How to bid on eBay?
Jan 9th 2007, 2:40 pm
#1
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 6,848
How to bid on eBay?
It will be my best mate's 40th birthday next month so I'd like to get her a nice gift.
I know that she likes jewellery by the Brazilian jeweller H Stern, but it's expensive....
I was thinking of buying some earrings with her birthstone (amethyst) or perhaps a gold ring and when I did a google search for H Stern one of the results was for eBay. There is a large listing for various kinds of jewellery by H Stern from a retailer (Portero) which has a 'positive' reputation.
How on earth does one bid when it's with a retailer? Has anyone had experience of this.....I don't know where to start. The earrings are brand new and showing a retail price of $550 but the bidding starts at $49.99 (reserve not met). The (brand new) gold ring has a retail price of $280(reserve not met).
I really don't want to pay more than $250 tops (inc tax). Shipping will cost extra as well.
Am I being realistic in regards to the earrings or should I just forget it and think of buying something else? I don't know how the procedure works but if I go for the gold ring, how do I bid if I don't want to pay the retail price of $280?
Any help gratefully received!
I know that she likes jewellery by the Brazilian jeweller H Stern, but it's expensive....
I was thinking of buying some earrings with her birthstone (amethyst) or perhaps a gold ring and when I did a google search for H Stern one of the results was for eBay. There is a large listing for various kinds of jewellery by H Stern from a retailer (Portero) which has a 'positive' reputation.
How on earth does one bid when it's with a retailer? Has anyone had experience of this.....I don't know where to start. The earrings are brand new and showing a retail price of $550 but the bidding starts at $49.99 (reserve not met). The (brand new) gold ring has a retail price of $280(reserve not met).
I really don't want to pay more than $250 tops (inc tax). Shipping will cost extra as well.
Am I being realistic in regards to the earrings or should I just forget it and think of buying something else? I don't know how the procedure works but if I go for the gold ring, how do I bid if I don't want to pay the retail price of $280?
Any help gratefully received!
Jan 9th 2007, 2:48 pm
#2
Essex boy in Texas
Joined: Feb 2006
Location: Wylie, TX, USA
Posts: 99
Re: How to bid on eBay?
Just make sure the seller has as lot of positive feedback so you dont get ripped off by some fly-by-night. I have bought and sold a lot of things over ebay and you can get some good bargains there so dont be put off.
Jan 9th 2007, 3:42 pm
#3
BE Site Lead
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: MA, USA
Posts: 92,170
Re: How to bid on eBay?
It there's a option to buy it now, you could do that...other wise watch the auction and bid the very last second you can or people will out bid you and shoot the price right up.
A cheeky thing to do if you know if it's a retailer and you can find them on the web, just email them and say that you saw the ring and want to buy it for x amount direct to avoid the commission charge, they might bite and let you have a bit of a deal, or chuck in postage...it happens.
And $250 for a mates present...blimey...I need friends like you
But speaking of, come March, if your interested, a mate at work can get those Bose noise cancelling headphones, the v3 version for $50 if you need another pair and wouldn't mind bunging me a commission
A cheeky thing to do if you know if it's a retailer and you can find them on the web, just email them and say that you saw the ring and want to buy it for x amount direct to avoid the commission charge, they might bite and let you have a bit of a deal, or chuck in postage...it happens.
And $250 for a mates present...blimey...I need friends like you
But speaking of, come March, if your interested, a mate at work can get those Bose noise cancelling headphones, the v3 version for $50 if you need another pair and wouldn't mind bunging me a commission
Jan 9th 2007, 6:41 pm
#4
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 6,848
Re: How to bid on eBay?
It there's a option to buy it now, you could do that...other wise watch the auction and bid the very last second you can or people will out bid you and shoot the price right up.
A cheeky thing to do if you know if it's a retailer and you can find them on the web, just email them and say that you saw the ring and want to buy it for x amount direct to avoid the commission charge, they might bite and let you have a bit of a deal, or chuck in postage...it happens.
And $250 for a mates present...blimey...I need friends like you
But speaking of, come March, if your interested, a mate at work can get those Bose noise cancelling headphones, the v3 version for $50 if you need another pair and wouldn't mind bunging me a commission
A cheeky thing to do if you know if it's a retailer and you can find them on the web, just email them and say that you saw the ring and want to buy it for x amount direct to avoid the commission charge, they might bite and let you have a bit of a deal, or chuck in postage...it happens.
And $250 for a mates present...blimey...I need friends like you
But speaking of, come March, if your interested, a mate at work can get those Bose noise cancelling headphones, the v3 version for $50 if you need another pair and wouldn't mind bunging me a commission
Believe me, I'd never normally spend so much on a present - but we are like sisters and I want to give her something special to keep for a long time (hopefully).
I'm *very* interested in the Bose headphones - are these the Quiet Comfort 3 ones or did you mean the little earbuds that you use with an iPod?
Jan 9th 2007, 7:12 pm
#5
Account Closed
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 22,220
Re: How to bid on eBay?
It there's a option to buy it now, you could do that...other wise watch the auction and bid the very last second you can or people will out bid you and shoot the price right up.
A cheeky thing to do if you know if it's a retailer and you can find them on the web, just email them and say that you saw the ring and want to buy it for x amount direct to avoid the commission charge, they might bite and let you have a bit of a deal, or chuck in postage...it happens.
And $250 for a mates present...blimey...I need friends like you
But speaking of, come March, if your interested, a mate at work can get those Bose noise cancelling headphones, the v3 version for $50 if you need another pair and wouldn't mind bunging me a commission
A cheeky thing to do if you know if it's a retailer and you can find them on the web, just email them and say that you saw the ring and want to buy it for x amount direct to avoid the commission charge, they might bite and let you have a bit of a deal, or chuck in postage...it happens.
And $250 for a mates present...blimey...I need friends like you
But speaking of, come March, if your interested, a mate at work can get those Bose noise cancelling headphones, the v3 version for $50 if you need another pair and wouldn't mind bunging me a commission
Jan 9th 2007, 7:29 pm
#6
BE Site Lead
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: MA, USA
Posts: 92,170
Re: How to bid on eBay?
there the proper headphones, as well as most of the range, won't know exactly till the employee list comes out in March according to my mate in me office.
Jan 9th 2007, 8:36 pm
#8
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 6,848
Re: How to bid on eBay?
Bob remembered that I'd bought the noise cancelling headphones (QC3) for my husband for Christmas. He loves them. A couple of years ago I'd bought the larger over-the ears (QC2) for him and used them myself when I flew to and from London last November and was v. impressed at how it cut out the cabin noise and how good the audio system sounded compared to how it does when you use the airline's headphones.
It would be nice to have another QC3 as they're smaller and we're both travelling across the pond together in late March so it would be cool if we could have one each.
Jan 9th 2007, 8:43 pm
#9
Account Closed
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 22,220
Re: How to bid on eBay?
Ha ha!
Bob remembered that I'd bought the noise cancelling headphones (QC3) for my husband for Christmas. He loves them. A couple of years ago I'd bought the larger over-the ears (QC2) for him and used them myself when I flew to and from London last November and was v. impressed at how it cut out the cabin noise and how good the audio system sounded compared to how it does when you use the airline's headphones.
It would be nice to have another QC3 as they're smaller and we're both travelling across the pond together in late March so it would be cool if we could have one each.
Bob remembered that I'd bought the noise cancelling headphones (QC3) for my husband for Christmas. He loves them. A couple of years ago I'd bought the larger over-the ears (QC2) for him and used them myself when I flew to and from London last November and was v. impressed at how it cut out the cabin noise and how good the audio system sounded compared to how it does when you use the airline's headphones.
It would be nice to have another QC3 as they're smaller and we're both travelling across the pond together in late March so it would be cool if we could have one each.
Re: How to bid on eBay?
Jan 10th 2007, 2:46 am
#12
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,109
Re: How to bid on eBay?
Set up a PayPal account, since it makes paying for items easier and a lot of people only accept PayPal.
http://www.paypal.com
As far as bidding on items I would buy from people that have pretty high rating from buyers. Having a few negitives ratings isn't a big deal if the person has a lot a positive ones in relation to the negitive ones. I wouldn't buy from anyone with less than a 97 percent or higher rating.
For the actual bidding you have a few ways to go about it. If you like something and are OK with the price and it has the "Buy Now" option, that is a good way to do things. That way you don't have to dick around with bidding and the final bid could possibly wind up higher than the "Buy Now" price.
If you want to bid and don't feel like watching the item, you can just put in your maximum bid and Ebay will automaticlly bump up your bid each time
someone out bids you until it exceeds your maximum bid.
The sneaky thing you can do is just watch the item and put in your maximum bid in the last minute. This is a roll of the dice. You can either steal it or come up empty.
One other thing I have done is contact people that have bought the same item or type of item from the seller I'm thinking of bidding and ask them about the item, since people will normally give a person positive feedback unless they really *****ed up or ripped the person off.
http://www.paypal.com
As far as bidding on items I would buy from people that have pretty high rating from buyers. Having a few negitives ratings isn't a big deal if the person has a lot a positive ones in relation to the negitive ones. I wouldn't buy from anyone with less than a 97 percent or higher rating.
For the actual bidding you have a few ways to go about it. If you like something and are OK with the price and it has the "Buy Now" option, that is a good way to do things. That way you don't have to dick around with bidding and the final bid could possibly wind up higher than the "Buy Now" price.
If you want to bid and don't feel like watching the item, you can just put in your maximum bid and Ebay will automaticlly bump up your bid each time
someone out bids you until it exceeds your maximum bid.
The sneaky thing you can do is just watch the item and put in your maximum bid in the last minute. This is a roll of the dice. You can either steal it or come up empty.
One other thing I have done is contact people that have bought the same item or type of item from the seller I'm thinking of bidding and ask them about the item, since people will normally give a person positive feedback unless they really *****ed up or ripped the person off.
Jan 10th 2007, 2:09 pm
#13
Maño-Americano
Joined: Apr 2003
Location: In the heart of the Ozarks
Posts: 10,216
Jan 10th 2007, 3:28 pm
#14
Account Closed
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 2
Re: How to bid on eBay?
Dan Vergano, USAToday; “On eBay, It Pays to Snipe” 6/26/2006
Thus, many incremental bidders bid late, but one-bid bidders tend to bid even later. Moreover, the data indicates that incremental bidding significantly diminishes with experience (as measured by the bidders' feedback numbers), while last-minute bidding increases with experience. Overall, the analysis of multiple bids supports the hypothesis that last-minute bidding arises at least in part as a response by sophisticated bidders to unsophisticated incremental bidding.
Axel Ockenfels, University of Magdeburg, Germany & Alvin E. Roth, Harvard University; "The timing of bids in Internet auctions: Market design, Bidder behavior and Artificial agents"
https://www.bidnapper.com/proof.php
Jan 10th 2007, 4:11 pm
#15
sun lover
Joined: Jul 2006
Location: Mesa - AZ
Posts: 271
Re: How to bid on eBay?
Thanks for your suggestions. It's just occurred to me though - if I buy a ring online I don't know how to get the correct size and as I want it to be a birthday surprise I can't discretely ask her!
Believe me, I'd never normally spend so much on a present - but we are like sisters and I want to give her something special to keep for a long time (hopefully).
I'm *very* interested in the Bose headphones - are these the Quiet Comfort 3 ones or did you mean the little earbuds that you use with an iPod?
Believe me, I'd never normally spend so much on a present - but we are like sisters and I want to give her something special to keep for a long time (hopefully).
I'm *very* interested in the Bose headphones - are these the Quiet Comfort 3 ones or did you mean the little earbuds that you use with an iPod?
Have you looked on www.overstock.com I find they have quite a few good deals on their site.
They sell a whole range of things.
