eBay again.

[Cranfield]

I have been on eBay a few years and have over 200 transactions and 100% feedback.

 

I recently bought some bulbs (as in plants) and though it strange that I couldn't see who was bidding against me, as it was a "private" sale.

I won the auction and the goods duly arrived, I was very pleased and posted feedback to say so.

When I checked back to see if they had left feedback for me, I noted that where it normally says what you purchased etc., on your feedback, mine just shows "private".

 

Now everyone will think I have been buying blow-up dolls and sex toys.

 

Why have a sale for garden plants as "private" ?

Are there any advantages for the Seller ?

[n4lly]

Could be a temporary thing, they may have a dispute running

with a nightmare /auction wrecking competitor.

Has been known for idiots to wreck peoples auctions because they

are selling the same item cheaper, they make up a new ID then bid and win

everything and of course not pay then leave negative feed back.

 

Apart from that i cant think of any reason

 

Then again, it does seem to be popular/the norm in Germany to go private

 

[Newt]

From posts on the eBay UK boards, a large number of the private auctions where the item does not seem to call for it is newish sellers who really didn't have a reason.

 

Quite a few of the private ones are set that way to make shill bidding harder to detect when the seller wants to artifically drive up the price.

 

The reality is that for the vast majority of auctions, setting them to private harms sellers as many buyers will simply avoid those auctions and buy from another seller.

[Cranfield]

I think you have hit the nail on the head Newt.

 

The same Seller had the same bulbs available yesterday and I bid, once I was outbid I stopped bidding.

There were no more bids and I lost the auction.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...W:IT&ih=008

 

This morning I received my Second Chance message.

[Barry Kneller]

I think you have hit the nail on the head Newt.

 

The same Seller had the same bulbs available yesterday and I bid, once I was outbid I stopped bidding.

There were no more bids and I lost the auction.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...W:IT&ih=008

 

This morning I received my Second Chance message.

 

Report the fiddling sod.................

 

I never bid on the 'private' items, can't see any reason why any seller wants to operate this way, unless there's something dodgy about the transaction.

 

The best way to avoid this sort of thing happening is to make up your mind what your absolute maximum payment is for the item.

 

Then wait until the last few seconds before banging in your bid - this leaves no time for another person (even the seller!) to put in a later bid - if you don't get it, then you haven't lost anything, but quite often you'll get it at a lower price than your maximum.

 

Works nearly everytime for me.

[severus]

Now everyone will think I have been buying blow-up dolls and sex toys.

 

Come on, Cranfield. Confess. We won't tell.

 

Kidding. Hey, check out this item.

[Lid]

Then wait until the last few seconds before banging in your bid - this leaves no time for another person (even the seller!) to put in a later bid - if you don't get it, then you haven't lost anything, but quite often you'll get it at a lower price than your maximum.

Better still use an automatic sniping tool such as Auction Stealer.