Don't you constantly lose auctions? You sure complain about it a lot. Maybe you should change strategies, or listen to those with more experience who do buy well.

Not every post requires an emotican.

This is a mule point and I could definitely care less.

But since I'm here, I snipe via the iPhone app like zaphod. Works pretty well. I still won't bid more than I'd pay, duh. Why exposé that number earlier and have someone outbid me by 1$? The only tme I bid earlier is to make a buy it ow go away or possibly determine a reserve. Again,I still will only bid what I'd be wiling to pay.

Well played. Then it really is mute, ...since moot means "debatable, open to argument", not "of no consequence and not worth talking about" as it is so often misused. This is a really old ("Middle") English word that goes back to before the Norman Conquest. (For the record, I disagree with Dictionary.com's acceptance of "of no consequence" as a meaning. So there!)

OK, back to E-bay gambling, ...er, bidding, systems.

I fully agree. However, others might intepret that differently and still be corre A lot of times, when I look in on an item that I am interested in, and I see a newbie (single feedback count), I almost know the bidding is going to go overboard.

I have started using auction sniper and if I do my research, put in the number I think will get the item it works well, so far.

I may pay a few dollars more than the subjective "actual" market market value of an item but the time spent to find it again and bid again makes it all a wash IMO. I get that 7800 RD or Chorus crankset, build my drivetrain and go riding.

FWIW Shimano drive train bits seems to go for very reasonable prices sometimes. I try and find the auctions that end at 11 am pacific time on Tuesday. 7410 braze on FD, need it, find it, snipe it. done. $20.38.

That might well be true for most things, but not everything, in my opinion. Generally, I try to target period and model correct, usually tempered by budget restraints, however...

The minute I saw the period and model correct flip-flop rear hub for my 1939 CCM "Road Racer", I snapped it up, and snapping can be a trick on a fixed income. I was will to pay what I had to to get the piece...



The same would go for any other, hard to find item that I might need for a pet project. assuming funds were available. Some things come along so infrequently, that immediate purchase is necessary. You just might never get another chance.

The not so rare stuff, I rarely consider purchasing, feeling comfortable to wait for the item, in question, to show up for cheap, or nothing.

Started to say something about water bottles, but changed my mind. Just don't know how to dump the images.

What's "sniping"?

I'm new to Ebay....started in March, and only started buying a few C&V bikes and parts since Nov. 2011. This post isn't as intellectual as all the others but I thought I'd share a couple of my newbie (read: really stupid and embarrassing) experiences buying on Ebay so maybe someone reads this and doesn't make the same mistakes I made. I was going to reveal my ridiculous behavior when I was able to post photos of the 2 bikes I ended up with but now's as good a time as any.

Mind you, I have insomnia and sometimes prowl the internet throughout the night, especially during winter. I became really interested in vintage bikes and love the C&V forum. So one night I ended up on Ebay and managed to register all on my own, which was surprisingly easy since I have trouble with 'copying and pasting'.

So my first purchase: A gold anodized Mafac Competition brakeset with levers. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw them...I love gold anodized anything for bikes! I thought "Wow, wouldn't it be great to have those!"

I had no intention of buying them because I 'knew' I wouldn't be able to afford them since they seem to be pretty popular on the CV forum, and I 'knew' there would be a lot of bidding on them. I figured the bidding would go wild near the very end of the auction. There was some bidding going on and I threw out a couple of bids, more to try out the bidding process than anything else, because I 'knew' the bidding would soon get hot.

I made my last bid with about 15 minutes to go. Then I sat back and watched with anticipation to see the 'real' bidding war begin. But strangely, at least to me, nothing else happened as the time wound down and the auction ended. I didn't know whether to laugh or start 'cussing. I ended up laughing in a giddy sort of way because I was so surprised I just purchased these gorgeous brakes....from Belgium.
Ye Gads! I'd only used PayPal once before and was so worried about messing it all up with an International shipment, etc.

But much to my surprise, it worked out OK in the end with no glitches. I wasn't too upset because they're in good condition and I didn't think they were all that expensive. So now I have these lovely brakes and levers which I may have to end up selling because I need longer brake reach. But they sure are pretty!

After that I made a couple of sensible derailleur purchases. Then came the reeaally dumb and embarrassing purchase.

I've been reading Bicycle Quarterly for several years now and have kind of 'drank the Jan Heine 650B French Constructeur cool-aid'. So one dark night what pops up on Ebay but 2 650B wheel French bikes. A mixte from about the '40s and a porteur from about the '50s. Again my eyes nearly popped out of my head. It was the first time I'd seen any 650B Frenchies, aside from Jan's beautiful coffee table book.

The EBay bikes were in need of much TLC, but very cool looking none the less. They were up for auction, not BIN. Again, I had no intention of buying either because I 'knew' I wouldn't be able to afford them. I was just going to watch and see how much they went for but was extremely excited at the prospect of watching the bidding action I 'knew' was going to take place.

The auction was for 6 days and every day I checked to see what was being bid. But oddly (at least to me), 5 days went by and not a single bid. What the heck?, I'm thinking. Wait. OK, 'I get it'. All the bidders are waiting for the last day. Final auction day arrives and still not a single bid. Now I'm really feeling bummed. I've been anxiously waiting all week to see how the bidding goes for these bikes. I'm feeling deprived of much anticipated entertainment.

So, aha....OK, now 'I really get it'. The bidders are waiting for the last hour which I 'know' will be fast and furious. So I say to myself, "If I can't own one of these bikes then I'm going to make the first bid for each one. Then at least I can have the satisfaction of saying I made the very first bid on 2 French Constructeur bikes." (Yes, I can hear you all snickering out there and see the bemused smile/roll of your eyes. It's OK. I still don't know why I felt the need of said satisfaction and placed those bids).

So, I make the first bid for each bike and keep running to my computer every hour all day to check the bidding progress. As the hours pass by and still no bids, I'm starting to get a very weird feeling about the whole situation. Tick, tick, tick, goes the clock. As the final hour arrives and I'm still the only bidder, I start feeling light headed and a bit nauseous. I sit and watch every single minute of the last hour rapidly pass by. Ding! Ding! We have a winner! I'm in complete shock at what has just taken place. I just bought 2 650B 'Constructeur' bikes.

I guess the moral of this story is don't bid with your emotions, or what you 'know' is going to happen. Do some research or get some advice on the Ebay process. And think before bidding. I felt like a complete addict for about a month, buying cool vintage bike parts I may not necessarily need. What I really liked was the rush of bidding and 'winning' an auction.

I got over the impulsive bidding. But after a stressful couple of weeks I bought a Peugeot UNS40 folding bike this weekend. I now made a pact with myself to start going out on a bike ride when I start typing the Ebay website.

When I've bid (sensibly), I would wait towards the end of the auction and then bid until I reached the limit I'm willing to pay. Or if it was something I really wanted I would put the first bid in (above items excluded), and see what happens. To me, the whole thing seems like it's kind of a crap shoot because an auction can turn out so many different ways.

By the way, the mixte has a "Realty" headbadge and "A. Condor" painted on the downtube. The porteur has "Rene Andre" handpainted on the downtube. They need lots of TLC but they will be fun project bikes to work on. So all is not bad. If anyone knows anything of these names, I'd be happy to hear from you. I couldn't find info anywhere.

Sorry for going off topic.

Sniping is jumping in at the last second with the purpose of not giving anyone a chance to respond. It is typically done with software or an online service, not in person, because software can time the bid to the last second.

Don't be too embarrassed by winning things you didn't expect. Sometimes items just don't see much bidding. (I won a Bianchi frame with a low bid that I figured would be outbid. The resulting bike turned out far better than I expected, so that win was a good thing.) Sometimes other potential buyers just seem to be asleep. Or maybe they know something about that item or that price or that vendor. It happens. But you do have to pick your auctions carefully or you can end up wasting a lot of money.

Some people also want you to know they are interested in the part. There are a lot of newbie Ebayers out there, and you can never tell what they are thinking when they bid so early.

Sometimes I bid early because I won't be around to bid at the end. I do this on items I don't care much about. I low-ball these bids, so if I win, I'm getting a really good deal. I once won a nice Zebrakenko for $25. When I got the email telling me I had won, I didn't even remember placing the bid. It was a really good deal that way.

Well, there's your answer. "Common sense" is an oxymoron. There is no such thing as a sense that we all have in common. That's why so many people don't have it.

The way people use the term, I take it to mean "just think exactly as I do." Sure, I'll get right on that.

Sometimes I'll throw in a low bid on something not expecting to win but figuring if I can have it cheap that's fine with me.

A guy I loosely know used to be a coin dealer and he often listed some nice coins at 99p with no reserve. They inevitably found their true value but I'd often throw in an early bid about about 60-70% of their fair value on the basis if they did slip through the net I'd get a good deal (it never actually happened).

I recently bought a couple of broken clocks on the basis I want to fix them up. They too were at 99p with no reserve and I figured for the sake of less than half a pint of beer if nobody else wanted them I'd take them at that price. And as it turned out nobody else wanted them, so they were mine very cheap. If I can get them fixed up I've got myself a nice clock very cheap, if I can't them I'm down very little money and the time I spent is what I need to do to learn, so the very worst case is I've wasted the price of a beer.

Lots of overthinking in this thread! Now I remember why I hated college! Study, Study, Study!

I don't know about costing you more money, that would involve the psycholigical elements of greed, anxiety, etc. near the end of an auction that might lead you to bid more than you would otherwise bid, but one cannot argue with the fact that a single bid at the end of an auction is the only way to absolutely minimize purchase price. It is the only thing over which the individual bidder has control, so what earthly reason would there be to invite additional bidding on the part of others by bidding early!

I completely disagree based on my experience with eBay. Some people have decided that bidding late is the only approach. It isn't, and I remain unconvinced it's the best approach in all cases. When I see evidence conclusively proving one way is superior, I'll listen. Until then I'll tailor my approach to the auction and my needs. If I REALLY want something, and it's an uncommon item, I like to shake the riff raff away early, before they're invested.

Good point. Some sellers seem to set their auctions to end on a Sunday afternoon because they figure more prople will be home watching their computer screens at that time. But those of us who are off doing things (such as biking, skiing, etc.) are more likely to be off doing things (such as biking, skiing, etc.) instead. A sniping program would be useful in those cases, but sometimes the most practical way to bid is enter your best shot and walk away. Then come back and check the results.

You got to know when to to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away, know when to run,
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table,
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.