BS/ won on ebay

Subject: BS/ won on ebay
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 05 Mar 08 - 01:22 PM

Does the sentence,"I won it on ebay," bother anyone else? I've been attending auctions since the early sixties and have never heard anyone refer to "winning" anything at an auction till ebay came along. You don't "win" something on ebay, you buy it. If you won it surely you wouldn't have to pay for it, would you?

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: SINSULL
Date: 05 Mar 08 - 01:31 PM

You compete against other buyers in an auction and so "win". You can also buy some things out right on ebay.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 05 Mar 08 - 01:32 PM

I have heard the term before with regard to auctions; presumably it comes from the term "winning bid". It does sound a bit daft when you've bought a buy-it-now item at a fixed price on ebay and there are loads of them!

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: The Mole Catcher's Apprentice (inactive)
Date: 05 Mar 08 - 01:33 PM

you bid on ebay, just the same as an auction..you could perhaps say you won, if yours is the successful bid.

Charlotte (going going, gone! sold to the lady in the big hat)

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Mar 08 - 01:35 PM

I thought this was going to be about someone winning some wonderful instrument in an ebay auction and sharing their good fortune in pictures and sound bites with us.:-)

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 05 Mar 08 - 01:52 PM

If yours is the winning bid...you win! I also suggest that if you are getting a true bargain on 'Buy it Now'...if you get to that 'Buy it Now' before anyone else...you are a winner.
I have had some truly incredible bargains on Ebay and sold some items for a huge profit....I am a winner!

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Mar 08 - 05:58 PM

I am a break evener.

Anytime the bidding went hundreds more than actual worth I gave the winner a break and took off the hundreds in overbids.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Mar 08 - 06:24 PM

He who bids highest wins the auction, Jim. That's dead simple. If you can't see it, you're dead stubborn. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: gnomad
Date: 05 Mar 08 - 06:46 PM

I think Jim is simply concerned by the misuse of the term "win", in the sense that the goods bought are not a prize, but a purchase. I tend to agree, but don't feel strongly about it.

One might even make a case that being willing to pay more than anybody else for a particular item is the sign of a loser rather than a winner.

One misuse that does vex me is a current advert that claims "We can give you life cover for only £x" They CAN give you insurance, but they are not planning to do so, they want you to buy it, and are giving nothing.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 02:09 AM

With respect, I have been attending live auctions for 35years+ and the person who secures the lot on the fall of the gavel is known as "The winning bidder"....so tradition would insist on the person winning an auction.
Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 10:30 AM

When you have the winning bid you don't necessarily win.

A mate of mine bid for one of a number of "Sony" digital camcorders a week or two back, and "won" one.

When he got it, it turned out that the lens was a dummy as was the viewfinder, and in fact it appears that someone has got hold of Sony cases, and installed mobile phone cameras in them.

The "lens" is a pinhole and the quality of the output is, to say the least, substandard.

Caveat Emptor.
Don T.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: peregrina
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 10:54 AM

Winning may be a correct term in this context, but there is no doubt that e-bay hypes its language in e-mails to encourage bidding and buying.
"Don't let it get away" and the like--there's an adrenalin rush from winning, losing, or risking things getting away that just aint there with simply paying, purchasing or being the high bidder.
And 'winning' in the context of 'buy it now' sales is simply a misnomer!

That my two cents--but don't let this one get away! Bid again!--you'll win if you put in a bit more.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 11:01 AM

I believe that, as in standard auctions, if buying something you know nothing about...research it first and make a considered decision on how much you actually want to spend on it. Then just don't go over that figure when bidding. If you know about the item you are bidding for then use your knowledge to make that decision. Whatever happens...stick to your guns and don't get into silly battles of 'determination to win' or someone will certainly lose even if they win the bid.
Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 11:01 AM

I'm working through repairing an item bought through a winning bid from eBay. Luck of the draw, they sold as is, but made it sound like it worked. I bought a warranty so will let that take care of the repair. Expensive, but it will eventually work in the end and will cost me a lot less to use this scanner than to take hundreds of slides in to be scanned. Caveat emptor, and you do have to have a plan. I knew this was a possiblity, after watching a year's worth of auctions go by for these items. There are things I no longer attempt to buy on eBay, because a lot of sellers are simply dishonest or fools.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Skivee
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 11:41 AM

I "won" a bid on a 500mm lens to replace one that had been stolen. I paid a fair price, but when the lens arrived an important part of the body was very loose. I had enough experience to repair it by disassembling and adjusting major parts of the lens, but a lesser photo-god might have felt cheated. The lens is feeling much better now, thank you.
I'm not certain that the seller knew the difference.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: EBarnacle
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 11:58 AM

My most recent ebay purchase turned out to be a computer part from a local IT shop. It has grown into a good relationship which may eventually become a friendship. They also buy stuff from me and recycle my old electronics for me.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 12:19 PM

I found it confusing, the first time I got an e-mail saying I'd won something on e bay. But then I'm old, and easily confused.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: wysiwyg
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 03:35 PM

Ebay is very much "caveat emptor," and you can get into a lot of trouble there, quick. Thank God I finally found the "Bid Assistant" option BEFORE Hardi took back his card AND his ring! :~)

But I did get a number of items I'm happy with, one the seller promptly agreed to replace, and one that's strictly shame-on-me-- my first item and one which Ebay quickly warned me I'd best file a claim on right after I'd paid for it, because a seller's whole set of "fraudulent" listings was being removed. (Even that item may be actually operable, now that I've dumbed my mind down far enough to figure out what stupid decision-tree it must have).

Ebay communications with sellers can be a lot like figuring out assembly instructions poorly translated from an Asian languiage--sometimes it doesn't compute.

~"Winner" (not aiming to be Champeen!)

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 04:02 PM

I'm with Jim on this. Yes, the auction itself is a competition of sorts, so he who prevails wins the auction, but he certainly does not "win" the item. There's a distinct difference between the two. Winning the auction simply entitles him to purchase the item.

I've never heard anyone say he "won" a piece of property at a real estate auction. It's always "purchased at auction". If you're the purchaser, it's a given that you won the auction.

What seems to have happened with the advent of on-line auctions is that one verb is being used to describe two related activities.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: GUEST,The blabk belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 07:22 AM

I view the semantics as being similar to buying a raffle ticket. If you win the raffle you have still paid for the ticket. You may buy multiple tickets to get a better chance of winning.
The only difference with ebay is that you don't pay unless you win and your bid reflects the number of tickets you would have bought.
Well, it's one way of looking at it:)

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: wysiwyg
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 09:37 AM

Well, the common point of raffles and Ebay is that you pay what you hope is an amount far smaller than the actual worth, to you, of the item you may eventually get. (In a raffle, you pay to take a "chance.")

The HongKong iPod knockoff is a 4-gig piece of crap. What good is a 4-gig memory that has folders you cannot manage??? What good is a 4-gig flash drive that you think may fail at any moment? Answer: not much. Probably less "value" than the $ this first-time-Ebaying gaffe cost me.

BUT, the cost of the lesson? Cheap cost for a good leson.

The worth of one of the enclosed components that may solve another, related, persistent gear conumdrum? Been looking everywhere I could think of, without success, and now I HAVE one.


Toss out the 4-gig piece of crap and I'm left with something I can use.

Use the lesson learned to guide other Ebay purchases, and I have quite a bit of useful, inexpensive gear I will put to good, intention-guided use.


Like it or not, we'se human beans and this is how we get smarter, usually.


Now, if only I could FIND the "Bid Assistant" tool Ebay SAYS will keep me out of trouble.....! Off for another lookie....

~S~

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: GUEST,Windsor Knot
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 05:43 PM

Just saw some old faces on the front of an album for sale on ebay. "The Settlers" and it's on the York record label !

It's item number 290216091792        

Your ageing well folkies, and some still playing !

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Ebbie
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 12:21 AM

"I have had some truly incredible bargains on Ebay and sold some items for a huge profit....I am a winner! " Georgiansilver

See, I don't understand. I'm serious. People buying on EBay are hoping for a bargain, people selling on EBay are hoping to make some money. How does that work?

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Amos
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 01:38 AM

WIllin' sellers finding willing buyers -- both feel they have won in the deal.

It is a product of the uneven distribution of information, which makes all markets interesting.


A

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 03:47 AM

O.K Ebbie for an example:- I buy gold and silver items when I can get them.
Just happened on Ebay and found a 9 carat gold cigarette case for sale...bidding starting at £50....made contact with the seller and asked how much they wanted for it and would they sell on a 'Buy It Now' basis.....they replied with yes we will sell for £150 plus £5 postage....so I asked them to put on 'Buy It Now' and bought it at their price...so we were both happy......me especially........It's scrap gold value is £280 so I made £125 on the deal.
I don't get bargains like that every day of course but nice to get one every so often.

Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: GUEST,Windsor Knot
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 04:50 AM

Place small bids on lots of valuable items (many have a starting price of 0.99p). If you are successful on one in twenty you are a winner. I have done it many times and resold the items on ebay.

Another secret is to go to free translation, translate the description of items your interested in, go to ebay France, Germany or Poland, enter the translation and you will be surprised how much comes up and how cheap they can be. I do well here on rare banknotes and books.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: frogprince
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 08:03 PM

My monitor deteriorated to borderline usability a couple of weeks back. I don't know for sure where the ebay seller came up with the one I'm using now; I picked up some hint that a few people had bought crt monitors like this as part of package bargains, didn't want them, and put them on ebay, new in the box. I got this for no more than half the best price I could otherwise find for anything like a quality unit of any kind, and it's as sweet as I could hope for. Feels like winning to me.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: GUEST,Jack the Sailor
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 08:12 PM

Let me get this straight. You "win" buy offering to pay more than anyone else?

Seems to me the winner is the vendor.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Little Hawk
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 08:44 PM

No! The winner is the guy who bids the highest! Believe me, Jack, there's no thrill like the thrill you get when you realize you just aced out those other 10 guys who were bidding against you and you now HAVE the item that you all so desperately wanted, and the fact that you just dropped a pretty insane amount of money to get that item only INCREASES its value in your eyes! You will wait day by day for it to arrive, rip open the package with trembling fingers when it does, and spend hours gloating over it like a dragon on his treasure pile.

When the glow wears off, as it does in a day or so, no problem. Go back to Ebay and start bidding on something else! If you get it, you win. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: GUEST,Jack the Sailor
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 08:48 PM

So the attraction of Ebay is akin to compulsive gambling?

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: GUEST,Windsor Knot
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 09:22 PM

There is a service which places your bid automatically 6 seconds before the auction ends. I prefer to do this and it avoids the bidding war with other members. Your bid appears just as the auction is closing and no one has time to get their bid in. It's www.ezsniper.com

If there is something you really want use this.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Little Hawk
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 09:31 PM

I guess it's vaguely like gambling, Jack, (in that it can become quite addictive) but the difference is that in gambling you usually lose all your money and get nothing for it, whereas on Ebay you spend some of your money (only if you win the item) and you get exactly what you wanted to spend that money on. If you lose, you don't lose any of your money.

To me, that's a world of difference.

Gambling is just sad!

I"ve been using EZsniper for a couple of years now, and it's very convenient and a great time and attention saver.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:00 AM

My reent experience is that I do not even get 80% of what I pay for on ebay. Its either the fault of the seller or the post, so they both blame each other and leave the buyer holding the bag.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: GUEST,Jack the Sailor
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:25 AM

I have not had good experience with Ebay vendors.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 02:42 AM

I have done over 600 deals on Ebay ...both buying and selling and only had one real problem to sort....a bounced cheque. I contacted the lady concerned who was horrified and immediately sent off a cheque on her boyfriends account which cleared OK.

Subject: RE: BS/ won on ebay
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 07:43 AM

I have only ever bought "buy it now" items on ebay so I always "win". I have always been pleased with the items I have bought and there have never been any problems.

I have loads of things I could sell on there (I'm decluttering and trying to downshift) but I just can't seem to get my act together to get started. I've stopped working now so I'm going to make the effort. Threads like this are great for giving the incentive.