Ebay - Pet Peeves

A couple of pet peeves about dealing with Ebay sellers:

Sellers having so-called "private bidders"
One never knows whether these are shills for the seller

Unknown Reserved Price by the seller.
One never knows what it is and one can bid a reasonable offer but not get the
lot.

For both of the above reasons, bidders having these situations are now being
blacklisted.

What do other users of Ebay have to say, and do?

"HakenKreuz" wrote in message
...
A couple of pet peeves about dealing with Ebay sellers:

Sellers having so-called "private bidders"
One never knows whether these are shills for the seller

Unknown Reserved Price by the seller.
One never knows what it is and one can bid a reasonable offer but not get
the
lot.

For both of the above reasons, bidders having these situations are now
being
blacklisted.

What do other users of Ebay have to say, and do?

Long before Ebay I used to attend physical auctions right here in Ottawa.
There was one auctioneer who regularly used "ghost bidders". You would bid
$1 and the auctioneer would point to an indistinct spot in the back of the
room and call "$2 -- do I have 3?" There used to be a dealer here in Ottawa
who always set reserves on all his lots.

I have often bid, particularly on history books but also on stamps, the full
amount I was willing to pay only to discover at the end that the best I was
willing to offer still did not meet the reserve set by the seller. I just
say to myself: Better luck next time! I figure that with stamps, at my
level of collecting, there will always be another one. With history books,
on the other hand, books about a particular period of a particular country,
missing a win by a couple of bucks can be quite annoying because there is
not always another one just around the corner. But such is life -- the
world keeps on turning, the sun also rises.
--
Tony Vella, Ottawa, Canada
http://tv-stamps.shorturl.com

I've written to ebay a number of times suggesting they should let you set your preferences up to exclude certain things
permanently unless you ask otherwise. My pet peeves -

Unknown reserve price - set your starting price at the reserve for goodness sake or at least state the reserve in the
description (I've seen this done a number of times). If I ever see "Reserve not met", I move on. And my first bid for
an item is always 1/10th of what I am prepared to pay - this means I can get the item on my Bidding list without overly
inflating the price too early.

Ridiculous shipping charges - even my 8 year old son is on to this one. $2 for something that needs 41 cents postage is
probably reasonable considering listing and envelope costs but $8 isn't.

People who describe everything as RARE!! (320187220562) or WOW! or L@@K!!! (Too many to mention)- I have those excluded
in my favourite searches and would love to have them permanently excluded automatically. There are also certain sellers
I would love to have permanently excluded from all my searches.

Sniping - yes, I do it but at least I do it myself rather than via software. TradeMe (a New Zealand online auction
site) allows sellers to set their lots as "auto-extend" so that, if anyone bids in teh last 2 minutes, the auction gets
extended for another 2 minutes.

I also dislike the listing editor which insists on leaving the keyboard in insert mode even when you want to overtype.

HakenKreuz wrote:
A couple of pet peeves about dealing with Ebay sellers:

Sellers having so-called "private bidders"
One never knows whether these are shills for the seller

Unknown Reserved Price by the seller.
One never knows what it is and one can bid a reasonable offer but not get the
lot.

For both of the above reasons, bidders having these situations are now being
blacklisted.

What do other users of Ebay have to say, and do?


--
Cheers- John Mycroft

On Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:03:31 -0500, John Mycroft wrote:

I've written to ebay a number of times suggesting they should let you set your preferences up to exclude certain things
permanently unless you ask otherwise. My pet peeves -

Unknown reserve price - set your starting price at the reserve for goodness sake or at least state the reserve in the
description (I've seen this done a number of times). If I ever see "Reserve not met", I move on. And my first bid for
an item is always 1/10th of what I am prepared to pay - this means I can get the item on my Bidding list without overly
inflating the price too early.

Ridiculous shipping charges - even my 8 year old son is on to this one. $2 for something that needs 41 cents postage is
probably reasonable considering listing and envelope costs but $8 isn't.

People who describe everything as RARE!! (320187220562) or WOW! or L@@K!!! (Too many to mention)- I have those excluded
in my favourite searches and would love to have them permanently excluded automatically. There are also certain sellers
I would love to have permanently excluded from all my searches.

Sniping - yes, I do it but at least I do it myself rather than via software. TradeMe (a New Zealand online auction
site) allows sellers to set their lots as "auto-extend" so that, if anyone bids in teh last 2 minutes, the auction gets
extended for another 2 minutes.

I also dislike the listing editor which insists on leaving the keyboard in insert mode even when you want to overtype.

Glad to see that I am not the only one feeling about the same points that you
detailed.

Will Ebay actually do anything about the Pet peeves, or will buyers just have
to set up blacklists of those sellers insisting on annoying us?


HakenKreuz wrote:
A couple of pet peeves about dealing with Ebay sellers:

Sellers having so-called "private bidders"
One never knows whether these are shills for the seller

Unknown Reserved Price by the seller.
One never knows what it is and one can bid a reasonable offer but not get the
lot.

For both of the above reasons, bidders having these situations are now being
blacklisted.

What do other users of Ebay have to say, and do?

"HakenKreuz" wrote in message
...
A couple of pet peeves about dealing with Ebay sellers:

Sellers having so-called "private bidders"
One never knows whether these are shills for the seller

=====================================
Reputable sellers would never shill.
The main reason is to prevent people from trying to contact the bidders -
for whatever reason.

eBay makes everyone into a "private bidder" on higher priced auctions after
a certain point.
No real problems with either.
======================================

Unknown Reserved Price by the seller.
One never knows what it is and one can bid a reasonable offer but not get
the
lot.

=========================================
What would be the point of a KNOWN reserve price?
Many real auctions do the same thing.
No real problem here either.
=========================================

For both of the above reasons, bidders having these situations are now
being
blacklisted.

========================================
???????
What do you mean?
What did you do to be blacklisted by a seller?
Who blacklisted you?
I doubt many people have had such problems.
I never have - not in 11+ years on eBay
========================================

What do other users of Ebay have to say, and do?

"Richard C." wrote in message
. ..

| What would be the point of a KNOWN reserve price?

None. That is why there should not be hidden reserves.

| Many real auctions do the same thing.

Legitimate live auction houses only accept consignor reserves that are some
fraction (maybe 1/2?) of a legitimate estimated price. They have no desire
to waste floor time or annoy bidders by having them waste *their* time.

And while the exact reserve may not be revealed, experienced bidders should
be able to make a rough guess from CVs or 'estimated realization'.

There are both crucial differences between professional live auctions and
EBay.

On Ebay, hidden reserves may be well above a reasonable market price.
1. The seller may just be ignorant of reality.
2. The seller may be trying to con the ignorant into overbidding.
3. The seller may not actually want to sell the item, but instead is doing
a market survey.

Such sellers do not have to stand around wasting their time while bidders
(me) waste theirs.

In any case, there are no 'estimates' to hint at what the reserves are.
Even if the reserve is reasonable, it may be well above my top bid, but
without some guide to enlighten me, I might not know it.

| No real problem here either.

'Sellers' wasting my time is a big problem to me. When I was active on
EBay, I skipped over nearly all 'hidden reserve' 'auctions'.

tjr

On Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:03:31 -0500, John Mycroft wrote:

I've written to ebay a number of times suggesting they should let you set your preferences up to exclude certain things
permanently unless you ask otherwise. My pet peeves -

Unknown reserve price - set your starting price at the reserve for goodness sake or at least state the reserve in the
description (I've seen this done a number of times). If I ever see "Reserve not met", I move on. And my first bid for
an item is always 1/10th of what I am prepared to pay - this means I can get the item on my Bidding list without overly
inflating the price too early.

Ridiculous shipping charges - even my 8 year old son is on to this one. $2 for something that needs 41 cents postage is
probably reasonable considering listing and envelope costs but $8 isn't.

People who describe everything as RARE!! (320187220562) or WOW! or L@@K!!! (Too many to mention)- I have those excluded
in my favourite searches and would love to have them permanently excluded automatically. There are also certain sellers
I would love to have permanently excluded from all my searches.

Sniping - yes, I do it but at least I do it myself rather than via software. TradeMe (a New Zealand online auction
site) allows sellers to set their lots as "auto-extend" so that, if anyone bids in teh last 2 minutes, the auction gets
extended for another 2 minutes.

I also dislike the listing editor which insists on leaving the keyboard in insert mode even when you want to overtype.

Glad to see that I am not the only one feeling about the same points that you
detailed.

Will Ebay actually do anything about the Pet peeves, or will buyers just have
to set up blacklists of those sellers insisting on annoying us?


HakenKreuz wrote:
A couple of pet peeves about dealing with Ebay sellers:

Sellers having so-called "private bidders"
One never knows whether these are shills for the seller

Unknown Reserved Price by the seller.
One never knows what it is and one can bid a reasonable offer but not get the
lot.

For both of the above reasons, bidders having these situations are now being
blacklisted.

What do other users of Ebay have to say, and do?

What about a seller in the UK who rips off buyers, charging US$
to send a small envelope of stamps?!!

Handling charge, he says!!


On Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:14:38 GMT, ElParagon
wrote:
On Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:03:31 -0500, John Mycroft wrote:

I've written to ebay a number of times suggesting they should let you set your preferences up to exclude certain things
permanently unless you ask otherwise. My pet peeves -

Unknown reserve price - set your starting price at the reserve for goodness sake or at least state the reserve in the
description (I've seen this done a number of times). If I ever see "Reserve not met", I move on. And my first bid for
an item is always 1/10th of what I am prepared to pay - this means I can get the item on my Bidding list without overly
inflating the price too early.

Ridiculous shipping charges - even my 8 year old son is on to this one. $2 for something that needs 41 cents postage is
probably reasonable considering listing and envelope costs but $8 isn't.

People who describe everything as RARE!! (320187220562) or WOW! or L@@K!!! (Too many to mention)- I have those excluded
in my favourite searches and would love to have them permanently excluded automatically. There are also certain sellers
I would love to have permanently excluded from all my searches.

Sniping - yes, I do it but at least I do it myself rather than via software. TradeMe (a New Zealand online auction
site) allows sellers to set their lots as "auto-extend" so that, if anyone bids in teh last 2 minutes, the auction gets
extended for another 2 minutes.

I also dislike the listing editor which insists on leaving the keyboard in insert mode even when you want to overtype.

Glad to see that I am not the only one feeling about the same points that you
detailed.

Will Ebay actually do anything about the Pet peeves, or will buyers just have
to set up blacklists of those sellers insisting on annoying us?


HakenKreuz wrote:
A couple of pet peeves about dealing with Ebay sellers:

Sellers having so-called "private bidders"
One never knows whether these are shills for the seller

Unknown Reserved Price by the seller.
One never knows what it is and one can bid a reasonable offer but not get the
lot.

For both of the above reasons, bidders having these situations are now being
blacklisted.

What do other users of Ebay have to say, and do?

What about a seller in the UK who rips off buyers, charging US$ 49
to send a small envelope of stamps?!!

Handling charge, he says!!

Royal Mail lists a charge of only 1 Pound 56 pence for a small packet
of 100 grams = $3!!

No wonder so many sellers are getting unsavoury reputations!


On Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:14:38 GMT, ElParagon
wrote:
On Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:03:31 -0500, John Mycroft wrote:

I've written to ebay a number of times suggesting they should let you set your preferences up to exclude certain things
permanently unless you ask otherwise. My pet peeves -

Unknown reserve price - set your starting price at the reserve for goodness sake or at least state the reserve in the
description (I've seen this done a number of times). If I ever see "Reserve not met", I move on. And my first bid for
an item is always 1/10th of what I am prepared to pay - this means I can get the item on my Bidding list without overly
inflating the price too early.

Ridiculous shipping charges - even my 8 year old son is on to this one. $2 for something that needs 41 cents postage is
probably reasonable considering listing and envelope costs but $8 isn't.

People who describe everything as RARE!! (320187220562) or WOW! or L@@K!!! (Too many to mention)- I have those excluded
in my favourite searches and would love to have them permanently excluded automatically. There are also certain sellers
I would love to have permanently excluded from all my searches.

Sniping - yes, I do it but at least I do it myself rather than via software. TradeMe (a New Zealand online auction
site) allows sellers to set their lots as "auto-extend" so that, if anyone bids in teh last 2 minutes, the auction gets
extended for another 2 minutes.

I also dislike the listing editor which insists on leaving the keyboard in insert mode even when you want to overtype.

Glad to see that I am not the only one feeling about the same points that you
detailed.

Will Ebay actually do anything about the Pet peeves, or will buyers just have
to set up blacklists of those sellers insisting on annoying us?


HakenKreuz wrote:
A couple of pet peeves about dealing with Ebay sellers:

Sellers having so-called "private bidders"
One never knows whether these are shills for the seller

Unknown Reserved Price by the seller.
One never knows what it is and one can bid a reasonable offer but not get the
lot.

For both of the above reasons, bidders having these situations are now being
blacklisted.

What do other users of Ebay have to say, and do?

What about a seller in the UK who rips off buyers, charging US$ 49
to send a small envelope of stamps?!!

Handling charge, he says!!

Royal Mail lists a charge of only 1 Pound 56 pence for a small packet
of 100 grams = $3!!

No wonder so many sellers are getting unsavoury reputations!

By the way, the extra high charges WAS PAID through Ebay/Paypal in full.

Then the crooked seller cancelled the purchase, complaining about the
negative comments posted about his robbery charges!!

I notice that it seems to be the larger dealers that are involved in scams on
buyers.

The small to medium sized sellers seem much more honest than the big boys!!


On Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:14:38 GMT, ElParagon
wrote:
On Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:03:31 -0500, John Mycroft wrote:

I've written to ebay a number of times suggesting they should let you set your preferences up to exclude certain things
permanently unless you ask otherwise. My pet peeves -

Unknown reserve price - set your starting price at the reserve for goodness sake or at least state the reserve in the
description (I've seen this done a number of times). If I ever see "Reserve not met", I move on. And my first bid for
an item is always 1/10th of what I am prepared to pay - this means I can get the item on my Bidding list without overly
inflating the price too early.

Ridiculous shipping charges - even my 8 year old son is on to this one. $2 for something that needs 41 cents postage is
probably reasonable considering listing and envelope costs but $8 isn't.

People who describe everything as RARE!! (320187220562) or WOW! or L@@K!!! (Too many to mention)- I have those excluded
in my favourite searches and would love to have them permanently excluded automatically. There are also certain sellers
I would love to have permanently excluded from all my searches.

Sniping - yes, I do it but at least I do it myself rather than via software. TradeMe (a New Zealand online auction
site) allows sellers to set their lots as "auto-extend" so that, if anyone bids in teh last 2 minutes, the auction gets
extended for another 2 minutes.

I also dislike the listing editor which insists on leaving the keyboard in insert mode even when you want to overtype.

Glad to see that I am not the only one feeling about the same points that you
detailed.

Will Ebay actually do anything about the Pet peeves, or will buyers just have
to set up blacklists of those sellers insisting on annoying us?

HakenKreuz wrote:
A couple of pet peeves about dealing with Ebay sellers:

Sellers having so-called "private bidders"
One never knows whether these are shills for the seller

Unknown Reserved Price by the seller.
One never knows what it is and one can bid a reasonable offer but not get the
lot.

For both of the above reasons, bidders having these situations are now being
blacklisted.

What do other users of Ebay have to say, and do?