Question re: ebay auctions

[KTMEMOMMY]

I am looking to buy a Leapfrog game system for my dd for her b'day next month. She loves the one my niece has so I searched that model on ebay. I have used ebay for a few years for a moderate amount of buying and selling, but I'm a little confused about a few of the auctions and if I'm missing something here...

All of the systems I looked at are new in box. Same color, apparently same model from picture. Sellers all have excellent feedback scores. But some that end sooner have no bids, and others that end in a few days are already bid up higher than the ones ending in a couple of days! One NIB is cheap, free shipping, another doubles the starting cost with significant shipping charges. We're talking about someone outbidding others and spending over $35 while others have no bids at $10.

I know timing is everything with these auctions, and if someone wants something they're just going to pick one and go for it. But it makes me worry that I'm missing some major flaw/ issue if I bid on one for $10 that no one else seems to be interested in...as though it's too good to be true. Or maybe since there are a few days left others are just biding there time...? Anything I should check out that I'm overlooking?

ANy thoughts...???

Thanks!

 

[LadyyRedd]

Check the dates that they the auctions were posted. It's possible that the ones that end sooner and have no bids were posted AFTER the others already had bids on the, but the seller made them for shorter lengths of time (3 day versus 7 day or something), so they will end sooner.

Kimya

 

[formernyer]

There are a lot of reasons some items get bid up faster/higher than others. The last poster offered the most likely explanation. As a seller, I alsmost always opt for a 1 or 3 day listing if it's a popular item. For items which have a lower supply on eBay, I will list for 5 or 7 days, but very popular items are a waste to list for 7 days, because you'll get the same closing price if you list for just one day.

Other explanations could be...

* Some sellers used better keywords in the title, so more people found those listing than the others

* Buyer marked an item as "Watch" when it had no bids, then went directly back tot hat listing at a later time and placed a bid, without seeing if other items were cheaper.

* Buyer was just plain stupid. Yes, this happens a LOT. I regularly have people bid more on items via auction that they could have bought it from in my Buy-It-Now store listing.

As a buyer, the way you know you're getting a reasonable deal is to search for COMPLETED listings first. Check out the average ending prices on the item that you wish to purchase, then try to stay within the low end of that range. Be sure to factor the TOTAL cost (including s/h) into your analysis of completed listings (as well as when you bid). Don't worry about which current listings are bid higher than others, because you never know where any item will close until it's over...lots of bidding happens in the last minute of an auction. If you read the listing carefully, check the seller's feedback, and bid based on your completed auction analysis, you'll come out just fine in the end.