Female buyers on EBAY

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Posted By: Robert

I have noticed lately a lot of buyers for my auctions are female, but I don't believe they are the one making the purchase. I seriously think that it their spouse or whatever is setting up an account in their name and making the buys. Do you think it is because they have some bad feedback or have been banned by EBAY for some serious offense? Just wondering and so you think I should start taking a closer look at the people bidding, it's not like I can cancel any bids anymore becasue they all come in in the last seconds of the auction mostly with sniper services.

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Posted By: jay behrens

more than likely a psychological ploy. Same as many of the scammers using female saounding names. People tend to be more trusting of women and if you bidding with a female sounding name, chances are, other bidders won't take you as seriously. This gives the person a chance to possibly get the card for less than if they had used a masculine soudning name.

Jay

My place is full of valuable, worthless junk.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

Also consider that some buyers are well known and may not want their names out there because people use their names to search.

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Posted By: T206Collector

It's mostly wifes and moms with the credit card that was needed to sign up for ebay. I would guess that only a very tiny portion of it is about trying to seem more trustworthy.

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Posted By: Peter_Spaeth

I do not follow Jay's reasoning at all. What does using a female name have to do with OTHER bidders' behavior?

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Posted By: Mike P.

I actually share an account with my wife and if you look at our bid history you'll see stuff ranging from pre-war cards to scrapbook stickers and butterfly stuff! The name is androgynous in the sense that there is no way to tell if it could be male or female. It is done out of convenience, I don't see the point in us having seperate accounts.

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Posted By: tbob

Adam hit the nail right on the head.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

There may be some covert intentions, but my guess is that the majority of these bidders are simply husbands or boyfriends. Some families (wife, husband, kids) have a family account.

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Posted By: Anson

Yup, I'm lumped into the husband bidder pool. I created a new Ebay name "Mr.E101" but I have no feedback to work with. My wife and I have over 1350 on our own. It seems silly to tank all of that feedback.

I just hope I can establish myself enough on this board that you guys don't get scared off by my low feedback on the new name.

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Posted By: Julie

Seriously, I have been much troubled by the bad eggs we have had occasionally posting on the board who either are, or claim to be female. Sadly, most of them turn out to be getting divorced and wanting a pile of cards (dough), or complaining that their good name has been ruined by bad feedback, or selling a phony card which she didn't know was phony because she never sold a card before. I keep hoping! But there seem to be very few females in any branch of this hobby, though Gary Engel (Prestigecollectibles) tells me there are MANY more buying Japanese cards...for themselves: old cards, new cards, cards of Japanese, cards of Americans in Japan, etc.

A fairly common sight, though, are middle-aged couples at shows, not usually interested in real old stuff, but with a reasonable amount of interest in newer stuff('50s--'60s), perhaps with with the idea of making a little extra income.

I know the discussion was about, mainly, what makes males choose female names on eBay. Hsven't the foggiest, unlkes they're beautiful, like "suesvoices."

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Posted By: jay behrens

Pete, let's put it this way; If someone is bidding against 2 other people, one male and one female. Who do you think most people are going think is going to be their major competition for the card? The vast majority are going to dismiss the female as a serious bidder and figure that the male is the one that he will have to outbid. Take away the male from the equation and the guy thinks he is going to walk away with a steal bidding aginst just a woman.

We can all say that we would take that woman seriously, but unless it's Julie, I doubt any of us really would.

Jay

My place is full of valuable, worthless junk.