EBaying; howling after an auction

From: Paul Thompson <thompson_at_mail.athenet.net>
Date: Sun Oct 17 19:54:45 1999

On Sun, 17 Oct 1999 CLASSICCMP_at_trailing-edge.com wrote:

> I've been following the E-bay auctions for SCSI drives closely in the
> past month or two, and what's *really* amazing is that sometimes there'll
> be 4 identical items, all from the same seller, all closing within minutes
> of each other, and in one auction the drive is bid up to $180.00 and in an
> another auctions the cost settles around $60-$70.


That is one aspect of Ebay that I don't understand -- that some sellers
will put multiple identical items up at the same time potentially keeping
their bid prices down by preventing a war between two anxious prospective
buyers over one item. It seems to make sense to put a large number of
different items out at once instead.

That is one reason that I don't worry too much if I see an item that I
want and I get out bid. The smart sellers with several such items will
put them out one at a time and I know I just need to check back the next
week to find his/her next item.

I tend to collect things on ebay which are useful with my classic
machines; bootable CDROM drive, tape unit and 1 GB SCSI drives for my
VS3100M76 & RS6000 220 and DSSI drives for my 5400. They doesn't seem to
be an indordinate shortage of these items to escalate prices unreasonably.

paul
Received on Sun Oct 17 1999 - 19:54:45 BST