Room 101

[azda]

8 hours ago, Paulus said:

Yes, looks like he removed the references to CGS 75 and GEF soon after my post or getting eBay messages

More the message. He told me he had no clue who CGS were, don't understand him even using them as a reference if that's the case

[Rob]

He probably wasn't using them as a reference with intent to deceive. He had a Victorian coin of the same colour and similar design to one that was listed and copied the description. Take the one that looks like giving the best return and you will probably end up with something like he wrote. Could have substituted NGC or PCGS for CGS depending on the item viewed, but the result would be the same.

[Bronze & Copper Collector]

Ebay would consider that as "keyword spamming"

 

[Rob]

The postal service.

I sent a package to somewhere south of Paris before Christmas which has gone awol. It turned up today............... in Tahiti.

[mrbadexample]

17 minutes ago, Rob said:

The postal service.

I sent a package to somewhere south of Paris before Christmas which has gone awol. It turned up today............... in Tahiti.

Was it to a Mr Gauguin? 

[Rob]

7 minutes ago, mrbadexample said:

Was it to a Mr Gauguin? 

Wrong island, and a bit late.

The postie could have been interested in abstract art though and misinterpreted the address label.

[mrbadexample]

7 minutes ago, Rob said:

Wrong island,

He spent a couple of years there. It was the only French-Tahitian connection I could think of.

 

[Rob]

Let's just hope they don't lose it in Tahiti, because some metal detectorist in the future would have a hell of a job explaining how a Northumbrian styca found its way to the middle of the Pacific.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Rob

[Peckris]

On 5 September 2016 at 8:17 PM, 1949threepence said:

Successful snipes often entail making your bid massively above the latest bid. That way, you will almost certainly be way ahead of the competition, but still only pay slightly above the bid immediately below yours. 

Works for me anyway. 

Hah! I watched a computer with lots of enhanced features for several days, and was there poised over the keyboard. With little action at 10 minutes to go, I bid £10 over the current top bid, and was 'highest bidder' with about a minute to go. It then went over £400, so I waited for 7 seconds to go, then put in a 'stupid bid' of £701. I won the auction ... at £701. 

I looked closer and there were two bids after mine - one for £599, then a split second later at £699. I viewed the bidding history and saw that the underbidder had withdrawn their successful bid 16 times out of 18 auctions over the previous 30 days. I contacted the seller, querying the auction and got a reply next day saying he knew nothing about the underbidder and agreed that the winning bid was 'on the high side'. I looked again at the bidding history and saw that the underbidder was 'no longer registered with eBay'. 

Luckily the seller was honest (100%), and we agreed a BIN price at £10 more than the previous kosher bid. He reckoned that retailers sometimes went onto eBay and forced up auction prices (withdrawing if they won) to raise the market prices of what they had in stock in their shops, e.g. secondhand computers. 

[1949threepence]

2 hours ago, Peckris said:

Hah! I watched a computer with lots of enhanced features for several days, and was there poised over the keyboard. With little action at 10 minutes to go, I bid £10 over the current top bid, and was 'highest bidder' with about a minute to go. It then went over £400, so I waited for 7 seconds to go, then put in a 'stupid bid' of £701. I won the auction ... at £701. 

I looked closer and there were two bids after mine - one for £599, then a split second later at £699. I viewed the bidding history and saw that the underbidder had withdrawn their successful bid 16 times out of 18 auctions over the previous 30 days. I contacted the seller, querying the auction and got a reply next day saying he knew nothing about the underbidder and agreed that the winning bid was 'on the high side'. I looked again at the bidding history and saw that the underbidder was 'no longer registered with eBay'. 

Luckily the seller was honest (100%), and we agreed a BIN price at £10 more than the previous kosher bid. He reckoned that retailers sometimes went onto eBay and forced up auction prices (withdrawing if they won) to raise the market prices of what they had in stock in their shops, e.g. secondhand computers. 

Yes, I did once encounter the same thing on e bay. 30 seconds to go and previous high bid was £120. I then bid £301.50 with 8 seconds to go. I then paid £301.50. Someone had bid £300.00 with zero seconds to go ! Coin was probably worth £225.00 or thereabouts. Slightly annoying, but as ever with coins, it's swings and roundabouts.  

But it doesn't happen often. Usually there will be an intermediate bid midway between the previous highest and my very high one, which is the final determinant.  

[Peckris]

23 hours ago, 1949threepence said:

Yes, I did once encounter the same thing on e bay. 30 seconds to go and previous high bid was £120. I then bid £301.50 with 8 seconds to go. I then paid £301.50. Someone had bid £300.00 with zero seconds to go ! Coin was probably worth £225.00 or thereabouts. Slightly annoying, but as ever with coins, it's swings and roundabouts.  

But it doesn't happen often. Usually there will be an intermediate bid midway between the previous highest and my very high one, which is the final determinant.  

Yes, if two genuine bidders try the same tactic, there's little you can do. Luckily in my case, a little digging showed there was hanky panky afoot, and the seller and I managed to sort it out between us.

[Rob]

Happened to me and Numismatist about 3 years ago when we were both after a catalogue. According to his post he was a bit perturbed at the rapidly changing situation. Here

A pair of happy campers. He was happy he lost. I was happy I got it below my maximum. Doubles all round. 

[Paulus]

Probably consigned this to Room 101 before, but sellers who describe a coin along the lines of "small dig in the middle of the Queen's cheek does not detract"

Grrr

On the one hand, it's a bit much to tell the beholder what they should ignore, while on the other hand, once it's mentioned, I can't see anything else!

At least it gets mentioned at the outset, reduces returns