A couple of months ago I bought a couple of pallets of miscellaneous machine tool accessories in an auction at the nearby university.?ÿ There were a couple of items that I wanted for my home shop, and I figured I'd sell the rest on eBay to pay for the ones I plan to keep.?ÿ I've been selling the pieces off slowly, as most need to be cleaned first, and some need shipping crates built.?ÿ
Last week I put up one item -- an 4-way lathe tool post in brand-new condition -- with a starting bid of $99.00.?ÿ (New it probably cost close to $400, but not many people use that style of post anymore.)?ÿ It attracted a few watchers over the course of the week, but no bids.?ÿ I relisted it a few days ago at $49.00.?ÿ It sat without bids until yesterday, when three people decided they wanted it, and the bidding started.?ÿ One bidder dropped out when the bid went over $100.00, but the other two have been going at it most of today.?ÿ The bid currently stands at $167.00, with a little over a day left.
Any one of those guys could have had it last week for $99.00 plus shipping.?ÿ Auction fever is a funny thing.
Definitely.?ÿ I've been on both ends of the deal.?ÿ I've paid too much and I've had bidders pay far too much, in my opinion, for something I was selling.?ÿ It all comes down to how badly do you want that specific item on a certain day.?ÿ Today I have no interest in purchasing another vehicle.?ÿ If one of my old ones craps out on me, that changes almost immediately.?ÿ Anything with under 200,000 miles on it is too much money for my taste.?ÿ Now, Mrs. Cow is prone to buy a nearly new one about once every seven years and hers is a 2012.?ÿ I'm not interested in spending that kind of money for my purposes.
I??ve only seen it happen a few times, but bidding wars on eBay are fun to watch. I have seen things sell for far more than they are worth. It must be temporary insanity for the need to ??win?.
@HC, I drive a 2014 with 78k on it. Good for another 200k! ?????ÿ
Sometimes bidding wars do happen.?ÿ?ÿ I have been the beneficiary of one.?ÿ?ÿ However the
real measure is: does the winner pay up??ÿ?ÿ I often see a bidding war and think: that was crazy!
Then a week later the same item is up for auction again by the same guy.?ÿ?ÿ I seems that
the "winner" had second thoughts once his fever had cleared.
?ÿ
I collect antique gas pressure appliances, the most common of which are Coleman lanterns. I don't buy many off eBay, but I watch a lot of them and have for many years. Prices have gone absolutely insane during the pandemic, tripling or more in many cases, even for what collectors would consider "common" lanterns.
I have also been selling on eBay since 2008. Buying patterns are odd, for sure. I have had multiple "Buy it Now" items up at the same time for what seems like months, then they all sell within a day or two, and not to the same buyer.?ÿ
I have never attended a live auction, but have done so remotely. The auction fever driving the prices never disappoints. Thus, I have never bought one thing at them.
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I've only ever bought items off eBay with the "buy it now" price. Never participated in the bidding auctions. Most of what I buy there are hard to find, practical items. Nothing the collectors want.
My experience is that there's lots of insider bidding going on.
I went to a farm auction, a long time ago, and had my eye on a 12 lb sledge hammer. I must've seemed a little too anxious, because a little old lady was bidding against me. (I think she might've been related to the sellers) I let her have it for WAY MORE than it was worth...
The US Virgin Islands Property Tax Dept.?ÿ auctioned off land that had been taken for non-payment of taxes. They had 2 rules: no bids were accepted below the highest bid and if the highest bid dropped out, then the second highest got it. One of my customers put in a way low bid and immediately his buddy put in a way high bid. When his buddy dropped out, my customer got the land for next to nothing. They were both arrested, but the only one that went to jail was the Tax office employee that ran the auction.?ÿ
I have no interest in auctions or gambling.?ÿ
I have never attended a live auction, but have done so remotely. The auction fever driving the prices never disappoints. Thus, I have never bought one thing at them.
The one in which I bought the machine tool stuff wasn't live, it was run by GovDeals for the university and was online only.?ÿ The listing didn't describe the items, it merely showed a bunch of photos, which may have put off anyone who didn't inspect the lot in person.?ÿ Since I live about a block from campus it was easy for me to walk over and check out the stuff.?ÿ I estimated the sales value of the items I didn't want/need (mostly want!) and came up with a max bid of $1700.?ÿ I won it at $1625, which turned into a total cost of $1937.09 after buyer's premium, taxes and a $20 wire transfer fee (because I was a first-time GovDeals buyer).?ÿ My net of eBay sales so far is $1283.86, and I have a bunch of items left to sell that should go in the $200-$800 range.?ÿ I'm pretty much guaranteed to make a profit on the deal, but only if you don't count my time in cleaning stuff and building crates.?ÿ (I spent several hours on a gorgeous Hardinge speed collet chuck that was completely frozen.?ÿ The grease inside had turned to the consistency of a room-temperature chocolate bar, so it took awhile to scrape it all out.?ÿ But when I was done cleaning, regreasing and reassembling it was a joy to operate.?ÿ If it had a back that fit my lathe I would have kept it.?ÿ It went for $367, which is a good deal for anyone with a lathe that'll take a D1-6 back and has a supply of 2J collets.)
The real plum of the sale is a 15" Bridgeport rotary table in excellent condition.?ÿ The table is pristine, which is unusual for a used rotab, as careless operators usually manage to scar the table by miscalculating cutting depth.?ÿ (I've done it myself, so I know how it happens.)?ÿ The problem with this item is that it weighs about 200 lbs, which means it'll have to be shipped as freight unless the buyer is close enough to pick it up, and it'll need a stout crate with forklift slots so it can be moved with a pallet jack.
@flga-2
The 2007 Jeep Compass will roll over 238,000 sometime tomorrow.?ÿ She bought it new with something like 15 miles on it.
However the?ÿreal measure is: does the winner pay up?
In this case, he did.?ÿ The auction closed a few minutes ago, and he paid right away.?ÿ $167.00 was the final bid.
That works for me!
I've been a live auctioneer - it's pretty fun. I got started as a student at Fresno State doing the live fundraising auction for the surveying program. Having attended a few live auctions before, and paying more than I should have, I learned a few techniques that I applied to being the auctioneer.
To create excitement and anticipation early on, accept a relatively low bid for a high value item. "Sold" before anyone else gets in creates the impression that bidder must get involve early. It's sort of like a loss leader thing...
Get bidders spouse/significant other involved... bid had just been upped by another bidder. Say to the person's who's bid got topped spouse, "he can afford five more dollars, right?" Very, very often you'll get a "yes" response and the bidding keeps going higher and almost always gets a laugh from the crowd.
Similarly, with bidder's friends... "you're not going to let your friend get away with being cheap, are you?"
And then in general, especially with charity/fundraising auctions, "come on folks, you can't have these poor starving surveying students studying with second hand books and eating macaroni and cheese!! Open up your wallets!!!"
I was at an auction and a big pile of old maps came up. The auctioneer started kinda high and slowly made his way down; when he finally said 5, everyone's hand went up and he said 5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40 and stopped at me! I ended up with a pile of some pretty cool maps; but I really didn't want to spend 40 bucks...
