e-bay purchasing question

I know several people on this list buy and sell tractor parts on e-bay (I buy, but don't sell). Anyway, there are some tractor parts I hope to buy, but will be out of town when the auction ends and may not have access to the internet. If you were the seller and the high bidder let you know in advance that it would be a few days after the sale before they could get in contact with you, would you belive them, or would you think it was just another excuse from a dead-beat bidder? I just want to be honest with the seller, and I really do want the parts, but I'm afraid I will just p$%% them off.

WOW... you must really be heading out into the hinterlands if you'll have NO 'net access!

Do the "ask a question" thingy and spell out your situation and see what the seller's reaction is. Ask for a phone # so you can call them and talk to the seller in person.

I've done that MANY times.

Often, the initial response by the other ebay member will be a good clue as to how they will be to deal with.

Most of us sellers know that these things happen so just let him/her know and you shouldn't have any trouble.
Walt

PS I have a real bow (wing Presention II) on Ebay right now Take a look.
Wing Bow

"Often, the initial response by the other ebay member will be a good clue as to how they will be to deal with."

Very true, if a seller takes days or never to respond to a question it's a big red flag for me and I look elsewhere.

I'm fleeing the snow and heading to an island in the Caribbean. I could probably find access to the internet, but it would be costly. I wish the auction ended one day earlier, but that's the way things go.

that's a cool bow Walt, what makes it a "wing" bow? Is that the name of the manufacture?

Try this:I will over bid an item if I realy want it:Meaning, If pocket knife last bid is $15.00
and I want it real bad I will bid once at $18.00and then make my max, bid we will say a $100.00 now we both know it is not worth that, is what you have just done was locked your bid im at $18.00 in order for some one to buy it thay have to bid more than $100.00 Will that happen maybe
but I dought it. Here is the rules on proxy bidding:
JR.Frye
*************************************************

Our automatic bidding system makes bidding convenient so you don"t have to keep coming back to re-bid every time someone places another bid.

How automatic bidding works
 When you place a bid, you enter the maximum amount you"re willing to pay for the item. The seller and other bidders don’t know your maximum bid.
 We’ll place bids on your behalf using the automatic bid increment amount, which is based on the current high bid. We"ll bid only as much as necessary to make sure that you remain the high bidder, or to meet the reserve price, up to your maximum amount.
 If another bidder places the same maximum bid or higher, we’ll notify you so you can place another bid. Your maximum bid is kept confidential until it is exceeded by another bidder.


Example
The current bid for an item is $10.00. Tom is the high bidder, and has placed a maximum bid of $12.00 on the item. His maximum bid is kept confidential from other members.
Laura views the item and places a maximum bid of $15.00. Laura becomes the high bidder.
Tom’s bid is incremented to his maximum of $12.00. Laura’s bid is now $12.50.
We send Tom an email that he has been outbid. If he doesn’t raise his maximum bid, Laura wins the item.

The fine print
In reserve price auctions, if your maximum bid is at least the reserve price, we’ll automatically increase your bid to meet the reserve, and bidding will continue from there.

JR,

That is a good plan and I am sure many have used it. However, like all good plans, someone figures out a way around them.
What I have seen happen is that some sellers know that bidders will go way beyond the "value" just to try to lock in the bid in their absence.
One of the keys to this is when you see that a bidder bids twice in a row, back to back. There is pretty good chance that they placed a real high bid to lock in.
A few sellers have been known to get someone else to bid it up.(no way to really police this action unless the bidder buddy rats on the seller to Ebay) They risk busting the highest bid, but, they can always claim that the "buyer" decided they did not want the item and then just relist it. For the risk, they stand to sell an item at much more than what it would normally bring.
So, if they just happened to bid it up to say $79.00 on that knife that is not worth more than $20, the bidder must pay for it or get a negative and be written up as a dead beat buyer. Why would you want to pay that much for a $20.00 knife?
The game is much more complicated than most realize.
With that said, there are still some good sellers on there.
For these reasons, I much prefer the "Make an offer" or "Buy it now" auctions. At least you know that they are pretty straight.

JR,

Ever heard of "sniping"?

That $100 bid in the last 5 seconds of an ebay auction will do a LOT more good than "tipping your hand" with a bid a while BEFORE auction end.

ANYHOW, it works GREAT for me. I bid the absolute most I'm willing to pay in the last 3 or 5 seconds of the auction. If someone who wants it worse than me does the same thing with a bigger bid, so be it.

That way the other bidders don't even have time to realize there's another bidder and "up" their bids.

There's absolutely NOTHING to be gained by bidding earlier, driving the price up and revealing that another party (you) is interested in the item.

I've often done that at auction sales, as well.

Let the other bidders drive the price up, if it's still within my price I jump in with a bid just before the gavel falls and throw 'em a curve! Seeing there's someone else interested early on just fuels the bidding "fires".

Youn are right,I for got to say I as all so sell
a lot of stuff on e-bay and I all ways list
buy it now or bid, and I have noticed that 85% of stuff I sell buy it now.sells faster.
and the only reason I us the proxy bid is I do not have time to sit and watch my computer all day. But I do understand what you are saying.
JR.Frye

go to aution stealer dot com and you can place a bid through them days ahead of time. They will enter it in the last few seconds of the auction for you free of charge. I use it all the time and it works great.
It beats putting a high bid in early and letting other guys slowly drive the price up, bid by bid until they out bid you. Try it, you'll like it!
I buy and sell on ebay

First, check the seller's feedback. If they have a 100% positive feedback or close to 100%, go to the 'ask a question' section and just tell him what the problem is. If you have a high positive feedback, most sellers will be OK with waiting till you get home. Once I had a guy send me a part I needed before he got his money just because I had a 100% positive feedback rating. Read his payment instruction carefully. Sometime they will give you quite a bit of time before you need to send their money but if not then I would ask him.

I just use the same strategy my father taught me at live farm auctions when growing up. Know your limit before you ever bid.

I know people like to talk about last minute and sniping software, but none of it matters if you actually know your limit and bid it. Remember that eBay automatically increments your bid, so you can enter the max amount and it won't jump to that immediately.

If I'm willing to pay $100 for that special pocket knife, I'll enter it and leave it. If someone is willing to pay $101 for it, I was not so that is that.

I heard there were snipe programs for sellers too.

(quoted from post at 13:34:36 02/10/10) I just use the same strategy my father taught me at live farm auctions when growing up. Know your limit before you ever bid.

I know people like to talk about last minute and sniping software, but none of it matters if you actually know your limit and bid it. Remember that eBay automatically increments your bid, so you can enter the max amount and it won't jump to that immediately.

If I'm willing to pay $100 for that special pocket knife, I'll enter it and leave it. If someone is willing to pay $101 for it, I was not so that is that.

Click to expand...

I couldn't agree with you more. I was taught the same thing growing up and that is my mentality for bidding at auctions. My wife, on the other hand, waits to the last minute, gets caught up in the "excitement" and pays more than she planned on.

It sounds like you are concerned about paying for the auction if you win. I would contact the seller and let him/her know you will be away from your computer for a week or so but will pay as soon as you return if you happen to win the item. If he responds that he cannot wait that long then maybe have a friend bid and pay in your absence.

I believe this is common, even some sellers have a note that they will be out of town and can't ship for x-many days.

JR i guess i don't quite get your therory? What would happen if i bid $95 and you won it at $98 (what ever the bid increment is)Looks like you could get stuck for an exspencive item especially if two people tried this. would you exsplain?

Maybe this will help you understand it ok BUD:
Jr.Frye
**************************************************

How automatic bidding works
The fine print



Our automatic bidding system makes bidding convenient so you don"t have to keep coming back to re-bid every time someone places another bid.

How automatic bidding works
When you place a bid, you enter the maximum amount you"re willing to pay for the item. The seller and other bidders don’t know your maximum bid.
We’ll place bids on your behalf using the automatic bid increment amount, which is based on the current high bid. We"ll bid only as much as necessary to make sure that you remain the high bidder, or to meet the reserve price, up to your maximum amount.
If another bidder places the same maximum bid or higher, we’ll notify you so you can place another bid. Your maximum bid is kept confidential until it is exceeded by another bidder.




Example
The current bid for an item is $10.00. Tom is the high bidder, and has placed a maximum bid of $12.00 on the item. His maximum bid is kept confidential from other members.

Laura views the item and places a maximum bid of $15.00. Laura becomes the high bidder.

Tom’s bid is incremented to his maximum of $12.00. Laura’s bid is now $12.50.

We send Tom an email that he has been outbid. If he doesn’t raise his maximum bid, Laura wins the item.


The fine print
In reserve price auctions, if your maximum bid is at least the reserve price, we’ll automatically increase your bid to meet the reserve, and bidding will continue from there

Standard ebay policy is that you have 7 days to pay.

Gordo

If someone sent me a message like that, I'd work with them. You might also want to check out bidnapper.com for automated auction snipe service. You can get three free snipes per week.

Computor access only through home land telephone line. if could hook up someplace else try taking all parts, tower, monitor and keybord, mouse, printer and see how it works.