Another Ebay question from a novice to the experts!

[Moomin]

Help! I think I've got myself all over-excited and unnecessary!!!!

I've just registered with Ebay then had a look in home furnishings and found 2 fantastic leather sofas (listed seperately) for brilliant prices. I bid for both and now I'm the highest bidder for them. Now I'm panicking in case I get one without the other. Would they be allowed to do this sort of thing without Ebay stopping them?

What happens if it's a scam from the firm that sell these who know you won't want one without the other so you get the first one for the silly price and then end up bidding LOADs for the other so that you get a pair???? I did all this without thinking it through first (as you can see!)
I CAN afford them (at the price I've bid and also a bit more besides) and we DO want a new suite but I don't want to pay over the odds or end up paying too much for one because we're stuck with the other!!! Any advice from old hands at this game? Soon please, I'm all sweaty!!!

P.S. That doesn't read right. I KNOW they're allowed to sell things seperately but are sellers allowed to bid for items themselves to create interest or make people buy pairs of things like I've just done?

if your the highest bidder at the time of auction ending then you will get both, they wont look at your bidding history and think that you only want one, if its two seperate bids then you will be sent two seperate bid confirmations and two seperate " congratulations! you are a bid winner!" emails at the end!

Thanks tiredemma. But do you think it's a scam from the seller?

when does the auction finish for both of them?

Whats the seller's feedback rating?

Sellers aren't allowed to create accounts to bid up their own item, its called shilling and its a offence on ebay that can lead to suspension for the seller.

Sellers are allowed to sell the same item on as many auctions as they like, as long, of course, as they have the items to complete the deal. Not everyone will be looking to buy a pair like you, so I wouldn't worry so much about the intent of the seller.

Its also worth noting that if they have more than one they may have others that are not on sale on ebay. You could end up winning one and not the other but they may still have more to sell. You can email before the auction ends to say that you are looking for a pair, but if you win only one auction would they sell you 2 for that price. I would only do this if the seller has very high feedback though, say 150+ I wouldn't recommend doing this with a new seller as they have no track record, though low or high feedback they could still screw you over on any deal you make outside of ebay. You have to decide what risk you will take.

Thanks. I've been outbid already on both items by the same bidder! They're obviously after both sofas as well. There's 5 days 23 hrs left on both. Have had a chat with dh about it and we've decided on our top bids. Shall I put those bids in now or wait until there's just a bit of time left and see what the possibility is of getting both?

if there is 5 days left on i would leave it till closer towards the time, otherwise you will just both keep outbidding eachother and end up paying more than nesseccary (sp!) just to keep each other off the bid!
i did this with some disney vids for my son, it was my first tim e buidding and i thought it would be best to keep on top of the bid even though it had about 6 days left to run, i ended up paying loads for two videos i could of easily picked up for about ten pounds each.

Message withdrawn

moomin, see what its at 1day before and then put in your top bid, then just keep an eye on it

Its so easy to get carried away with bidding. Before now I have had bidding wars with people with minutes to go and both of us bidding like mad. Its so exciting - or do I just have a really really sad life? Yes I do!!

Good Advice Everyone! I keep the items in my watch list until the last 5 hours and then I start to bid, I find that if I put in my maximum bid even 5 hours ahead, it can turn into a bidding war, because someone just has to see how high you have bid and they will just bid to that point or a dollor over it and then see what you will do. It is very exciting and very hard to control yourself (I love it!!!). If you have any self-congtrol at all, you can let this deal go and study other deals in your watch list to see how they will gothen you can get "smarter" in what your limits are and when to go for the deal. If the deal is important to me, as much as I love the way that EBAY will automatically take my maximum bid and keeping uping it for me, I will stay on line and watch myself so not to bring the bidding out of control. YOu want to make sure you are getting a great deal. It never hurts to look at the feedback on the seller to make sure you are dealing with someone reputable. I totally trust EBAY's feedback system, I really love Pay Pal because I don't have to put the purchase on a credit card, and I have never had a bad experience with anything I have purchased. I am as addicted to EBAY as I am to MumsnetI know I probably need nore medication. Good look and I hope you get the couches you want Moomin!

If the timing is right, I rarely bid until the last 10 minutes.

I use an online sniper, that bids 2 seconds before the auction ends.

Me too, pie, but I always feel slightly guilty about it! Maybe we should have a "who's got the biggest feedback number" thread?

Pie and Tamum, Where did you get the online sniper, I want one!! It sounds so fiendish! Yes, who's got the biggest feedback number?? Good one!

www.bidtamer.com is ok, but you have to pay for more than 10 a month. Can go down at a crucial moment though. It is the most popular one I think.

At the moment I'm using www.snip.pl/en

Its a Polished based sniper, but so far reliable and free.

There are several, but I use vrane . I think AuctionStealer is good too (143 for the record, and given that I only buy, that's one hell of a lot of frittered money )

Damn, you beat me to it!

My joint one with DH has 159 and my own one is 57. Though I tend to use the joint one more. ITs crap though when people don't leave feedback, esp as its how ebay works iykwim.

My DH's grandpa has 429. We are an ebay family!!

On the sniping front bidnapper.com is good as is powersnipe.com. Both have free trial periods. I've signed up with bidnapper for a year now. Saves those anxious times of missing things I want and also of going too high. It really is a case of setting your maximum figure without showing your hand!

Oh Goodness, I am just a baby, I got onto Ebay only two months ago (as I anticipated my addiction) so my numbers are nowhere near yours! Thanks for the websites, I will look up the free one first!