posted on May 15, 2001 12:06:27 PM new
In 4 hours I have an auction ending for two figurines made in Japan. To my inexperienced eye they're nothing special (no brand names, etc) and I got them with a box of figurines for $5 at an auction. Right now, the bidding is at $86! There are two bidders who keep going back and forth. I can accept that either they (1) know something I don't know, or (2) they've got a bad case of auction fever. However, the high bidder (A) has a record of 0 feedback and one retraction in the past six months, and the other (B) has 6 positive feedbacks and is wearing shades. Neither one sounds real secure, and I'm antsy as to whether I should cancel bidder A (considering his 0 feedback and 1 retraction.) I wonder if I'm being taken for a ride here...or maybe I just need to chill out and be happy with the high bids and hope for the best. Any suggestions?
posted on May 15, 2001 12:09:57 PM new
I would recommend just chilling, you only have $5 in the whole box of items. Sit back and enjoy the rewards of your auction!
posted on May 15, 2001 12:14:29 PM new
Don't you just hate when this happens? But Marc's right. Sit back and enjoy. Every time it's happened to me, it's worked out. Still makes me wonder what they know that I don't.
posted on May 15, 2001 12:28:27 PM new
Enjoy the ride. May be "just a figurine" to you but obviously not to them!
Selling on ebay is wonderful just because of this type of situation! You spent $5 for the whole lot...if you had a mall space you would have put these out in your space at a few dollars each (probably $10 or less) and sold them at that price, never knowing that at least one of them could bring SO much more. On ebay you get to find out there ARE buyers who are HAPPY to pay what looks like obscene prices to you
We can't know everything about every item we sell...but on ebay we are less likely to just "give away" a treasure we don't recognize! The buyers DO KNOW a treasure when they see it!
posted on May 15, 2001 12:36:49 PM new
They're not hula girls, are they? I picked up a made in occupied japan hula girl once for 10 cents and was shocked when it sold for $70. But I got paid just fine.
I sell a lot of reproduction historical documents. One time there was a bidding war on a piece between two people. I kept watching the poster go up and up and up. The auction started at $12.95. When it went past $40.00 (an all time high for the piece) I thought some of the same things you did. I knew this was a reproduction. The auction clearly states it is. I was wondering if these two bidders realized that or if they were just having some fun with me.
I wrote the current high bidder at that time and politely asked if he/she was serious about this and explained nicely the possible ramifications. This could have backfired in my face. Luckily for me it didn’t.
That same day I received a reply back that indeed he was interested, he was a collector of the person my historical wanted poster was about and knew that the document offered while a reproduction was rare to find.
The bidding war continued and the final bid ended at $54.00 plus $2.55 shipping and handling. To my amazement the winning bidder sent payment immediately through paypal upon completion of the auction. This transaction has taught me to wait with patients until the end of the auction and not to assume anything.
By the way my scenario regarding the bidders was similar in nature to the point where one had no feedback and the other was rather new with minimal feedback.
posted on May 15, 2001 02:49:28 PM new
I agree with all the posters - sit back and relax.
I recently had an oriental rug on that went for obscene amounts of money, much more than I anticipated. In the final hours there were three NEWBIES bidding it up back and forth.
At the end I sent out my EOA notice to the winning bidder and did not hear from that person. By this time, I thought I was being jerked around. Turns out, the winning bidder found my telephone number through my website and called me. He could not figure out how to reply to my email or how to contact me. Been on the computer a whole 2 weeks. How he found my website is a miracle and I still don't know that.
Moral to the story, he dropped by my shop, paid for and picked up the rug. He was thrilled. The rug was a size he had been looking for and he could find it nowhere else.
By the way, I did teach him how to reply to emails, as he also bid on several other items that week. I was concerned several sellers out there were going to get quite frosty with his lack of response.
Everytime I have thought someone was playing games with the auction, they have turned out to be the best customers. That is the fun of Ebay.
posted on May 15, 2001 03:22:11 PM new
A while back I had a book I was selling regularly I started the biding at 27.50 and usually ended with 35 to 40 dollars
I had one end at 100.00 and a month later another sold for 75.00
Had these buyers done a little research they could have seen that I was listing this book weekly and could have dropped out and bought the next weeks listing
Sometimes ego and the I WILL NOT BE OUTBID Mentality serves us well.
hope your item brings 100.00!!
posted on May 15, 2001 03:26:31 PM new
Hi.
Once I bought a Darci doll and a tennis ball for $2.25 at a Garage Sale. I sold the Darci doll for $187.50 to a newbie and she paid! You never know. The doll was worth about $40.00 normally, she was mint and missing only her shoes. Some people have money to burn.
Mel
posted on May 15, 2001 03:50:41 PM new
Sit back and relax? This is too exciting! It's up to $95 now and still have an hour left to go. I can't get any other work done around here as I keep going back to check on it--
Kokotg--it's not hula girls, but a couple of western figurines. Stamped "Japan" on the bottom.
posted on May 15, 2001 04:07:24 PM new
Joycel...ah ha..cowboys! (well, western stuff )
There is no telling what people will pay for things. I love buying the box lots at auctions and then putting up something that flies much higher than I ever anticipated.
I bought a box lot last year that just sat in my garage for months. Took it out a couple of weeks ago and thought..."oh, what the heck, I might as well put these little "things" on ebay and get a few bucks back for my $20 investment.
The results:
1) Little metal scotty dog on skis (all of 3" tall) $71
2) Little metal poodle (3' tall) $10
3) Plastic pencil shapener shaped like a beaver $6.50
4) Wooden troll toothpick holder $31
5) Small souvenir metal perpetual calender with leprachauns..souviner of Ireland $48
items number 1, 4, and 5 shocked me!
This is why I LOVE ebay...and its sales like these that make it so easy to ignore down times, rules, or the other "aggrivations" of ebay!
posted on May 15, 2001 04:16:49 PM new
Joycel....... I, too, have found it so very odd what people collect, probably it has little to do with the 'book appraisal' of these pieces! I collect a 'certain animal' figurine, it has to have a cart, hopefully actually harnessed to it.... it's a bonus if the cart has flowers in it (or people). I don't care if they're glass or porcelain or clay, even have a couple wooden. I adore them, I have just a little more than 200 of them and built a 6 foot high custom redwood rack all by myself about, ohhhhhhh, about 16 years ago to display them.
My point is, if these are shepherdesses, or poodles, or scotties, or trains, or owls, or slippers, or refridgerators, or zebras, or farmyard animals...... somebody collects them!
I sold a very common book on Ferdinand (the bull) a couple of months ago. It went to $15, and she wrote that she collects Ferdinand, and to let her know if I get any more. OK! Put her on the list.
posted on May 15, 2001 04:30:21 PM new
Joyce
If you look at the feedback of your current high bidder he has 6 positives all for buying made in japan western figures and his ebay name kind of reflects this
I would expect no problems in getting paid
posted on May 15, 2001 05:14:47 PM new
It closed at $95.92. Yea!!!! For some reasons I keep singing that old Neil Diamond song..."Some days are diamonds...some days are stone..." Today is a diamond day. And, the high bidder was the one with the 6 positives (and yes, all for western figurines) so that's better than the guy with 0 and one retraction. Like others have said on this thread--you never know what's going to sell well, and that's what makes this business so fun. I always liken it to the guys who get "buck fever" during hunting season, and can't wait to tromp around the woods and find something around the next corner. That's just how it feels selling on e-bay, only it's a different kind of buck fever.
You may have lucked out in one way, but not in another;
First of all, some users (especially new or unserious ones) will go around bidding up items for kicks with no intention of buying. It DOES happen and explains many unreal prices for certain items. Yes, legitimate bidding wars do go on, but this type thing DOES happen. You were lucky in that the (6) rating bidder won. He may be new, but likely is serious, whereas the other guy might've retracted at the last minute OR not paid you at all.
What may be against you is that when an item has been bid up by a peculiar user (ie; zero rating and 1 retraction) it makes some think the seller may be shilling--that is, bidding up his own item.
)