E-Bay Virgin - Advice Needed Pleeeaasse!

[mumtochloe]

Hi

I have just discovered the wonderful world of e-bay and now there are lots of lovely things I want to bid for.

I am being sent a chq for my birthday which was going to be used to pay for a DAB CD micro system for the bedroom as I love getting ready with music on. However I have spotted one retailing in Dixons at £199 going currently for £11.25 on e-bay. Apparently it is brand new too. Now forgive me for being stupid but why would you sell at such a huge loss? The seller has 100% good feedback but I am baffled. Have any of you bought electrical goods succesfully?

Also how about perfume? I am a sucker for perfume and if I get my cheap stereo I could then get lots of lovely cheap perfume from e-bay too!! However, again, why is the perfume so cheap as well?

Sorry for being a bit stupid but it all seems too good to be true. Any info and good / bad stories appreciated.

Many Thanks xx

It won't actually sell for £11.25, the bidding will shoot up in the closing minutes of the auction. The buyer most likely didn't pay £199 for it either.

Wouldn't risk perfume tbh - think of those dodgy street sellers selling Eua de Cat's Pee in Chanel packaging!

the stereo will probably go for a lot more than £11.25 near the end bidding will probably go mad. Put in your maximum bid and see what happens.

I've never bought electrical goods on e-bay so can't comment on that. But you mentioned that it is 'currently' going for £11.25, no doubt that will shoot up the nearer the auction ends, sorry to dampen your new excitement at finding e-bay, there are some good bargains though.

I was going to start my own 'ebay novice' thread, but will just briefly hijack this one, if that's okay.

If you look at the bid history for this item it looks as if the same bidder has been repeatedly bidding against themselves, thus driving up the price.

Why would anyone do this? Or have I just misunderstood how the automatic bidding process works?

it will probably have a reserve price on it. But give it a go.

Frogs what will have happened is that someone else will have put bids in to match thier bid so it will jump up but with that bidders name as they were there first..does that make sense?

Ah, okay Nemo, think I get it. So if I put in a bid of the maximum I'm prepared to pay (let's say £50), then if the bidding is currently at (let's say) £20, then my bid will show as (say) £22.50 (or whatever the increment is). And if AN Other then puts in a new bid for £25, ebay would show it as if I've bid (say) £26.50. And so on upwards until my maximum bid has been exceeded.

Have I understood that right?

But people still seem to come in during the last seconds with completely new bids, don't they? Is the secret simply to put in one bid at the absolute max you'd consider paying, or hold fire and come in during the last seconds of the auction?

frogs, do you see the bidder just above the repetitive bidder?? Well everytime the repetitive bidder put a bid in the bidder above was still the top bidder because his/her reserve price was more than that of the repetitive bidder.
All of the repetitive bidders bid's show up but the top bidders maximum bid is the only bid to show up, by the looks his/her maximum amount was £70.
So for example if you bid £1 on an item someone is already bidding on, and they have placed a higher maximum bid on before you, you will be told 'sorry you have been outbid' if you continue to put bids in your bids will show up in the bid history one after the other, then when you hit a bid higher than the previous bidders, their maximum bid will show up and then your bid will show up above them as being the current highest bidder.
Does this make sense if not I have the flu so that's my excuse.

Got it (I think)!

Which tactic do people recommend -- putting in a high bid at the start, or waiting till the last few seconds?

last few minutes

the disadvantage in putting in an early bid is that you have plenty of time for other people to keep outbidding you, pushing the price up. The advantage in waiting till the end is that although somebody might have been prepared to bid higher than you, because the auction has ended there isn't anything they can do about it and you can get the item for a cheaper price.

you can put bids in during the last seconds of an auction by doing it automatically via www.auctionstealer.co.uk website. I use it all the time. You need to register with them and you can have 3 free bids a week. If you want more you have to pay. It's great

Thanks everyone for the advice.

Still don't get how things can be so cheap though??

Maybe I wont risk it after all. Am bit of a chicken when it comes to my hard earned cash!

I would be careful buying anything too desirable (like plasma tv or designer handbags) as they're either fakes or stolen. And if you're buying anything electical the best thing is to buy from an ebay 'shop' where they offer guarantees or refunds.
Watch out for copies with cd's and dvd's.
The best bargains (imho) are children's worn clothes as you're generally just buying from another mum who isn't trying to pull a fast one! And books are good too.