great pains to describe and photograph an item from every angle and doesn't shy away from any flaws, you can have more confidence in throwing down that top-dollar price than if you have to factor in possible hidden damage not accounted for in another seller's fuzzy photos and "looks good for its age" description.

Whether they do it consciously or not, doubt is always a factor in a buyer's calculation of how much they're willing to spend. Remove that factor from the equation by way of a seller's good reputation or previous positive experience, and the willing-to-spend level will increase accordingly.

Take Henry Yee for example (who others have cited above): His knowledge and expertise with photographs is well-known, and is always reflected in his prices realized for those items in his auctions. That is to be expected. There were a number of non-photograph items in his last auction though that brought prices far above the norm, which led to several questions of "why" on this board, and to my knowledge, his overall good reputation was the only conclusion that could be reached.

[Scott Garner]

For me it's all about the item, not the seller per se. But, that being said, if you were to look at my eBay buying history I definitely am a frequent flyer with certain dealers that I like and trust.

[Bilko G]

Originally Posted by ruth-gehrig

So when at least 2 people throw higher bids towards a more trusted seller's items does that make that item more "valuable"? Something is worth what someone is willing to pay correct? So then the trusted seller's item is worth more, at least to the 2 bidders, than an identical item from an unknown ebay seller?

You might also be paying a bit more for an "identical item" with the assurance that the item is gonna arrive, arrive in a timely matter and arrive in the condition stated. "Peace of mind" has to be worth a few bucks when dealing online.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by Bilko G

You might also be paying a bit more for an "identical item" with the assurance that the item is gonna arrive, arrive in a timely matter and arrive in the condition stated. "Peace of mind" has to be worth a few bucks when dealing online.

Bilko brings up an interesting point. Not to hijack this thread, but...

Here's a question for the group:

What % of the time that you buy from an eBay seller do you receive items that are not as described, the item doesn't arrive, or arrive in a timely fashion?

With me, this % is extremely small, FWIW....

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

What % of the time that you buy from an eBay seller do you receive items that are not as described, the item doesn't arrive, or arrive in a timely fashion?

From a buyer's perspective, I typically don't bid on items that it's not readily apparent exactly what I'm getting, so that along with an assumption that the seller doesn't know how to grade (usually the case, since I'm bargain-hunting rather than shopping the top-shelf sellers) usually results in the only surprises being good ones (what do you know, they did know what they were talking about!) I have hardly ever had packages go missing, and am unusually patient in waiting for things to arrive, so I'm probably in the low single-digits percentage-wise on all three.

A little insight from a seller's perspective, the biggest complainers regarding shipping time are the younger generation who are buying low-end (cheap) items. I don't think I've ever had a complaint from anyone old enough to remember "sending away" for things through the mail (and having to wait weeks on end for them to arrive), or on any purchase over $100 in value. It's the kids used to instant gratification who expect to be treated like a prince for throwing a few coppers your way and demand same-day service (regardless of your stated shipping times) that are the biggest headache.