... I don't have a whole lot of experience as a seller, as you guys probably remember.

I just saw that a few of my auctions have a lot of watchers, even though they've still got six days to go... I'm taking that that's a good sign?

Also, for one of the auctions, the bid just jumped dramatically-- of the last four bids, three (including the current highest) are from one person, and one is from someone else... the bids go $40, 50, 59.99 (the other bidder), and the latest which is $60. Is that normal? What's going on there? (Remember, this still has six days to go!)

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)

The behavior you see is called "nibbling". Most serious bids do come in the last day or few hours, but the early bids tend to generate more interest and therefore higher bids. The bids from the same person? S/he is bumping his bid. Sounds like he was trying to determine the other bidders' max bid.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2006 10:26PM by TL.

TL, that makes sense... what doesn't make sense about it is that I would have figured $60 as being about the ENDING bid for this item, not six days in advance. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: ebay bidders are nuts. Do people not understand the concept that there is no point in placing an early bid?

Edit: I know sometimes someone will place a "keeper" bid early on, in case nobody else bids on an item, but otherwise... you're just driving up the price on the item. I've seen this happen far too often from the buyer's perspective...

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2006 10:30PM by PeterB.

thank goodness they don't, eh PB?

incog, actually... obviously, I'd love for this item to sell at a decent price. What worries me is it possibly being some sort of scam; or that the buyer will end up telling me after the auction's over, "sorry, is there any way I can get out of this???" (and then if I don't comply, his or her leaving negative feedback...)

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)

Remember that you can always cancel any bids and block any bidders you like for any reason at all. If the current bidders bother you, you can block any additional bids while letting their current ones stand to keep the high bid up.

Nibblers are good. You should not discourage them. Unless of course, you want to sell the item for less money.

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Unpaid Social Liaison

TL, right, but how to know that the bidder is legitimate versus non-? The person could just be bidding what they think it's worth...

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)

Peter, I look at their FB profile, and what else they're bidding on. If there's a lot of negs received (or given! check the FB left, too), or if the buyer is buying several thousand bucks worth of merchandise at once, that tends to make me a bit nervous.

OK, I just took a look at his FB... looks reasonably clean, and nothing suspicious... however... and this is a fairly big however... I specified in my ad that I only ship to the U.S., and he's located in Canada... what the heck? I also see that he's the high bidder on two of my auctions...

Edit: Oh, and I see that from one of his recent purchases, what he's bidding on from me makes total sense...

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2006 11:31PM by PeterB.

Peter, you know you can automatically block bidders registered in countries to which you don't ship, right? You can put this block in place by logging into My eBay. On the left menubar click on "eBay preferences" (under "My Account"). In the "Seller Preferences" section, click the second to last "change" link on the right side. That brings you to the Buyer Requirements page. There are other options on there, too, such as blocking bidders with recent UID strikes, and bidders with net negative feedback.

Just enjoy the bidding ride today because your item will be DEAD IN THE WATER for the next 6 days up until the last day.

If the item has been shot up to it's value, the most exciting thing you have to look forward to is seeing the counter on the page change until the last day.

Hopefully you will get a few more watchers to keep u awake over the next few days.

Just be glad the item is going for near actual value U wanted and remember it can only go up from here so U are safe.

Enjoy....

TL, except... maybe this guy is going to want me to ship to somewhere in the U.S.? (Should I contact him?)

ArtP, it's odd. The one particular item, which I wouldn't have thought would be so popular, is... other items which should be popular, aren't. I've given up for the night on ebay logic... or lack thereof.

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)

Yeah, he might want you to ship to the U.S. or he might be hoping you'll cave at EOA. If you do decide to let his bid ride, and he wins and pays with PayPal, make sure you follow the SPP rules no matter where he wants the items shipped.

While I'm thinking about it, I just want to say your hamster is very cute.

BLECHHHHH...

High bidder just emailed me to say that he's in Canada, that he has a Paypal confirmed address and a lot of feedback from all over the world, and that he's "interested in my auction" -- if he was just "interested", why did he bid? Then he asks a fairly obvious technical question about it. Seems fairly clueless.

What do I do? Tell him I don't ship to Canada, then cancel out his bids?

TL, don't get me started on the hamsters -- as others here will tell you, they've only been hearing too much about it over the last weeks ...

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2006 12:54AM by PeterB.

Why won't you ship to Canada, if he has a confirmed address?

Juat tell him he has to pay for EMS, so you get a signature.

Don't obsess so much over early bids. Relax.

Just weed out the negatives and the zeros who won't respond to email.

No shipping to Canada because of the hassle, and that I set a fixed USPS Priority Mail ship price (which would not be acceptable for shipping to Canada).

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)

That's exactly why I block bidders in countries I don't ship to. So much easier than having to tell them they shouldn't have bid.

Now and then I'll allow someone to buy an item if they contact me and present their case for shipping to Canada, but they have to sound competent.


Peter, it's really easy for someone to add to the total price to make up for shipping. If you decide to allow it, just tell them to add $x.xx to the auction total.

shipping to Canada really isn't that bad, especially via USPS. If I had a Canadian buyer with a confirmed address, I wouldn't hesitate at all on shipping it.

USPS doesn't offer tracking or confirmation to Canada. All they will guarantee is that it got to the border. This does not satisfy paypal's SPP. UPS and the others are much more expensive.

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C(-)ris
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i shipped to a buyer in Canada and a few months later got nailed for taxes on it that the buyer never paid.

won't do that again.

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C(-)ris
USPS doesn't offer tracking or confirmation to Canada. All they will guarantee is that it got to the border. This does not satisfy paypal's SPP. UPS and the others are much more expensive.

Yes, the USPS does offer tracking to Canada when you use Global Express Mail. That does satisfy PayPal.

Avoid UPS and FedEx shipping internationally. Both tack on hefty broker fees that the buyer has to pay before getting his item, and FedEx often lets buyers essentially turn over the responsibility on this to the seller (so the buyer gets his item and the seller gets charged the fee).

Registered mail can also be used to satisfy the online-viewable proof of delivery requirement. The signature obtained on delivery, however, is not viewable online so RM will cover you on sales <$250 only.

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graylocks
i shipped to a buyer in Canada and a few months later got nailed for taxes on it that the buyer never paid.

won't do that again.

It wasn't the taxes. Canadian customs won't release packages until buyers pay applicable taxes. I would bet you used FedEx, and the buyer decided not to pay the broker fees charged by FedEx. The terms you agree to when you ship FedEx internationally say that you are liable for the broker fee if teh buyer does not pay it.

lesson: Ship USPS. USPS charges a $5 broker fee (lowest of all carriers to Canada), and won't release the package to the buyer until it's paid.

Thanks everyone for advice.

I asked this particular buyer if he would agree to a preset extra shipping cost to Canada, and that I would not take responsibility for if it gets lost in transit, and he agreed to those terms.

Of course, he might not end up being the winning bidder-- he's already been outbid on one of the items.

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)