RebelGuns
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posted on November 27, 2000 10:07:30 AM
How many of you have bid on and won items on eBay what proved to be worth far more than you won the item for?
Did you know it at the time?
Did you inform the seller?
Or do you do like I do and buy it and run off into the night with it tucked under your arm like a lowly rat!!!
(Or am I the only rat here?)
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Shoshanah
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posted on November 27, 2000 11:02:25 AM
I once bought something on Ebay for $1.42 and re-sold it 1/2 hour later for $5,272,000.51..Now I can afford to feed my poor old cat; put new tires on my 11 year old van, and buy "real china" dishes instead of paper plates...  And I feel no guilt...
Forgot to mention that shipping cost was a little excessive: $249.00...for hand-delivery. Plane fare was 240.00, and bus 9.00...
********************
Gosh Shosh!
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/rifkah/
[ edited by Shoshanah on Nov 27, 2000 11:05 AM ]
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RebelGuns
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posted on November 27, 2000 11:56:39 AM
Let me guess...it was a used Florida voting booth signed by Al Gore...
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Shoshanah
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posted on November 27, 2000 12:46:36 PM
....... Close: signed by BushyTail...
As to your question, never happened on Ebay. But has happened in real life. I tell the people before buying...if they insist on selling after I give info, I buy, because if I don't, someone else will.
********************
Gosh Shosh!
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/rifkah/
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lotsafuzz
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posted on November 27, 2000 01:28:35 PM
Or do you do like I do and buy it and run off into the night with it tucked under your arm like a lowly rat!!!
Well, I was going to let you swing out here all by yourself, but you made me laugh.
I've 'lucked' out a time or two on ebay. It was always stuff for myself, nothing I would ever consider selling.
I don't feel (much) like a rat, just a lucky dog! 
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abacaxi
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posted on November 27, 2000 01:32:50 PM
RebelGuns -
Shutup and pass the cheese!
I might inform the seller that they have somethingh that MIGHT be valuable, and point them at the research sources .... but if I plan to buy it, I keep my mouth shut until after I get it.
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macandjan
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posted on November 27, 2000 02:01:22 PM
[ edited by macandjan on Dec 3, 2000 02:09 PM ]
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cmbtboots
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posted on November 27, 2000 02:16:00 PM
I hope not too far off the topic but a while back someone on this board wrote about getting better deals on items due to misspellings in auction titles.
I did a search for "swede" coats and I just won an auction for a long black suede leather coat for 8.00. In fact the coat was relisted two times before I won it and the title was the same each time.
The seller has a couple other "swede" items up for auction right now and I think I will probably say something (in a nice way) after I get the coat. I believe it would have probably sold for much much if the title had been correct. I would want to know if I was doing something that was probably decreasing my sales.
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kudzurose
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posted on November 27, 2000 02:19:15 PM
I agree with macanjan 100%!
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stockticker
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posted on November 27, 2000 03:12:07 PM
Look at it this way:
The seller has made you happy. Why would you want to make the seller feel very unhappy about a transaction they were probably content with originally?
I'd only inform the seller if I planned to "share the wealth" with him/her.
Irene
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twinsoft
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posted on November 27, 2000 04:16:04 PM
Here's a twist. A friend told me he had several mint antique items he wanted me to sell on eBay, suggesting we split the profits. We did a search together for similar items and found one that sold for over $600.
Now he brings me the stuff. These "mint antiques" should probably be listed as "dirty old dented and broken rusty junk." I'll be lucky to give the stuff away. It probably won't be worth my time to even list it, and no doubt my friend will wind up feeling abused.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to make a tough call and tell my friend to sell it himself. Work aside, I don't want to put my feedback on the line peddling this junk. Who knows, maybe he'll get lucky.
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hammerchick
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posted on November 27, 2000 07:56:41 PM
cmbtboots: You must be talking about my misspellings post. I have tried advising sellers about things in nice ways and usually just get cussed. Some people get defensive pretty easily. I say send them an email using "suede" several times and see if they pick that up. If not, let's all get some new coats for $8.
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cmbtboots
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posted on November 27, 2000 10:31:26 PM
HAMMERCHICK: You don't think I should say anything? Isn't there a way to word an email that is not offensive?
Personally, I cannot understand why someone would not want to know, after all, I am sure it has an impact on her business. About a year ago I was selling a necklace and I spelled it neckless (du) in my title and all through my auction. Someone emailed me and in a non-condesending way about the misspelling. I let the auction stay as-is because bidding was already higher then it should have gone anyway. If necklaces were something I was selling on a regular basis I would be beyond grateful if a bidder, past or present, pointed out my error because the bottom line is it would most likely affect my income.
I don't thing sending her an email and repeating the word swede would work because I think (could be wrong though) she thinks this is the correct spelling because in this auction and in other auctions it was spelled the same way.
Just for kicks run an item search for swede and swade. :> A did this about a month ago and was shocked at the amount of expensive, high-end items made of swede, although personally I prefer my coats made of japanese. nevermind, dumb joke.
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tegan
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posted on November 27, 2000 10:47:23 PM
I thought you guys were joking about the "swede" thing but I did a search. My goodness!!! LOL
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CAgrrl
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posted on November 28, 2000 01:24:06 AM
I agree with macandjan also. 100% to the letter.
I also agree that people get really defensive when you email them to correct their mistakes even if you do it respectfully and in the spirit of helping. At least that has been my experience. For example, I now often resist the urge to email sellers when I see that their opening bid is an even $10.00, & not the less-expensive $9.99. The sellers I have emailed about it didn't respond with a "thank you for pointing that out". I have learned that if people want to pay ebay an extra quarter for each item they list, that is their business, NOT mine...
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macandjan
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posted on November 28, 2000 01:42:52 AM
OK - You might not like this but consider it.
If people are finding your items by search you may get higher bids with common misspellings than with the correct one, because the people that do not know how to spell the name of the item may also have less of an exact idea what the value of the item should be to bid on it.
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RebelGuns
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posted on November 29, 2000 09:10:05 AM
I think I may have made myself out to be more of a bandit than I am. I think I might have bought a few things on eBay for a few dollars and resold them for $25 or so. I do better at antique shops and flea markets as far as buying, although Yahoo seems to be a buyers market right now.
I did notice last week that someone had a lot of Civil War Period hard rubber buttons up. The lot I think was around $15. One of the buttons in the forefront of the photograph was a distinct hard rubber uniform coat-size "Eagle/Shield." There is only one Civil War unit that wore those, Berdan Sharpshooters, and they go for $600.00-$700.00 and up each.
I was going to bid but couldn't bring myself to do it. Unfortunately, I was also going to e-mail them but it got away from me among the holiday stuff.
I don't even think I want to know how it turned out.
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