Watch Ebay Carefully: Listings disappearing overnight

[Granby]

Rant alert.... LOL

I checked out a few listings yesterday for some phonograph parts - spotted a turntable and noticed it had two days left. It was the auction format, no "buy it now" or "make offer" link. So, I thought - I'll place a bid once it gets closer to "ending" and decided to "watch" it.

This morning, I checked and it is GONE. It doesn't appear on my watchlist anymore, not even on my "recently viewed" tab. I ran a search of "completed" listings and it doesn't appear there, either. So, I guess the lesson is this - bid immediately when you see it or write down the seller's contact info.

Nothing is normal anymore in 2023....

[JerryVan]

Sometimes listings disappear that are reported as fraudulent.

[Granby]

Sometimes listings disappear that are reported as fraudulent.

Fair point.... the listing I can't seem to find was for a turntable and it was only $9.99.... maybe too good to be true....

[epigramophone]

Sometimes a listing will be ended prematurely because the seller accepted a generous offer.
Even if the listing has no "Make Offer" option, potential buyers can still message the seller with an offer.
I have never understood why some people leave bidding until the last minute.
If I really want an item, I register my interest immediately by making a bid.

[cleveland1996]

I have had the same type of thing happen….I learned that many sellers will remove a listing if there are no bid, especially as the time narrows down…….best thing is to put in a low bid early to try and hinder removal by the seller…

[Granby]

Agreed.... I really should have bid when I saw the thing yesterday... LOL.

[Steve]

Sometimes a listing will be ended prematurely because the seller accepted a generous offer.
Even if the listing has no "Make Offer" option, potential buyers can still message the seller with an offer.
I have never understood why some people leave bidding until the last minute.
If I really want an item, I register my interest immediately by making a bid.

Well each to their own by like a lot of people if I REALLY want something I probably won't bid until the last few seconds. Why? It's been tested and apparently you have a much better chance of winning if you bid at a time when others have no time to react and reconsider their maximum bids.

I learnt early on the hard way about 20 years ago that there was something called Sniper software which automatically bids on your behalf at the last minute. I used to get frustrated when I was winning something and I'd sit in front of my PC refreshing the screen every 30 seconds only to see myself outbid with a few seconds to go. With that said I don't use the software as I simply bid manually at the last minute. More often than not I've been successful when I really want to be.

I think the theory behind it is that there is psychology at work when someone is outbid with days to go. Some people like to lead and will keep chiipping away until they are back in front. Bidding late stops anyone running your bid up by its proxy bid system while the day's and hours are passing slowly by.

[Stephen_Madara]

Put a bid in when you see it listed. Sellers may end sales if they think it will only bring the starting bid and there is no action .

[JerryVan]

I always put in a lower bid early on. If for no other reason than to get updates on it, plus it keeps my "bid" items in a neat little list in "My eBay". I usually come in with a strong bid with maybe 15 minutes to go. My nerves don't allow for waiting until the final seconds. I bid just a bit more than my budget and constitution will bear. That way if I don't get it, I can console myself that I wouldn't have paid a penny more anyway. With that in mind, I would rather lose an item by $500 than by $5.

[JeffR1]

In this case I would have put a bid in of 150.00$ right out of the gate.
The other bidders can't see my max bid of course.
My 150.00$ bid psych's out all the penny-anti bidders _ they keep getting "out bid" "out bid" "out bid" "out bid" "out bid" "out bid"....

I find this tactic wipes all the less serious bidders off the board.

When the serious ones come in, most will never bid that much, so even at the last few seconds they can't possibly bid high enough because they run out of time, and if someone is bidding near that 150.00 bucks, they can have it.

The majority of people on eBay don't have deep pockets and they're very predictable in this way.

There have been a few cases where the other bidder has lots on money and I was bidding in £50.00 increments on this rare cycling jersey, I bid one last time to make it £300.00 and he gave up.
That bloody Jersey cost me around 600.00 Canadian dollars !

Things go sideways sometimes.