Ebay bidding frenzy lunacy.

Avoriaz

I want to buy a Vax Rapide XL carpet cleaner. List price is £199 but even Currys do them for about £150 ish.

A company in Bolton sell graded (ex demo, refurbished etc) models on their web site for £129 and also list about 5 or 6 per day on ebay under user id “gradedelectricalsdirect”.

On ebay they usually reach around £100 - £110.

I am trying to get one for about £85, (plus postage of £15) but I so far I have been outbid. I’m happy to wait until I get lucky and win an auction at £85. Maybe I will go to £90 soon.

This means I watch every auction. Today one sold for £170.01 with two bidders pushing the price from £120 all the way up to £170 in less than 3 minutes.

Bloody idiots. How stupid can you get?

Here are the recent sales.

http://search-completed.ebay.co.uk/vax-rapide-xl_W0QQcatrefZC5QQfbdZ1QQfclZ3QQfisZ2QQflocZ1QQfposZKT130SSQQfromZR6QQfrppZ50QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQfssZ0QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQga10244Z10425QQnojsprZyQQpfidZ0QQsaaffZafdefaultQQsacatZQ2d1QQsacqyopZgeQQsacurZ0QQsadisZ200QQsargnZQ2d1QQsaslcZ0QQsaslopZ1QQsasltZ2QQsofocusZbs

and here is the £170.01 sale

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=015&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=250089370068&rd=1&rd=1

Edit, the winning bidder has paid by credit card and has already been given feedback so it is not even an auction wrecker. I suppose there is a very remote possibility it is some scam to get the prices up but I doubt it. I can't see how it could benefit the seller, who already has regular sales every day at a decent price. The buyer has bought 3 Wiis for high prices too.

jennyjelly

This seems to happen regularly, people paying more for things on ebay than they could buy them for elsewhere. The only explanation I can think of is that they don't bother to do their research first - something that is totally alien to MSEers. Mind you I must admit to having been a beneficiary of their ignorance once or twice, much to my amazement, so I'm not complaining!

Mimosa_Miminski

It's not the model you were after, but this VAX is half price at £60 http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4057042.htm?storeId=10001&referredURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.argos.co.uk%2Fstatic%2FProduct%2FpartNumber%2F4057042.htm&jspStoreDir=argos&referrer=COJUN&params=100x100generic

Moglex

On a slightly different tack, have you noticed the following strange effect:

You are doing as you are above, waiting to get a good price on something where a new instance comes up frequently.

Obviously, you are outbid on several auctions for quite a few days/weeks before you eventually get one at the price you require.

Now for the weird part: You keep tabs on the auctions and find that the people bidding are usually different every day!

This has happened to me two or three times. A company puts a new instance of an item up for auction every day. Every day it gets a number of bids but the losers very rarely bid on any further auctions.

Almost exactly the reverse of the pattern you would expect if the seller was employing shills.

It's almost as if ebay is populated by hundreds of people who make impulse bids on items (and I'm talking about items for well over £100) and when they fail, never bother again.

I'd be fascinated if anyone can come up with an explanation for this.

(BTW, the bidders have a wide variety of feedback scores so are unlikely to be an army of shillers).

Avoriaz

Mimosa_Miminski wrote:

It's not the model you were after, but this VAX is half price at £60 …]

Thanks Mimosa. I had seen that Argos model but it is the Vax Rapide XL I want. I think it is well worth the extra cost. Provided I can eventually get one for under £100 of course.

I’m happy to wait quite a while. After all, the sooner I buy the bloody thing and have it delivered the sooner Mrs A will expect me to spend time using it instead of posting here on MSE.

jasmineswhiskers

I was after a computer game and spent ages watching the prices with my limit in mind. They majority were going up to high street prices. But I got one in the end. I found that in the morning the prices didn't reach as much - I paid £17 rather than around the £22 mark the majority went for. Definately the best time for bargains.

ormus

theres lots of reasons why this may happen.
someone on MSE today, commented that a round trip to ikea would be 120 miles for her. therefore any ikea product at even above the retail price would be ok with her, and with the pp!

if you have a very busy lifestyle, you would be prepared to pay extra and have a postman deliver it. i know plenty in central london who pay over the odds every day for various items.

ive sold new argos items for more than i paid!
happy days.

mcwarre

@Avoriaz I don't see what the problem is. If you are getting outbid and you want it then bid higher, simple as that.

BTW I have bought an item from that ebay seller and had no problems at all.

highguyuk

People just don't research things - I work with a whole load of people who just don't bother!

See it and buy it - more fool them!

hodgester

gradedelectricalsdirect are a bunch of con-artists. bought a steel breadmaker from them before xmas which arrived cmpletely smashed up (though the packaging was fine). Sent in back and they re-delivered a while plastic one which was filthy and unpackaged. they then ignored all of my calls and e-mails until I put in a paypal claim against them and got my money back.

bella4uk

Totally the wrong time of year to get a bargain on this....I'm afraid peoples minds are on spring cleaning, the time when people want to decorate, clean carpets etc. I bet you will have more luck in the middle of summer but don't expect a giveaway.