Who are we competing against?

Some of the things people get away with on ebay is terrible. But I guess it cant be fair to everyone. I used to use it all the time, but have gotten away from it somewhat...
I guess whether its a business or not the highest bidder wins---that is the fairest way to do it I imagine..

 

Paul -- Can you give some examples or explain how this works to their advantage? Are you talking about crunched whole cars or just standard service parts? I'm having a hard time understanding how a "highest bid wins" auction is unfair if all Buyers have equal access.

 

Having had this happen to me a time or two - it works like this. An individual bids on a item (for example I bid on a used but very workable lower front spoiler) and in the last 15 seconds I am outbid by a large well known supplier of Ferrari parts. They in turn offer the same part for sale at an inflated (it must be expensive if it says Ferrari price) through their business. Is this fair ..yes I think it is (it is still America I guess), but the end result is that they scoop up the "good deals on key parts" and basically inflate the price (in my personal case by a factor of about 300%). So basically the big parts suppliers act as a middle agent with a lot purchasing power and obviously an existing business model to market their wares and to some extent control prices. Again, is this fair?? I'd say fair yes, frustrating, hell yeah.

 

I don't see anything wrong that -- why don't you try bidding higher?

 

Yeah I agree, I understand the system, just pay up sucker...

 

Do you know what businesses do this--names???

 

Why don't you use someone like Bid Sniper and beat them at their own game??

 

It seems to me that your basic complaint is that another (more knowledgeable?) Buyer is preventing you from screwing over the Seller. If the other Buyer can GREATLY inflate the price and still resell the component your bid is/was unreasonable IMO.

 

Swooping in with 15 seconds on the countdown clock is a bidders technique.

If the re-seller is marking up 300%, then he is selling an item for $300, which he paid only $100 dollars for.

I think you have to accept you are simply not bidding high enough to win the item if the winner is able to mark it up 300%.

Say a "swooper" wins an ebay F360 for $50,000 and then resells it for 300% markup or $150,000. If you didn't outbid his $50,000, who is responsible for you not being the winning bidder. Wouldn't $75,000 have been a "good deal" bid. And if the other guy needs a 300% markup, he can't compete with your bid.

BTW, I'm very leery of ebay. There often seems to been some little "surprise" disappointment when the merchandise arrives. Much of ebay, IMHO, is a "pull the wool over their eyes" exercise.

 

Ya, put your highest bid in and then they can't outbid you at the last second without going above it. Be prepared to pay about 40% of MSRP for parts in good condition.

 

You must be kidding. This is a free market last I checked. And I don't begrudge used parts dealers profits. They are willing to put up money for them and wait for a buyer, who may or may not ever come. I doubt the parts turn over at any rapid rate, so I would expect big markups when they are resold. Need a used part quick? Want to wait months or forever to get one cheap on Ebay? Or isn't it nice there are some used parts places you can call and get one right away. An important service in my opinion.

Dave

 

Agreed

 

comment from the less knowledgeable one...Please see portion of post where I agree IT IS FAIR. But, now I'm attempting to screw the seller???... and through their benevolence, large suppliers are swooping in to save the day - thank goodness!

 

I apoligize if my choice of words was too harsh, and I acknowledge that you have already called it "fair", but I don't understand your being "frustrated" when you get outbid if your bid is so far below market value that it allows a "middleman" to make a profit.

 

I have bought a lot of stuff from ebay only a couple of minor issues I guess I won all that stuff by being high bidder if a Parts guy outbids me thats my problem and if someone else pays him because they need the part thats how a free market works so I am not sure what your issue is?

 

ya it sucks, but its fair. its just business
had something simliar happen on a car I wanted to buy, he turned around and resold it for around 13k more, what sucked was it wasnt and auction so I couldn't bid higher, it was first come first sell