PET HATES ON EBAY

[manchesterunitedman1]

There are not many things that annoy me about Ebay compared to others who seem to have so many issues with them, but my source of annoyance comes from the "PRIVATE BIDDERS".

Of course with human nature as it is this is the ideal shill bidding scenario the for the less scrupulous sellers, now before i get a torrent of abuse from sellers who may use this and are shocked that their good name is being besmirched-let me ask you a question, WHY DOES A SELLER NEED TO HAVE IT ALL KEPT QUIET THEN?.

You can bid up the prices at your leisure as no one can see what you are up too, what on earth was Ebay thinking when they introduced this!.

I think also you need to fit a certain criteria with Ebay as a seller to even be able to use this or is that not an accurate statement.

If i see that on an item i am interested in i tend to be very wary and usually walk away.

Rant Over...



_________________
Leslie Millman
Twitter: @manyuman1

To see 19,900++ original items relating to Newton Heath & Manchester Utd 1878-2023 then visit www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/sets to see entire uploads.

1000's more images to be uploaded, to view the latest uploads go to www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/

Click any images 21 MILLION views to date to the Flickr site since 2007 growing every day. New Uploads weekly. Thank You to one & all for visiting!

[yachtsmun]

I'm inclined to agree.

If an item's for 'private bidders' I tend to bid low, and if I don't get it, no worries. If I do, it was at least within my maximum.

Even on the stuff I bid on that you can see the bid history - usually up to £50-or-so maximum only - I fairly frequently (maybe 20% of the time) see numerous bids in tiny increments upto (and sometimes above) my top price.

It's a strange paradox. When you win and can see evidence of shill bidding, you feel a bit gutted despite the fact you won within your maximum. When you lose, you don't get the item but there can be the satisfaction of knowing the seller is stuck with something they clearly don't want, and have had to shell out fees on it.

I've become (I hope) at lot more buddhist in my approach to auction bidding. If it's meant to come to me, it will. If not, it's only stuff, and I have a lot of stuff already.

As a caveat, none of the above applies when that 1900 Cowes v Tottenham team card finally turns up for sale...
_________________
Always looking for pre-1980 Cowes homes, pre-1987 Cowes aways, and any other bits and bobs relating to Cowes F.C. and I.W. football in general. Someone has to.

[martino]

Totally agree with the Old Trafford man.

Another recent annoyance of mine is a couple of times recently a bidder has said they missed the end of the auction and if I relist it they want it. So I stick it on as a BIN and guess what, they do not bid for it. Urghhhhh!

[Rafehod]

Ebay did the hidden bidders thing to protect themselves from sellers contacting interested parties direct and were worried about missing out on their commissions. It comes down to it, if people misuse a site like that just to save a few pence the plug will soon be filled to stop it. Its a shame but you can see it from their point of view.

Too many scrags pinching pennies, thinking they are clever means everyone gets punished.

[manchesterunitedman1]

Rafehod wrote:

Ebay did the hidden bidders thing to protect themselves from sellers contacting interested parties direct and were worried about missing out on their commissions. It comes down to it, if people misuse a site like that just to save a few pence the plug will soon be filled to stop it. Its a shame but you can see it from their point of view. Too many scrags pinching pennies, thinking they are clever means everyone gets punished.

Sorry but i do not see how hiding who can bid has anything to do with what you have just mentioned.

If you have an item on ebay, i just ask you a question and because ebay will not allow the exchanging of email addresses then i ask you to text me yours so we can communicate or i simply suggest that i want it and will offer you some crazy price and u either accept it or not and if u do and all of this is via the ebay link the sellers takes it off and that is that, so this is why i say what has a private bidding system got to do with that as it is protecting the seller and not the buyers.


_________________
Leslie Millman
Twitter: @manyuman1

To see 19,900++ original items relating to Newton Heath & Manchester Utd 1878-2023 then visit www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/sets to see entire uploads.

1000's more images to be uploaded, to view the latest uploads go to www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/

Click any images 21 MILLION views to date to the Flickr site since 2007 growing every day. New Uploads weekly. Thank You to one & all for visiting!

[pompeypete]

Totally agree......If the listing is Private Bidders......I dont bother

I expect the seller is missing out of potential bids.


_________________
RESPECT..................

Flickr pages in the process of closing......

Happy to forward any info on Pompey...

[daiward]

I am 100% in agreement with Leslie over this issue. There is a peculiar pettiness over how eBay go about some of their business & have shown how petty they can be over taking commission on postage charges which if you are not a seller but only a buyer you will never appreciate why when we sell we add eBay's charges on in our rates especially if posting abroad. Being both a seller & a collector I can see both sides but question if eBay can see what I see?

I have long held the view that they have no-one in their decision making department who understand how our hobby & participants work, which is a fraternity years old. We do deals with each other because we have built up a special trust. Private bidding? Would you accept anyone turning up at any other auction with a mask or hood over their head & trust their bidding? Well eBay that is exactly how I feel about private bidding on your site. Private bidding is for the 'posh' auctions with overpriced artefacts such as paintings & the like where the silly money means they have to protect their acquisitions from the possibility of a major heist in the future or even the Inland Revenue etc.

But I doubt if my views will penetrate into the eBay vaults as they have a special ability in ignoring constructive criticism.

Anyway for the rest of us Happy Collecting!

[sharrowblade]

The number of BINs.

Ebay has ceased being an auction site.

Its a glorified shop, giving certain sellers and in particular the three that shall not be named, licence to peddle their crap over and over again.

When you have over 90% of items with regards to one club as BINs and then over 30% from one seller, its time to call it a day which I have done.

The whole process has become so tedious.

Its been completely ruined, and people are welcome to it.
_________________
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharrowblade/sets
A Sheffield United Programme guide

[daiward]

sharrowblade wrote:

The number of BINs. Ebay has ceased being an auction site. Its a glorified shop, giving certain sellers and in particular the three that shall not be named, licence to peddle their crap over and over again. When you have over 90% of items with regards to one club as BINs and then over 30% from one seller, its time to call it a day which I have done. The whole process has become so tedious. Its been completely ruined, and people are welcome to it.

I can see your frustration but believe me in amongst some of those who sell for BIN have in my experience made a huge mistake & I have profited. It just takes patience. Yes the thousands of BIN items are hard to go though but no harder than I have had to do on catalogues throughout the the past 30 odd years. BIN is in my view is equivalent to catalogue prices & you either accept that figure or you not. Having been brought up on that assumption I equally am not impressed with auction prices beginning as low as ten pence!

All of this is because eBay have no idea of values of anything. It is all hit & hope & they have managed to mess up the previously 'set in stone' prices we all accepted throughout so many years.

I fear there is no way back now.

But my view is to still collect if only for our own satisfaction.

[littlewiggy]

My biggest eBay peeve is the one-sided Paypal system where an honest seller has no rights, protection, or indeed opportunity of even stating their case.

I sold somebody a footy video a few months back.
It was clearly described in my listing that as a raw 1980s production, the imagery wasn't the pin-sharp service we enjoy today.
Indeed this was highlighted to emphasise the point.

I checked the video was working before I listed it, and again before I sent it.

The purchaser then developed 'buyer's remorse' and filed for a refund saying it wasn't working.
EBay extracted the money from my account and refunded him before I even knew about it.

I contacted the buyer three times to inquire what was the exact problem, but he refused to respond or hold any dialogue with me.

Then eBay contacted me to suggest I should tell the buyer to keep it anyway! (& the £15 refund)

I ignored this and asked for its return - upon which it obviously worked fine just as I had known.

I still had to suck it up though, now minus post costs etc as well, even though I was the one that had acted entirely honestly, and have not had a neutral or negative feedback left for me in 15 years on there.

Their system is so deliberately set-up to encourage fraud, is it any wonder than folk less honest than myself decide to take advantage of it?!

[Eck]

I don't sell on ebay anymore, says it all really.

[littlewiggy]

The irony is, had the buyer been honest too, and politely emailed me and said he was really sorry, but he'd had a change of heart and could he possibly return the video, I'd have likely said yes anyway.

It was the underhanded nature of the incident that annoyed me.
Rather than act decently with me, he abused the process that eBay have intentionally perfected over two decades for that very purpose.

And I couldn't even warn future sellers via his feedback profile!!!

Incredible really.

To me, that is grossly more unfair & underhand than any of their other dubious practices.

(of which there are countless sadly)

[daiward]

Quote:

The irony is, had the buyer been honest too, and politely emailed me and said he was really sorry, but he'd had a change of heart and could he possibly return the video, I'd have likely said yes anyway. It was the underhanded nature of the incident that annoyed me. Rather than act decently with me, he abused the process that eBay have intentionally perfected over two decades for that very purpose. And I couldn't even warn future sellers via his feedback profile!!! Incredible really. To me, that is grossly more unfair & underhand than any of their other dubious practices. (of which there are countless sadly)

Honesty is the key word that eBay have allowed to be reduced to nothing. Their feedback system is a joke. Aaw y'all supposed to git on with yer pardners...

Buyers do as they like in a system that eBay should be policing but that would take some doing as they obviously have not a clue or the desire in looking after us all beyond making money! Pressure the seller but never the buyer as they believe that's their life blood. But would we sellers go on strike to get better conditions? There's more chance of Trump giving up the Presidency!

[Tynie Topics]

daiward wrote:

All of this is because eBay have no idea of values of anything. It is all hit & hope & they have managed to mess up the previously 'set in stone' prices we all accepted throughout so many years.

Unless I'm missing something, eBay are not there to set prices, that's the sellers job?

On the second point, thank God for eBay! we're now seeing the true value of programmes, rather than dealers setting inflated prices in catalogues/offers lists and sticking to it. Now, the free market decides the price and we discover that this rare £200 programme is in fact not so rare at all and worth closer to £50. Auction Houses serve the same purpose.

Bad for all of us who spent big pre-eBay, but great if you still have large (and previously) expensive gaps to fill.

eBay isn't perfect as this thread illustrates, but I'm thankful it's here.
_________________
https://www.flickr.com/photos/footballprogrammes/albums

[daiward]

Quote:

Unless I'm missing something, eBay are not there to set prices, that's the sellers job? On the second point, thank God for eBay! we're now seeing the true value of programmes, rather than dealers setting inflated prices in catalogues/offers lists and sticking to it. Now, the free market decides the price and we discover that this rare £200 programme is in fact not so rare at all and worth closer to £50. Auction Houses serve the same purpose. Bad for all of us who spent big pre-eBay, but great if you still have large (and previously) expensive gaps to fill. eBay isn't perfect as this thread illustrates, but I'm thankful it's here.

I have a feeling you & I will forever disagree.

The prices being set by eBay are due to the ignorance over the market they have devised. The true buyers & sellers of yesteryear are still out there
keeping things at a proper level. Simply eBay have attracted buyers & sellers who have no clue of valuations. My point on eBay not being able to educate anyone is borne on this fact. Hit & hope is all anyone can expect on their site. It will never be a true indication of values as the real bidding will always be outside of their domain.

[Tynie Topics]

daiward wrote:

I have a feeling you & I will forever disagree. The prices being set by eBay are due to the ignorance over the market they have devised. The true buyers & sellers of yesteryear are still out there keeping things at a proper level. Simply eBay have attracted buyers & sellers who have no clue of valuations. My point on eBay not being able to educate anyone is borne on this fact. Hit & hope is all anyone can expect on their site. It will never be a true indication of values as the real bidding will always be outside of their domain.

eBay is a free market and items will be bought and sold for what people are prepared to pay for items. That is ultimately the true value of anything at a given moment in time, rather than it being artificially propped up.

eBay isn't there to educate anyone, they are there to bring items to market, just like an auction house, just like a car auction, or any sort of sale where the seller ultimately decides the value.

I've witnessed a particular programme over the years sell on ebay for £250, and it gradually reduces until it struggles to sell for £75 because more copies come onto the market, more collectors buy it until it gets to the point where £75 is to much for those remaining who want it.

So is the programme worth £250 or £75? the answer is £75. It may one day rise again to £250 if more people want it again, but if you have bought it at £250 the sad fact is its now only worth £75.

There is no such things as a "proper level" anymore, thankfully.

Good debate though
_________________
https://www.flickr.com/photos/footballprogrammes/albums

[Tynie Topics]

…..and to bring this back on topic.

Pet hate of mine is when an item is listed that you’re interested in, it’s already had a bid, and has a few watchers, but I’m up for the challenge, then…….

…..bang, listing is ended. Obviously someone has made an offer that the seller has accepted rather than let the auction run its course. Not sure what, is anything, can be done to prevent this happening, but it’s bloody annoying

[Eck]

Tynie Topics wrote:

…..and to bring this back on topic. Pet hate of mine is when an item is listed that you’re interested in, it’s already had a bid, and has a few watchers, but I’m up for the challenge, then……. …..bang, listing is ended. Obviously someone has made an offer that the seller has accepted rather than let the auction run its course. Not sure what, is anything, can be done to prevent this happening, but it’s bloody annoying

....or possibly hasn't got expected interest so has been pulled, i'm not a fan of the auction style or make me an offer, if i'm selling something I put a price on it.

[Tynie Topics]

Eck wrote:

....or possibly hasn't got expected interest so has been pulled, i'm not a fan of the auction style or make me an offer, if i'm selling something I put a price on it.

It was listed for only a few hours, and was due to run until Thursday.

[littlewiggy]

Same here Eck.

I tend to start everything I sell with the lowest price I'll accept, that way I don't get too many nasty surprises.

I do think it discourages buyers if I'm honest, as the 99p starts can generate a bidding rivalry that allows buyers to get carried away and bid beyond what they had anticipated - but it's the lesser evil for me in a madly unpredictable marketplace, in which an item can sell for thirty quid one day, and the same item for 99p the next.

It's also much fairer than pulling an item if you think it hasn't garnered the expected interest.

As for private deals & offers, I'm all for them.
Anything that deprives eBay of their greedy cut gets a huge thumbs-up from me!

The days in which you could swap email addresses via PM were great!!