eBAY: Options and Strategies 1 1

[Henri Charriere]

It may not seem like that to the average e-Bay user, but you do have options -- and your own strategies that work developed over time and experience.

The first option is obvious: a sale price.  (Now there is an installment plan as well.) First come, first served. The choice is yours.

The second option is: bidding on an item. A minimum is established as well as a time line. The progression proceeds on an incremental scale, e.g., from $200.to $225., and up, until expiration which is usually within one week.

The third option is, Or Best Offer (OBO).  This is akin to telling you this seller wants to get as much as he can, but an offer of 50% of the sale price is inadvisable and unrealistic. Try what you feel would work.

There are a few strategies I have devised.  Waiting until the last day, the last hour and the waning minutes can work unless someone has pre-bid a lot higher, anonymously.  Many times, being impatient (in my case, with French 20-francs gold roosters) I would take the bid, if $0.00, and reset it at gold melt to weed out the non-contenders and study the progression of serious principals. I have placed bids successfully with only ten seconds remaining on the clock. Your greatest success may occur in the wee hours of the morning when fewer people are awake placing bids.

One point I should like to emphasize is sell prices may seem "take it or leave it," but early on I would contact the seller with a modest 5% to 10% off and immediate payment if they would accept it. Many do, and have. Recently, I bought a token by using a different tack.  I plausibly explained to the seller that his example, many finer examples of which I claimed I owned and bought for less, was cleaned using two different methods (representing I knew more than he did) and suggested a FMV of 25% off his sale price, which he accepted immediately. It was a strong strike with strikingly distinct denticles which I would be happy to post on JB's thread after examining it more closely in hand to see if there is some way of enhancing its color safely with a short safe bath.

Please feel free to share your approaches to buying on e-Bay. Bear in mind, some kid in Nebraska, relying on logarithms, may deny your winning bid falsely claiming the problem is not on their end (PayPal) but yours.  I found that out the hard way when I bid on a giant gorgeous Mexican 50-peso, 1.2 t z coin described as an "heirloom" -- the seller's other merchandise included no coins whatsoever -- was denied me because PP determined it did not fit my "buying pattern." It was 2 a.m. Sunday morning. What could I do?  I walked into my bank on Monday and a platform assistant assured me there was nothing wrong with my account. (I already knew that.)  But enough about me, what about your thrills of victory and agonies of defeat? The floor is open!