Ebay

[mpmoe2002]

I listed a vehicle for sale on Ebay a few days ago. I have received the usual questions like," what is your reserve price?" Ebayers do not follow any protocol that seems reasonable to me. The vehicle is listed as an auction--highest bidder wins. Because I want to sell the vehicle, I answer these retarded questions with"...appreciate your interest, but the highest bidder wins."

What have been your experiences on Ebay?

So far I have 17 watchers and no bidders with 2.5 days left. My ratio is 8 dumb questions for 17 watchers.:thumbsdown:

[Jers79CJ]

Sounds pretty typical... 90% of the time the questions I get we're already addressed in my writeup. Drives me nuts!

[rddtld6]

I usually don't get bidders for my stuff until the last few days.

[Rk Crlr]

My wife Ebays stuff fairly regularly and gets the same stupid questions.
Very few questions are not clearly answered by reading the add. :shrug:

She ignores the REALLY stupid ones and answers any that are reasonable. Many times she says "as stated in the add, it is..."

[mpmoe2002]

I don't mind answering questions for a serious bidder/buyer. The kind of $$$ we are talking here should involve more requests for in-person visual inspections not "what is your reserve?"

[LoopiJeepGirl]

You know I have been an avid Ebayer for 6+ years, and the trend has changed to bidding at the last minute, and lots of stupid questions from lazy/stupid people that don't read what we write in our description..........So, nothing new, and I am sure your item will receive some bids on the last day.........Especially if there are 17 watchers, one of them wants it at least..........:D

[Rex Ashton]

I don't buy alot on Ebay, but I don't bid until the last minutes of the auction, if at all. Often, the price shoots up in the final hours beyond what I'm willing to pay. But when the auction goes too high for me or the auction is ended early due to a sale completed locally or pre-negotiated by one of the other watcher/bidders, I don't cry about it to the seller.

I love those idiots that watch without bidding and when you end the auction early, they whine...."Why'd you end the auction?" "Is it still for sale?", "I was gonna buy it".....

If I'm selling, it's always for sale locally. First one at my doorstep with a fistfull of greenbacks equivalent to my cash number gets it.....I'll even negotiate with potential bidders outside of the auction, but only stop the auction once the money is in hand. I'll usually take a few bucks less than the auction may yield to avoid the risk/hassle of deadbeat bidder.

[starbreaker666]

Not even sure what ebay is... Sorry no help here.

[mpmoe2002]

Update 6:33 est:

I have 20 lookers and 1 bid. The bidder has zero feedback. Not to steal my own thread, but how have you dealt with zero feedback bidders. Many sellers on Ebay won't touch them with a ten foot pole.I figure to give the person a chance. We all had to start somewhere, but be cautious about payment arrangements.

[hizzle]

Update 6:33 est:

I have 20 lookers and 1 bid. The bidder has zero feedback. Not to steal my own thread, but how have you dealt with zero feedback bidders. Many sellers on Ebay won't touch them with a ten foot pole.I figure to give the person a chance. We all had to start somewhere, but be cautious about payment arrangements.

I wouldn't touch it, either. I have been doing the e-bay thing for a while. I have sold a few vehicles on it and the bidders with 0 that just started their account the day they bid NEVER paid! Cancel their bids, especially on something that expensive. Something cheap let it go but it is a big pain to get your money back for the fees and you're selling it for a reason, you want it gone. I would definitely cancel that bid. Also it seems the trend now is to wait until the last second. There are websites like auctionstealer.com that will place a bid for you at the last second to try andsnipe it for you.

[TheCopperCowboy]

You can not cancel a 0 feedback bidder unless 1) you stated no "0 feedback bidders allowed" or 2) you clear them through an e-mail. They have just as much right to bid as anyone else. And if someone is asking for the reserve, what's the problem with that? If they are willing to pay it, they're hang in to the end knowing what you want, or in some cases, buy it after the auction is over if they want it bad enough. Setting up the terms and conditions before posting the ad should clear up who can and can not bid. I always include "vehicle is for sale locally" so I can either pull the auction or sell privately to whoever shows up with cash. :cool:

[hizzle]

You can not cancel a 0 feedback bidder unless 1) you stated no "0 feedback bidders allowed" or 2) you clear them through an e-mail. They have just as much right to bid as anyone else. And if someone is asking for the reserve, what's the problem with that? If they are willing to pay it, they're hang in to the end knowing what you want, or in some cases, buy it after the auction is over if they want it bad enough. Setting up the terms and conditions before posting the ad should clear up who can and can not bid. I always include "vehicle is for sale locally" so I can either pull the auction or sell privately to whoever shows up with cash. :cool:

Agreed with the "local sale, reserve right to end early" is the way to go. i started doing that. Also adding the no 0 feedback bidder to the ad would help. I haven't personally cancelled any ads of 0 bidders yet so don't know if there is some restriction. As far as the reserve, I think it's up to the seller if they want to disclose it or not. They all have their reasons. It took me some time to "fine tune" my ads and the details are usually longer than the ad itself.

[TheCopperCowboy]

You're easy to find. Anyway, let's look at the stats.

Bidder Information

Bidder 1
Feedback: Zero ? 0% Positive
Registered on eBay: More than 5 years
Bids on this item: 1



30-Day Summary

Total bids: 28
Items bid on: 24
Bid activity (%) with this seller: 3%
Bids to unique sellers: 23
Bids in unique categories: 9
Bid retractions: 0



View full bidding details


Your bidder has been registered for more than 5 years. Put 28 bids on 24 items. Seems as though this bidder has never won with any of his bids, thus the reason for no feedback. Nice Volvo, should of tried to unload it in Boulder instead. If he does win the bid, cash or ceritfied funds only. Beware of the Nigeria scammers. Good luck with the auction. :P

[mpmoe2002]

You're easy to find. Anyway, let's look at the stats.

Bidder Information

Bidder 1
Feedback: Zero ? 0% Positive
Registered on eBay: More than 5 years
Bids on this item: 1



30-Day Summary

Total bids: 28
Items bid on: 24
Bid activity (%) with this seller: 3%
Bids to unique sellers: 23
Bids in unique categories: 9
Bid retractions: 0



View full bidding details


Your bidder has been registered for more than 5 years. Put 28 bids on 24 items. Seems as though this bidder has never won with any of his bids, thus the reason for no feedback. Nice Volvo, should of tried to unload it in Boulder instead. If he does win the bid, cash or ceritfied funds only. Beware of the Nigeria scammers. Good luck with the auction. :P

Thanks for the input. I moved to NC due to the military so Boulder isn't an option. I will keep my fingers crossed. I did say for sale locally and can end the auction early.

[TheCopperCowboy]

Wow! You really got a 0 feedback bidder to land the car. Keep us posted. Hopefully the transaction goes smooth. :cool:

[derm]

Just the other side of it.

I was a zero feedback bidder, newly registered to ebay, in December.

Bought a truck in NJ, flew out there the same weekend, and paid cash.

Don't judge a book by its cover. Very cliche, but a serious rule in sales.

Best of luck. I hope your sale goes smoothly.

BTW, thanks for your service...:beer:

[mpmoe2002]

Zero feedback person won the auction. He is from Chicago and I am in NC. He hasn't responded to an email I sent him yesterday. I have a few back up options if he flames but it would be quite a hassle.

[mpmoe2002]

Update 28 March 07--buyer flamed so I opened a dispute against him.

[Matt]

That sucks, sorry to hear about that.

[bender]

I don`t see how asking what the reserve aggravates people, I ask what it is so I know how much to bid so I can buy the damn thing, I also ask because I dont wanna bid on more then one of the same item and wind up buying two, especially since I go after crap that costs at least a few grand.

[Camp]

I don`t see how asking what the reserve aggravates people, I ask what it is so I know how much to bid so I can buy the damn thing, I also ask because I dont wanna bid on more then one of the same item and wind up buying two, especially since I go after crap that costs at least a few grand.

Because if we wanted you to know what the reserve is, we would have listed it. I really love when people ask what my reserve is and I have specifically put in the item description that I won't say what it is. If the reserve was meant for the bidder, it would be listed on the description and defeat the purpose. The purpose is for a bunch of people to bid until you hit the reserve. If your reserve is too high for some of the bidders and it is made public, then they won't bid and drive the bidding up to your reserve because it is out of their price range and they have no chance. It is a tool, like many of the bidders on ebay.

What would be the point of the reserve if it was public, you would just have your starting price at that value. The principle behind it is to attract impulse buyers.

[mpmoe2002]

My wife and I have sold many items on Ebay,running across our share of deadbeats. This one (2000 Volvo S80 T6) pisses me off the most just because he has never responded to any correspondence.

On another note, my wife sold a dress to a lady. The buyer wore it to a special occasion (admittedly) and then tried to return saying she didn't like it. My wife said she wouldn't refund jack sh** and welcomed the lady to dispute it. What is the nerve of people? We never heard anything else out of the lady. My wife blocked her as a future buyer.

[Camp]

When I was trying to sell my Saleen, I had a guy actually win the auction and then try to talk me down on the price, saying they weren't the original wheels and that I should have disclosed that. I told him he should have run a carfax before he bid and he claimed he didn't have time so, I should drop the price. There were pictures and they were the original wheels so, I kindly told him to go jump off a bridge and make sure you land in a mulching machine :D

[mpmoe2002]

End result was that zero feedback buyer did flame.