Gutted

hubb

What is wrong with bidders on Ebay. I have just sold an entire series of VHS tapes that cost over £100 over time to collect. I started the bid at £14.99 on a 10 day listing. There were 6 people watching. Only one bid. Sold at £14.99 and it will cost me £8 to post it as Ebay (in its dictatorship) restricted me to £4 postage.

Why do people watch an item and then don't bother ? I mean, 6 people and non of them bid. I remember the days when people would all bid in the last few minuites.

Rant over :mad:

littlerat

Possibly they found them (or the DVD version) cheaper elsewhere, decided they didn't want them, forgot to place a bid, couldn't afford to bid (were waiting to see how finanaces went), or are thinking of selling some themselves and wanted to see the going price.

Ultimately if you weren't happy with that you could've put your starting bid higher.

newbeginning_2

I think a lot of people watch cos they have the same thing and want to know how much it goes for, sorry but I watch things all the time for that reason

mum2one

Ditto.
I watch some items,
these are my reasons
To see how much it goes for - incase I have a similar item
Not to put my bid in to early - thou have been known to forget
Wii or ds games - if dd has said she likes a particlar one - put it on watch so nearer the time bday or present for eg 6 weeks of 10/10 spellings - shop around for the best price.

I find ity frustrating myself, esp when an item has 10 watchers and doesn't sell, but guess that we're all in the same boat. x

u1bd2005

I'm actually pretty surprised you got that much for VHS tapes, most of them you can pick up 25p-50p in local charity shops.

I guess though since it was a full series it did appeal more to people. Though i've still seen some full series go for anywhere between 75p-£5 in charity shops.

anyway enough about that, onto the question now...

I tend to watch all the time and not bid, to see what prices items are going for if i'm thinking of selling them, or sometimes in the hope that an item doesn't sell and the person relists the item cheaper.

paulofessex

hubb wrote: »

Sold at £14.99 and it will cost me £8 to post it as Ebay (in its dictatorship) restricted me to £4 postage.

The issue of being restricted regarding postal cost would be more annoying for me. Its a disgusting move by Ebay again its only to ensure they don't lose out on FV fee's as people used to put higher postage to aviod that FVF

Personally l feel it should be up to a buyer, if they are happy to pay over the odds for postage then so bit, after all Ebay/PayPal still get their cut from the Pay Pal fee.

Of course as highlighted by the OP's postage issue, who clearly was not overcharging, where does Ebay get its prices vs weights from, totally unfair system

pinkshoes

If I'm thinking of selling something and not sure if it's worth it, then I'll watch someone else's auction to see how much they get.

£15 sounds a HUGE amount for VHS tapes!! I think you did well.

TurkishDelight

paulofessex wrote: »

where does Ebay get its prices vs weights from, totally unfair system

It's not weight based, it's category based.

It would be madness to do it by weight as you could just lie.

I'm just glad they let you edit it down- try explaining to a new buyer why you have charged them £4.95 for a letter sized item (as happens with Amazon).

Kestrel

hubb wrote: »

it will cost me £8 to post it as Ebay (in its dictatorship) restricted me to £4 postage.

Depending on what postal option you have given your buyer you could send it for £4.10 by using MyHermes, obviously if you have promised 1st class/1st class recorded etc you should honour your word but if you had "Sellers standard rate" or "Other courier" you could maybe save a couple of quid by using an alternative postal method

cyberbob

hubb wrote: »

What is wrong with bidders on Ebay. I have just sold an entire series of VHS tapes that cost over £100 over time to collect. I started the bid at £14.99 on a 10 day listing. There were 6 people watching. Only one bid. Sold at £14.99 and it will cost me £8 to post it as Ebay (in its dictatorship) restricted me to £4 postage.

Why do people watch an item and then don't bother ? I mean, 6 people and non of them bid. I remember the days when people would all bid in the last few minuites.

Rant over :mad:

They were probably watching to see what price you got. You actually did well as most VHS tapes you can't give away and just end up as landfill.

Quiet_Life

Didn't realise it was a 'crime' to watch something on ebay, I always thought of it as a form of window shopping