On Thu, 19 Dec 2002, Stan Wilder wrote:

> I seem to collect a lot of lurkers that offer to buy after the auction.
> I think its against the rules but with 2,000,000 items how would they
> enforce it?

Don't think it's against the rules, but it does mean you forfeit ebay's
(rather minimal) buyer protection.

> I check lots of prices against current prices on New or Used items and
> unless I get at going,going, gone at a good price I lay back and wait for
> another of the same to come up at a decent offering.

Yeah, that's pretty much my technique.  I don't put a lot of effort into
sniping, though.  I just bid with about 15 minutes left.  I decide ahead
of time what the item's worth to me and make that my max bid.  I generally
get what I want eventually for the price I want, though I sometimes lose
several auctions in the process.

> I picked up a super computer for $200.00 the other day and buying the
> parts in a box would have cost over $600.00 .......... guess it just
> sounded too good to be true and the guy had 400 items listed.

There are a lot of things that factor into ebay prices.  A big one is the
presence/absence of a picture.  Stuff without pictures always sells for
lower prices.

             _ _
  __ _ _   _| | |  | David M. Brodbeck (N8SRE)              Ypsilanti, MI
 / _` | | | | | |  +-----------------------------------------------------
| (_| | |_| | | | @ cyberspace.org
 \__, |\__,_|_|_| "To the optimist, the glass is half full.  To the
 |___/             pessimist, the glass is half empty.  To the engineer,
                   the glass is twice as big as it needs to be."