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How do you beat the middlemen/flippers on eBay?

vlaspri
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Forgot to mention, during the pandemic I got my own lifehack on eBay by Advanced search the items ONLY from my country (which is pretty small), so meeting in person (in masks) makes possible to discuss watches me and seller like and sometimes to make the price a bit lower then it was listed on eBay. Moreover, sometimes I discover a really nice collections not for sale and make dibs on pieces I wouldn't like to get in flippers hands.
 
Mark020
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Nice tactic. Unfortunately I live in a country were Ebay is hardly used to sell stuff.
 
momosono
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connieseamaster connieseamaster
Get a better bid sniping program
Even the best sniping programme won't go higher than your maximum bid.

In other words: If your limit is high enough you'll win, if its too low you'll lose.
Thats life so do as @michael e wrote: dust yourself and carry on.
 
Awetaylor
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michael e michael e
@Awetaylor.
Forgot to mention.....
If you think being outbid makes you fuming, wait until you win or "buy it now" a watch for a great price on eBay and then some parasite offers the seller more afterwards and you lose that purchase 😡 now that is annoying.
Cheers, Michael

Hahaha! 😜 , don't wish evil on me! I'm sore enough with standard bidding practice, let alone underhanded deals like that!
 
michael e
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Awetaylor Awetaylor
Hahaha! 😜 , don't wish evil on me! I'm sore enough with standard bidding practice, let alone underhanded deals like that!

You are like Tom Cruise at the start of the film “Edge of tomorrow” at the moment, give it a few months of bidding on eBay and you will become a hardened killing machine like many on here 😁
 
SoyuzPilot
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I've been collecting (not just watches) via eBay for 20 years and over half my collection came from eBay, though a long time ago. Ebay auctions are a pretty good market price indicator (but geography is important). Remember that market prices move and sometimes very quickly, and sometimes not. The long game is always easier that the flip game - bought my Ed White on eBay for $3,500. Also everyone's values are different, and sometimes quality is in the eye of the beholder when it arguable shouldn't be. Sniping is annoying but I happen to know that eBay have done the maths and worked out that this (rather unusual when it started) fixed end-time auction method gives them the highest level of fee income. So bear that in mind when you try to beat the snipers. The net result is the everyone pays more. There is some great advice on this thread that it takes a long time to learn. To get the most out of eBay you have to spend hours searching and know what you're bidding for extremely well as it's easy to get caught out by quality issues. Good luck!!
 
kaplan
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If you can't beat them, become them

Your example is a fair fight lost, these people have a lot of unfair advantages too - Imagine a trained AI constantly looking at auctions and bringing up good ones for you to review, how can you really beat it, maybe only when the owner is occupied with other things and can't be bothered with what the system brings up

I'm personally investing more and more technical resources into auction watching, but I'll probably quit soon, it started becoming tedious, it's not fun any more - I also don't think there's considerable money to be made, it's more like a fun game, and we are all players, so try to enjoy the game and quit if you don't

With eBay, auction-wise - the strategy is clear and just, determine your max$ - and bid that max$ when there's 5 seconds left
 
hoipolloi
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How do you beat the middlemen/flippers on eBay?

Pay more.
 
timoss
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1) I try to take a zen approach to Ebay auction hunting--if I don't win, then it wasn't meant to be. No sweat. Saved some money. There will always be another opportunity down the road.

2) The exception to this is finding something that I really, really, really want. In these cases, I don't try to "get a deal" and underbid to hope for a steal. I know even if I overpay a bit, I will still be happy, and I bid accordingly. If I STILL don't win it at that point, though, see point #1 above.
 
Lognam25
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michael e michael e
You are like Tom Cruise at the start of the film “Edge of tomorrow” at the moment, give it a few months of bidding on eBay and you will become a hardened killing machine like many on here 😁
Michael, I sent you a private message, I'm new on the forum and I don't speak english really well so I may have missed something on the rules.. did you received it ?
 
wagudc
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hoipolloi hoipolloi
How do you beat the middlemen/flippers on eBay?

Pay more.

And use sniping software.
 
lexieb007
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It’s worse when you think you’ve stumbled on a bargain, ask for clarification on something because the photos aren’t clear and the seller realises they don’t know what a great vintage piece they really have, and pull the sale. Then Relist at 10x... this has even happened to me *after* winning the auction.
 
vlaspri
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lexieb007 lexieb007
It’s worse when you think you’ve stumbled on a bargain, ask for clarification on something because the photos aren’t clear and the seller realises they don’t know what a great vintage piece they really have, and pull the sale. Then Relist at 10x... this has even happened to me *after* winning the auction.
I had exactly that kind of situation when I asked seller to make a photo of caseback inside. The item was relisted immediately and not with a common market price but double market price. Since then - no more asking details from sellers 😀
 
redpcar
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vlaspri vlaspri
I had exactly that kind of situation when I asked seller to make a photo of caseback inside. The item was relisted immediately and not with a common market price but double market price. Since then - no more asking details from sellers 😀

Correct. Quietly bid. Don't ask questions. Pay immediately. shhhh.

edit: don't ask questions to the ebay seller
Edited:
 
plongeur78
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eBay is a massive gamble, I would never sell using it as the buyer has all the protection, for buying I’ve lost count the amount of times I’ve placed a bit during an auction only for it to be ended and sold outside eBay or the seller decides to cancel it as he didn’t get what he wanted then repost it buy it now for a ridiculous price, it can be fun but is usually more of a headache.
 
bgrisso
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redpcar redpcar
My search is for "Buy it now", "Newly listed". That way when I buy it, hopefully it will be taken down before other people are able to tempt the seller with a higher price.

except for the people searching for sold or completed listings and emailing better offers to the sellers 😡
 
cristos71
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Mark020 Mark020
Nice tactic. Unfortunately I live in a country were Ebay is hardly used to sell stuff.

Yes but we're lucky, we have MP 😵‍💫😲😵‍💫😲😵‍💫
 
Kjack48230
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michael e michael e
I buy watches from eBay and flip them as a business, I also sell watches that are in turn flipped by other dealers or collectors for a profit.
I say good luck to everyone.
I miss out on plenty of watches at auction and buy it now, it used to sting but not any more. (Well a bit sometimes )
The one thing I recommend is bidding as high as you want to go and are comfortable with, if you win.... brilliant, if you lose, dust yourself down and carry on, something better and cheaper is always around the corner trust me, if you put the time in and have the knowledge the hunt is one of the best parts.
Cheers, Michael

That is the best advice I like to follow. I just acquired a pretty ruff looking Seamaster Chrono last night. I had placed my bid limit and dropped it within the last 20 seconds. I was pleasantly surprised that I got it for just a few dollars more than the current bid, quite a bit lower than my max price. It's still a long shot that the movement is in good shape but it's something I'm planning on keeping after I get it cleaned up. So the amount I saved on getting it will go to the CLA and new crystal. It's a lot of fun when you can grab something unique at a good price. Good luck on your hunt!
 
s-l1600 (2).jpg
Wryfox
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Realtime Realtime
I have only been buying and selling on eBay for a year now and what an education the last year has been. I certainly agree that you need to employ the sniper strategy when bidding to be successful and it’s definitely prudent to set your upper limit based on your research prior to bidding.

I've been on eBay almost 24 years now, one of the first actually just after they officially changed their name from Auctionweb. You can imagine what it was like before automated snipers and lots of people on DIAL UP internet (you might have to google that). Also, everything was an actual auction...nowadays I think almost 90% is Buy It Now listings. And international was sketchy as hell. Quite frankly, eBay is easier to use now than ever, which is nice to say. Piece of cake, actually. It was a bit of a devil back in the old west days.

And up until about 8 years ago, you could really find some nice deals. They did a big redevelopment effort then and it made another growth spurt. Its such an efficient market now I use it to value lots of things, not just watches. But because it's an efficient market it's much harder to find a good deal. Such is life, eh?

I still find deals, but its usually on poor titling, misspellings etc which is what I search for. For example, you'd be surprised to find things under Speadmaster or Tackymeter.
Edited:
 
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