Ebay bidding pattern

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Posted By: Elliot 

I'm happy with the price that i paid for this item http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2746918290&category=31721&rd=1 ....BUT, the bidding seemed a bit strange. Before I bid (with seconds to go) the reserve had not been met, which means the reserve was between $25.00 and $25.11. Does it seem funny to anybody else that the one bidder would bid $24.99?

Also, please notice that SGC has mislabeled the card, even though it says 1934 clearly on the reverse.

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Posted By: MW

Elliot,

I agree that the bidding pattern is a bit strange, but not altogether unexpected. With eBay, it just comes with the territory.

As for the labeling error, that's actually pretty common. I do it all the time when sorting 1933 and 1934 World Wides.

I should also probably note that the bilingual reverses are only considered scarce when the French occurs before the English, not the other way around (as the seller claims). The variety that was sold is the easiest of the three types with English-only being the second most difficult.

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Posted By: Elliot

"As for the labeling error, that's actually pretty common. I do it all the time when sorting 1933 and 1934 World Wides."

I can't believe that you really mis-sort the 1933 and 1934 World Wides. Is there anybody else on the forum that makes the same mistake as MW?

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Posted By: MW

Elliot,

Given the fact that you're a native of Canada, it logically follows that you'd be more of an expert on these cards than me.

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Posted By: jay behrens

I've had people bid $xx.99 on several of items. Always seemed a strange bid. Almost done as if they didn't really want to win, just make the winner pay as much as possible without themselves getting stuck with the item.

Jay

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Posted By: TBob

A xx.99 bidder 1) either doesn't really want the card but wants to see how high it might go 2) is shilling up to a reserve amount or 3) is running up a bidder but doesn't want to take a chance and actually accidentally winning the card himself.

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Posted By: Elliot

Bob, that's what I found really odd here, as he wasn't doing any of those things. He had already bid, so he wasn't "marking" the lot. He wasn't bidding the card up, as he was already the high bidder, and since his bid was still below the reserve, when I bid the high bid was only shown as $13.52 (an increment over the next highest bidder). It was just a fluke that I bid slightly above the reserve price.

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Posted By: runscott

There are even people on this board who have nonsensical bidding patterns, but who don't intend anything malicious.

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Posted By: brian p

I have encountered this type of bid many times, and most of the time they seem perfectly legit. I think some people are of the mindset that the don't want to pay $25.00, or $50.00, or $100.00, etc., because that would cross some kind of unbreakeable monetary barrier they have set upon their collecting.

I, as I assume is the case with many other collectors, work it out a little differently in my head, in that if you have a certain top bid in mind, add a little extra to it, because the way ebay strutures the bidding those extra few cents or dollars will end up winning you the lot. And lordy knows it is an effective strategy. To each his own.

Brian

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Posted By: jeremy wagoner

i sometimes think that by bidding $xx.55 i have a better chance of winning an ebay auction. for example, if an item is hovering around $100.00, i will will bid $105.55 at the last minute. inevitably, i will be sniped, but i still think the bid has a better chance than the $105. bid.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

usually when I'm entering a snipe. If I don't want to match a $100 max bid, for example, I might type in 105.29 at random.

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Posted By: halleygator

Here is the answer, and it makes some sense:

Let's say that I suspect the reserve for a certain card is $200 ... and I do not want to pay $200 for the card.

BUT ... I am willing to be the highest bidder on the card and pay whatever price the market dictates ... as long as it is NOT $200 or more.

If I bid $199.99 ... then there is no way that I can be legally forced under EBay rules to pay $200 for the card.

And, the odds are pretty good that I will NOT have to pay $199.99 for the card. I will only have to pay $1 more than whatever the LAST bidder bid. (**This is all ASSUMING that the seller will NOT re-list the card but will call the highest bidder and offer to sell it. This happens a lot.)

In other words, the guy DEFINITELY does not want to pay $200 for the card ... and he really does not want to pay $199 for the card but will do so in the worst case scenario.

If he had bid $.01 more ... he would have been forced to pay $200 by meeting the reserve.

ON THE FLIP SIDE -- sellers set stupid high reserves just to see how high the bidding will go -- then call the highest bidder and try to sell the card for that price. I would NEVER buy a card in this manner because you have no Ebay protection (for what that is worth) ... and because it is prime breeding ground for "shill" bidders because they can drive up the price WITHOUT having to buy the card.

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Posted By: Jeff S

I was about to write the same thing. I do it now and then. (Which doesn't mean it makes any sense...)

Also remember that, in some (most?) reserve auctions, the seller is NOT the only person who knows the reserve. Most people here probably know that if you post something interesting with a reserve, you'll get an e-mail or two asking what the reserve is. Some people are more forthcoming with that info than others, despite eBay's stated policy that reserves should remain undisclosed.

A related strategy: if I stumble upon an item in the last couple of days before closing with a BIN I think is reasonable, I occasionally bid a penny less than the BIN. (This only works if the auction also has a reserve--e.g. a reserve of $100 and a BIN of $200.)After the first couple of days, it's a good bet nobody's going to hit the BIN, so it's reasonable to figure that nobody wants to pay in the neighborhood of that amount. If I think it's worth that, bidding right below the BIN is a good bet that a) I'll be the winner, and b) I'll meet the reserve, but it also usually means I'll win.