Am I a dick?

[CPTRAVE]

Yup, it is best to wait. There are a a lot of people that will not put a bid in until the end of the auction. In the meantime they will be keeping tabs on the item, and if it suddenly dissapears for whatever reason, that can be suspicous. Be patient.

[Tatsujin]

Maybe not a dick, but def WAY to impatient.

Lol yeah. why should someone bid lots of money like 302783 hours before the auction ends? I don't get that in general. It's obvious that for the most part, the race starts shortly before the end, like a bicyle race.

[vestcoat]

In the past, I have ended auctions early when there is 24 hours left when if are no bids, but a bunch of "watchers" lurking out there.

What do you start your auctions at? If you're not getting any bids until the end, you're starting them too high. A lot of pussies start their shit at $50 or something stupid because they're paranoid about taking a "loss." The real secret is to start everything at 0.99¢ and make sure you have all the appropriate keywords spelled correctly in your title and your pictures don't look like they were taken by a palsied methhead in a dark room with a smartphone. 99¢ auctions guarantee early bidding and everybody starts watching it because they think it's their one chance to beat the BIN system and get a good deal. Then shit gets crazy at the end because all of the idiots who don't know what their max bid is get in a bidding war and pay way more than the BIN's ever go for.

Lurkers and snipers are great for business; you just have to trust 'em.

[Tatsujin]

quite right!

[soop]

A lot of times my watch list is filled up with stuff I have no intention of bidding on.  I just want to see what something ends up selling for (or not selling for).  I would assume I'm not the only one who watches stuff with no intention of bidding, so whenever I list something on ebay, I take the number of watchers with a grain of salt.  It's not uncommon for something to sit until the final 24 hours without any bids, and then have them all come in in the last couple of hours.

When you close an auction early, do you still have to pay fees to ebay?

THis^

[geise]

Also, make sure what time your bid will end.  You don't want to put up a $0.99 bid auction that will end at 4 a.m.  I have scored arcade pcb's on the cheap cause I was the only one bidding at 4 a.m.  

One other thing is you can also put a reserve as well.  Some sellers don't like bidding on auctions that have a reserve, but it also guarantees you a price you want to sell it for if the bids go to low.

[Necromancer]

What if I put a warning in the auction listing?

Do you want to sell the item or not?  It doesn't matter when the bids come or how many lurkers are watching - if it sells, it sells.

[grimm]

Do you want to sell the item or not?  It doesn't matter when the bids come or how many lurkers are watching - if it sells, it sells.

Agreed.

[soop]

Also, I did't read it before, but Vestcoat is spot on.  You have to have the balls to do it, and accept that sometimes you're gonna get f*ck all.  I've sold a wireless router for 99p, which is crazy good value, but in the end, I wasn't using it, so I'm actually 99p better off.

On the other hand, when I sold all my Lego, I got about £300 if I remember, by starting at 99p, ending on a Sunday, and letting the right people know it was for sale.  I have a whole box of stuff I want to get rid of, but I always have better stuff to do on Sunday than eBay.

[bob]

In the past, I have ended auctions early when there is 24 hours left when if are no bids, but a bunch of "watchers" lurking out there.

What do you start your auctions at? If you're not getting any bids until the end, you're starting them too high. A lot of pussies start their shit at $50 or something stupid because they're paranoid about taking a "loss." The real secret is to start everything at 0.99¢ and make sure you have all the appropriate keywords spelled correctly in your title and your pictures don't look like they were taken by a palsied methhead in a dark room with a smartphone. 99¢ auctions guarantee early bidding and everybody starts watching it because they think it's their one chance to beat the BIN system and get a good deal. Then shit gets crazy at the end because all of the idiots who don't know what their max bid is get in a bidding war and pay way more than the BIN's ever go for.

Lurkers and snipers are great for business; you just have to trust 'em.

I always start reasonable (current example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/110908228037?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649), I'm not a high BIN guy like a lot of folks.  I fully understand the methods of waiting until last second, blah blah blah, but like I said, I don't know why it bothers me.  This thread wasn't intended to explain the mechanics of sniping, and I know some folks just want to see what an item goes for at the end.
Just to be clear, the items I am referring to are never games that I end the auction early on.

[esteban]

"Yes, galam, you are a ______."

[PunkicCyborg]

ummm why don't you just sell your turbo games here so you wont have to feal guilty about closing auctions.

[xelement5x]

ummm why don't you just sell your turbo games here so you wont have to feal guilty about closing auctions.

But he might be able to get more monies on the eBAY?!
...probably not after fees from both sides...


I very rarely sell stuff online, but when I do I'll put it at a relatively low price, of maybe 50% of what it's charting at, and throw out a BIN option (now free to add) that's maybe 15% more than it's charting at.  Some people want to grab stuff fast so the BIN is a decent option. 

I still do 99c auctions sometimes but it depends how much stuff I'm trying to clear.  If I've got a box of junk I just want gone it's 99c or 1c and let it ride

[KnightWarrior]

If I want something yeah I bid like30 seconds left, But if someoe outbids me & I want the game, I bid again..$2 higher

[bob]

Ok, another scenario...
eBay, obviously doesn't show how many "watchers" an item has.
Why?
If I update my listing periodically to reflect the number of watchers, am I a dick?