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[ddraigmor]

You'd think - you'd just think - that there would be one time - the smallest window of opportunity, the blessing of fate - when I'd actually win something I really, really wanted on e.bay.

You'd be wrong.

First, it was a collection of model boat bits - including a wheelhouse off a 'Smit Nederland' - that would have been transplanted onto an RTR 'Southampton' and unningly re-vamped to make a decent looking model that would be a joy to sail. No....four seconds into the end, someone from Sweden got in with an extra £2.

Then there was a half built 'Smit Nederland'. Four seconds from the end someone doubled the bid. 

It's happened before. I suspect there is some electronic wizadry going on with an auto bidder that knocks honest folk flat. It';s a sort of acceptable cheating and it is so wrong, so very wrong - but it will never stand up.  Never. I shal; have to resign myself to waiting util someone on here has a wheelhouse that they don't want of the said kit and I can purchase it.

The dream is still there. I have the boat ready - it will need a coat of paint to alter its colour scheme - and when I get the wheelhouse - it will be trasfixed with different funnels, a new bridge front - and sonme excellent new notos and gubbins from dave at Action whose wizardry with my current boat - renamed 'Eryri' but is an ex RTR 'Southampton' gives her a really uinfair advanatge with independent control and a turning circle and maouverability to die for!

Sigh - I think I've had it with e.bay!

So...anyone got an old wheelhouse they don't want languishing forlorn and lost in their spares box......? I'll pay top dollar for the right one!

This is a very rough idea of what I will do with it!



No funnels - yet - so ignore the shading bit.

Sigh....new winches on deck, new towing bollards, cut open and roller stern.......

Well, a man can dream, eh?

Ddraigmor

[Colin Bishop]

Why not save yourself the aggro and just make one - it's really not that difficult - and much more satisfying.

Colin

[Dueller]

I used to get caught out on Ebay like that but no more.

I use a technique called "bid sniping". If you see something you like, dont bid, just watch, if you bid it alerts other bidders.
Decide the top amount you want to pay for the item and no more.
Then with 30 seconds to go, put in your top bid, by the time you have completed the process and your bid shows, it's usually too late for anyone else to top you.

Note:
1. 30 secs depending on your internet speed and how fast you are at typing, you may have to adjust the timing.
2. If you look at the bids already in, there is a link to show automatic bids so that you can better judge who your up against and how much to pay.
3. you may still lose if someone has a higher max already "in" but then if it goes for more than you want to pay then your not paying over the odds.

[essex2visuvesi]

play them at there own game, thats what I do

Many a bargain has been had with the one I use

please delete the link if you feel it is in bad form

www.gixen.com

[mick]

Wait until the last ten seconds...then bid...if you can afford to do it....bid over what you think the item will sell for....it's a close run thing this eBay... practice makes perfect....I had it down to a fine art....however...you can be caught out and pay over the odds. All part of the fun...Mick

[Mankster]

Just bid once the maximum you would have been prepared to pay. if someone tops your bid by couple of £'s just before the end then you wouldnt have been able to afford it anyway. Besides, even if the someone tops your bid and wins by a few pounds, their atual bid may have been much, much higher anyways.

[brianc]

If you decide to use a sniping program be very,very careful  as a good many have adware and spyware.
The best bet is to do as advised above, wait until the last few seconds and put in your maximum bid.It works for me (sometimes )

[cornishlad]

one that i have used for a number of years is auction sentry. its not free, but has no spyware or ads.
saves using a stopwatch, which used to do in the past. pat.

[andyn]

I use a technique called "bid sniping". If you see something you like, dont bid, just watch, if you bid it alerts other bidders.
Decide the top amount you want to pay for the item and no more.
Then with 30 seconds to go, put in your top bid,

I wish there were more people around like you. Stuff goes for far too much on ebay because numbskulls bid too early. I watched a rather run down multi boat that would have been worth to me and anyone else around £30, but because people started bidding to early it went for £72. Was a nice boat too...

[The long Build]

I wish there were more people around like you. Stuff goes for far too much on ebay because numbskulls bid too early. I watched a rather run down multi boat that would have been worth to me and anyone else around £30, but because people started bidding to early it went for £72. Was a nice boat too...

I agree with what your saying , But put yourself in the sellers shoes would you not rather it sold for £72 and not £30 ?

[Shipmate60]

But if it was a "nice boat" who says your valuation is their valuation.
Someone obviously feels it was worth more than you were prepared to pay so there was no way you would have got it.

I only bid once with about 5 seconds to go, I either win it or lose it as there is no time form another bid.
You win some, you lose some. If you really want it bid higher is the only way to win it.

Bob

[HS93 (RIP)]

I used to get caught out on Ebay like that but no more.

I use a technique called "bid sniping". If you see something you like, dont bid, just watch, if you bid it alerts other bidders.
Decide the top amount you want to pay for the item and no more.
Then with 30 seconds to go, put in your top bid, by the time you have completed the process and your bid shows, it's usually too late for anyone else to top you.

Note:
1. 30 secs depending on your internet speed and how fast you are at typing, you may have to adjust the timing.
2. If you look at the bids already in, there is a link to show automatic bids so that you can better judge who your up against and how much to pay.
3. you may still lose if someone has a higher max already "in" but then if it goes for more than you want to pay then your not paying over the odds.

I do the exact same,never bid earley but decide on what it is worth to me (and not what I think it may go for) and bid as late as I dare. I then don't mind if I don't get it as I then think it was to dear, OH and NEVER go looking about at 4am when tired and hit the buy it nows you end up with lots of stuff you don't need or will never use all of if you modelled for another 100 years (like about 200servo leads)


Peter

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

Just bid once the maximum you would have been prepared to pay. if someone tops your bid by couple of £'s just before the end then you wouldnt have been able to afford it anyway. Besides, even if the someone tops your bid and wins by a few pounds, their atual bid may have been much, much higher anyways.

I used to bid early, just so people that knew me would see my name on the bid list and give me a chance.
Now bids are all anonymous, so no sense in putting up a low spot bid at all.

Now, I never bid early, or my maximum... Why? because "Frankie Bid-a buck" will take shots at it all day long.

Say you see an auction at ­­£7, and know that the item is worth up to £35.  
So you place your maximum bid at £28... When you place your Bid, the item is now listed at £8....

Now, "Frankie Bid-a buck" steps in and thinks, "Oh Heck, I'll bid £9..." But your maximum is higher than that, so he loses.
Does he stop, no he thinks, well I would have actually paid a bit more, so he bids another £, then two, then five... Now
Your bid has been bumped up to £19...

Other people may bid in the process, but let's say the bid is still at £19 the day the auction is to end.
"Frankie Bid-a buck" comes back and with a bit of regret thinks, I can out bid that. So he bids another £ or six, and pushes your bid
up to £25 the auction ends, you win, all is good in the world...

However, consider this,.... If you had only put in a spot bid, so that you could be reminded that the auction was ending, or just
signed up to be alerted to the ending of the auction, THEN, "Frankie Bid-a buck" would have felt like he won the auction at £9.
You could come back and snipe the bid in the last minute with your Maximum bid still at £28, and bought the item for £10.
 "Frankie Bid-a buck" would have never gotten a chance to push up the price toward your maximum bid. If you snipe with your
maximum bid, and lose,... well that was your "maximum", and someone else just needed the item more, and was willing to pay more.

That is one reason why you see sniping....  

[Dueller]

I started "sniping" after i lost out on a couple of tankards, 2 pinters (quarts), as you can see by my profile photo i'm a tankard type person, and you'd be surprised how many young bar persons fill it up when you say "stick a pint in there".  

As a fellow re-enactor once said "A pirate should never own a tankard unless it's big enough to kill a man"

[john54]

Also haveing a few shandys  & going on there could be your downfall

[ddraigmor]

Ta for the valuable tips, chaps.

I have tried to build in the past - and make a total pig's stern of it! Anything involving cutting wheelhouse windows is a disaster for me. They may as well make kits for me with the windows cut out and I'd be fine!

Seriously, conversion is something I enoy. I have posted pics on here - somewhere - of the RTR 'Southampton' I converted. I opened her stern and fitted a fixed roller plate, added a home made stern gantry, added a white metal towing winch and bitts securely cemented in - so she tows really well. I also added a few other bits and bobs, re-painted and re-named her - and she had her first outing in a proper Gale Force 8 up at Holyhead's Breakwater Park, where she performed like a true beaut, thanks to the twin independent motors and gear supplied by Action (ta again Dave!).

I love sailing her - she handles so well she will put others to shame in tight spots. She is very responsive.

Once I'd done that and seen all the fruits of my 'Oo'er....should I have done that?' form of construction floating along and giving it some wellie through a model type hurricane, I decided that conversion was the way for me.

The plan is to use another 'Southampton' - a re-emgined one - and replace the top bridge deck something like the photo above in my other post. Take the ladder that comes with her off the forepart. box in the bridge deck, add a different set of funnels aft of a 'Smit Nederland' wheelhouse. Add a small crane and a Gemini inflatable, a white metal winch and H bitts, and again, cut the stern open. Then it is unique and original and mine!

So if any of you know of anyone who has a wheelhouse they're notr using....!

The conversion I am currently sailing:

- bollard pull test.

Three quarters bow shot

Gantry and stern roller

maiden voyage with decks wet!

So as you can see, I am 'into' the hobby and interested - but nowhere near with the skill ;evel you boys have got!

Best regards,

Ddraigmor

[Dinosaursoupman]

I have totally given up on ebay. There is nothing on there that I can't find somewhere else and often pay a lot less in the end. What finally left me disenchanted with the whole process was the fact that I would bid on something (usually sniping within the final few seconds) but would end up paying a premium for it. And yes, I only bid what I was willing to pay. Then, once buyers remorse set in, when I would go to sell it, all the people that just couldn't live without it when I wanted to buy it, well, they just disappear. I end up selling it at 1/3rd what I had to pay for it. Then top that off with all the fees that ebay and paypal charge, it's more economical to chop it up and use it for firewood. In the end, if it's on ebay, I don't need it.

Randy

[funtimefrankie]

Another tip is that if the same person has two bids at the top of the list he's increased his bid, so the item will probably go for more than the next increment.
So if Mr X's bid is £6.60, show twice, the next bid would be £7.10, 50p more, but he will automatically out bid you, if you just bid £7.10.

Well that's what I think anyway......

[ddraigmor]

I may well get a wheelhouse via a member here - not a 'Smit Nederland' type but something a bit more modern. I'm pretty chuffed with that!

It is quite often the case that vessels lose their original wheelhouse as they are upgraded and modernised, so this is an exiting proposal for me. It also gives me more room on the bridge deck - so that allows for more kit up there and more space on the main deck.

Negotiations re cutting the windows out and postage costs are in hand but I am pretty confident that this will be a solution.

The basic 'Southampton' has lots of room for improvements - not least in the electronics and power department - but also in terms of fittings. Like most modern utility tug / workboats, these workhorses are called upon to do many and varied tasks - and they reflect this in their appearance.

As for e.bay. I agree with what has been said. I have only ever sold one thing on it - a Grundig Satellite 800 Millenium - a really lovely piece of shortwave radio. I'd had it two years, bought new for £400 and put it onto ebay for £300 ono. It went in the end for £280 but less paypal costs and pstage. That dropped it down to around £240. A quite substancial loss all in all.

Ah well, hopefully I can now get busy on the modified 'Southampton' Mark 2.

What a wonderful place this forum is!

Ddraigmor

[BoatyBoy]

Ebay is an auction site, which means everything is worth exactly what some fool body is willing to pay for it

3 simple rules

1 Never bid more than you want to pay (have a limit & stick to it)
2 Always bid late (the last few seconds if possible)
3 Make sure expensive items are within travelling distance (anyone attempting to rip me off will hear a knock on their door)

Don't forget many buyers are idiots, every day people pay more for a tatty old item on ebay than they could've payed for it new