The Yak Shack Forum

Just finished a night shift and checked my emails to find I've been beaten on an auction by a card dealer YET AGAIN  >:() >:() >:()
It's bad enough being outbid and not being near a computer to do anything about it, but even worse when a dealer wins and you see the self same card with a 100%+ mark-up on their stall at the next show. Most of the time I bid on  :ebay: not to get a card on the cheap, but because it's the most I can afford.
Has anyone else here been gazumped in this manner?

One word: Yes!  >:() I'd give you the two word answer if I thought it'd slip by the censors.  :rofl:

Some topics should be censor - free  >:D

Easy now boys :P

*they always get like this during football championships*

*DUCKS*

FOOTIE FOOTIE FOOTIE, OY OY OY   ;D  >:D  ;D

Well you really can't fault anyone from buying a card cheaply. It will happen again, too. There are too many good cards being listed way too cheap. It's cheaper to pick them off than it is to buy cases and hope. And I predict that as long as people list cards at $.99 they will be plucked. And then there are the last minute/seconds bidders. I wrote ebay and suggested that they need to have an "automatic 15 minute no bid time" before an auction can end. This will allow more people to bid and the sellers to realise more for their cards and serious buyers to get the cards they want. Of course this would not apply to BIN items.
I also think that there are so Many BIN items because sellers don't want to expose themselves to snipers. Nobody seems to want to bid on items with a reserve, and from a sellers point of view ebay charges too much for reserves. I DON"T blame last minute or last seconds bidders. It's the system that needs fixing. Or else the buyers need to bid what they are willing to pay for a card and stop hoping and dreaming. I know budgets are stressed at times. But what can be done about it except Bid your max or ebay initiating the idea of a "15 minute no bid time" before auction ending rule.

Just some thoughts. No offense meant to anyone. Any other ideas?

I can't find it now, but there was an auction site that had a "15-minute no bid rule," or something like that.  The amount of time might have been a little less.  I can see that this idea would be popular for sellers, but since sniping has become so common, buyers would hate it.

*raises hand*
I wouldn't like it!  :P

I would like it. Down with the horrible practice of sniping, and the bourgeois pigs who practice it! (that's it, no more French literature for me for a year)  >:D

You would if you sold more I'll bet.  ;)

the problem seems to be not that the dealer bought the card but people don't bid to what they are willing to pay and then complain they didn't get it

You can't blame any bidder for bidding at the last minute

if you had bid the full amount you were willing to pay in the first place you might well have got the card

i know it is distressing not to get a card you really want but i am not sure how you can blame the system or dealers as the stem is doing what it is meant to do. It clearly states when the auction is to end and all bids made in that time frame are valid.

of course this is just my point of view as a dealer and a collector I have been on both ends of this situation.

I also feel that its bidders who are looking and want an out and out deal on a card and are unrealistic in some auctions to what the card is worth and what they are willing to pay for it.It's nice to get a rare card for cheap but most of the time you need to be realistic and bid appropratly to ensure you win the auction,camt blame the dealers all the time just they like majority have money aside for a card which they know will go up to a high price and stay real in what they bid for it,too many people want a card but aren't willing to pay the auction price but then moan when they dont get it.
We are fairly new but know that if we want a rare card then we have to bid high enough in order to get it,others put in a low bid in the hop they will get for a steal when deep down they know what they have bidded is an realistic to either what the card may be worth or what others will bid over them.
Always buy a card because you like it for your particular collection and not what it may be worth always the best bet!!

Cheers

Paul

Some of the low bids you see aren't people hoping to win a rare or expensive card for little money, but are a way of tracking the card.  For me, some items go on my watch list and some items get a low bid to go on the bidding list (especially when my watch list is full ::) ).

Iv'e done the BIN thing for the last 5 or so cards I've sold.  Better to get what I want than take a chance lately.  I generally don't like the 15 minute rule, but this week it would have been good for me.  I've been outbid on the same card 3 or 4 times by $1 or less!!  >:()  I haven't been near a computer at auctions end and keep getting sniped.  But that's the way it goes.  :-\

It drives me CRAZY - ebay has incremental bidding, but often I get outbid by less than the incremental bid.  I bid $19.99 & the end bid is $20.00  >:()  I'd still be annoyed if I lost by the incremental bid, but to be outbid by A PENNY makes me just  >:() >:() >:()

Still, you can't blame a dealer for wanting to find deals as well as collectors.  I don't blame auction dealers for attending estate sales or used car dealers attending car auctions.  In all cases the dealer is looking for new stock and/or a bargain.

I don't like getting outbid by a dealer who's just going to turn around and try to sell the card for a big mark-up, but what I hate is continually being outbid by one buyer in particular who already has the card I want (not a member here).  I was trying to get some non-variant POAU cards, and this buyer would outbid me on almost every auction, no matter what I bid.  What made me angry was that I was trying to fill holes in my collection and he already had multiples of the very same cards!  Honestly, no collector needs five Aunt Marge or Dudley autos, for instance.

Word!  I might have 5 Warwick autos for example, but they'd all be different characters.  I do have 5 or 6 Karl Urban autograph cards, but they're all from different sets (I'd get the Doom auto as well, but last time I looked it was way too expensive for me).

There's nothing wrong with having the same actor's auto from different sets or multiples of a costume or prop card when there are different variations (examples being the GOFU Weasley tent and the books prop).  When the cards are just the regular, standard version, I can't imagine why someone would want more than one or two.  I suppose people think it might be good for a trade, but when those cards aren't rare or terribly expensive, I don't think there would be that much interest in a trade.

I'm right there with you one this!! I went through the same thing trying to fill some of my autos that I don't have!!  >:() And I knew the buyer that outbid me already had these!!   >:() And it really upsets me when I bid over the price guide average (pretty much how I base my bidding  :P ) and still get outbid!!  >:() >:()

Hi

I start auctions low and dont do BIN purely to promote a fair auction environment on all my auctions. My advice is if you love a card so much bid your max and forget about it and remember if there are only 2 bidders on an item and you lose to them more often than not because how ebay works you will always lose by only a few pounds every time.
Enjoy your collecting and the thrill of the chase.   ;D

But that's the problem -- constantly losing to the same person by only a dollar or less.  I'm not commenting so much about how eBay works, but rather that there are card hogs who don't need multiples of a common card.

I love the thrill of the case.  It's great to get a deal on a card.  But I've certainly paid market value and higher, too.  Yes, it evens out, but there are still cards I'm missing because there aren't that many of them available anymore.

I know that there are a lot of mixed feelings about auction snipers, but I really like them.  I use auctionsniper.com for any auction that I really want to win.  That way I just put in the max that I plan on paying and forget about it.  MOst of the time when I do win in the last second I get it for a lot cheaper (of course I don't always win, as other people have the same thinking)  But when I just place the highest bid that I am willing to go say 15 minutes before the auction closes, then all the other bidders have a chance to peck away at my bid, until someone finally ventures just over my high bid.  So for me as a bidder I wouldn't want the 15 minute thingy.

I also will buy cards when I see a good deal, even if I already have the card.  I don't consider myself a dealer, but I do quite a bit of selling (usually try to sell enough to support my bad habit of collecting)  But for instance over the past few years I have probably bought a dozen Jennifer Ganer Alias Season 1 autographs.  I have never paid much over $200, and I will usually turn around and sell them during a hotter selling time of the year (closer to christmas) and will usually get at least $300.  So I have paid for that autograph for my collection a few times over, and actually don't currently own one as I sold it during the winter months.  Right now is a good time for buyers, and a bad time for sellers.  Too many people are spending less time on the computers because of the weather, saving for a summer vacation, already spent all there tax returns, paying off credit cards from buying like crazy before christmas....etc.  So if you want good deals, now is the time, and don't be afraid to cross over to the dark side and try an auction sniper.  (auctionsniper.com is the only one I have ever used)  Just my thoughts.....just want to make sure no one hates me if I outbid them on something :)   

I am a last minute bidder but have never used an auction stealer site - I just sit there shaking and praying the internet doesn't freeze at the wrong moment  :rofl:.  If it is a US auction that finishes in the middle of the night I do just stick in my top bid and hope.

I have noticed a new trend over the last few months though that ties in with Cindy's experiences.  Recently I wanted a Barty Crouch Jnr auto.  Practically every current auction (I think there was about 8 at the time) had the same high bidder who turned out to be a UK dealer - to the best of my knowledge they are not a member of this forum.  The bids were pushing the cards to way over their average price so I didn't even place a bid.  Now this particular dealer will no doubt start selling these autos for incredibly inflated prices and as they have cornered the market will probably sell most at this increased price.  I have bought one from a US dealer (thanks Zach  ;)) for a reasonable price, not cheap but not extortionate.

I know this is the type of thing that happens all the time in other walks of life but I am sad to see it start happening with trading cards.  If this dealer makes a huge profit on these autos they will pick a few cards to do it with on another set - imagine if they had bought every sleeping bag prop that went on Ebay, we could be seeing a £10 card jump to £50, just because one person was controlling the whole supply.  This is an extreme example but I can see this is the thin end of the wedge  :-\

Tialessa it annoys the heck out of me when I lose an auction by 1 penny - how do they do that  :o.  And this is probably me being silly but if there was a 15 minutes rule wouldn't everyone just stick their bids in 15 minutes early?  Or would this work differently?

I hope I can explain this right.  With a 15-minute rule, it doesn't matter when people start placing their bids.  The auction has an ending time, but won't end at that time if someone has placed a bid less than 15 minutes before the auction is supposed to end.  With each new bid that's placed, the auction-ending timer starts over at 15 minutes.  Eventually, the auction price will reach a point where no one will want to place another bid.  Fifteen minutes will go by, then the auction will end.

Thank you  :)  That makes lots more sense but I definitely wouldn't like that.  It is like how long is a piece of string, when would the auction end  :-\  If you were able to just sit at a computer and out wait everyone else fine but I think it would put a lot of people off.  When I bid I do generally put in my top bid (unless like you Cindy I am just ' watching ' a card) and then wait and see if I have won.  To keep looking at an auction and see someone chipping away at my top bid with seemingly no fixed end time would not appeal to me at all.

I didn't even know this existed!  :o

It would be possible to have an auction continue on hours after it was supposed to end, if people kept upping their bids.  I once saw an auction site that had this rule, but I can't find it now or remember the name.  It probably went out of business, since it's so difficult to compete against eBay.

Yeah, that's exactly what's been happening.  With summer in full swing, I'm constantly taking the kids places during the day and sometimes night and I can't be at the computer when the auction ends.  Normally I can wait and enter a bid, or multiple bids at auction end and at least stand a chance of winning the card.  Lately, I've had to enter my max bid hours before.  But when I say "max bid" I don't mean I couldn't go up another .50 if need be.  ::)  It just seems that people keep upping it by tiny increments until they price me out.  Usually by a very small amount.  I think that would happen no matter what bid I put in (within reason).  I may look into an auction sniper to stop that from happening.  I really don't bid on a whole lot, but the cards I do bid on are ones I really want!  >:()
I can't say I blame people for buying low and selling for a profit, if I had the time, money, and knew a lot more about the market I might be doing it too.