Upcoming Holiday /e-Bay sniping window

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pshinkaw

Guest
I previously propounded my thesis that major holidays are among the best time to go sniping on e-Bay. Next Thursday is the U.S. Thanksgiving Day which, if you are not a resident of the U.S., you may not be aware of as a holiday.

Many if not most people in the US will be busy at family gatherings, watching football on TV or initiating another annual rite in the U.S., Christmas shopping. In short, not many people will be watching e-Bay auctions.

Any Seller unwise enough to post a desireable camera or lens for auction this coming week may see it go for a less than desireable sum.

Hopefully some you will test my theory out. Go forth and buy old cameras!

-Paul
 
I think normal market rules regarding rangefinder cameras have become completely obsolete mainly due to the existence of this forum :D
 
Do you really think we have that much market influence? Or is is just a dietary preference for something other than turkey among rangefinder photographers?

-Paul
 
Everytime someone here mentions the QL17...it sells for over $100 on Ebay.

Next Thursday, I will have my wireless laptop joining us at Thanksgiving!

:D
 
Well, dunno if we're such a big influence but sure the whole internet photo forums community can make a specific kind of camera go up the hill, just that I can remember now, there was the Pentax K1000, the Yashica Mat 124G, the G-III QL17... :rolleyes:

But thanks for the tip, I'll keep my eyes open, when does the Superbowl final take place ? ;)
 
Oh, sorry.

G-III QL17, G-III QL17 !

...

But what do you want to sell it? it is such a nice cute little rangefinder !

;)
 
I know, I can be happy keeping it. But... maybe I could get another lens for the Bessas.
 
I love EBay on Major Events. The 4th Quarter of the Superbowl is a great camera buying time. After the Christmas Season, and not too many GUYS in the US sniping me!

When are all of those Soccer Matches in Europe?

How about Japan? When are those Events.

Okay my Friends to the North! Is the Canadian Football League Still around?
 
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Let's see... this idea might work only in case of a holiday falling on a Sunday (a day in which your chances of selling stuff increase, as not all the people in the country are sitting in front of the TV watching Masterpiece Theater or Desperate Housewives).

However, I do believe that those who posted stuff for sale yesterday and left it running for a week... will wake up very sorry on Friday.
 
Lets see. I'll be putting some stuff up on eBay soon, so time to raise the prices.

Bessa R2, Vivitar 35ES, Yashica 35CC black, Bessa R2, Yashica MG-1, Yashica GSN, Bessa R2, Vivitar 35ES, Yashica 35CC black, Bessa R2, Yashica MG-1, Yashica GSN, Bessa R2, Vivitar 35ES, Yashica 35CC black, Bessa R2, Yashica MG-1, Yashica GSN, Bessa R2, Vivitar 35ES, Yashica 35CC black, Bessa R2, Yashica MG-1, Yashica GSN, Bessa R2, Vivitar 35ES, Yashica 35CC black, Bessa R2, Yashica MG-1, Yashica GSN...
 
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I'm still not sure there's any real advantage to sniping, other than that it's kind of fun.

I figure that if you go in early and post a bid for the absolute most you're willing to pay, proxy bidding will take care of the rest. If someone "snipes" you at the last minute... well, to beat the sniper you'd have had to go above the limit that you're willing to pay, right? (And that way lies "auction fever"...)

One thing not everyone knows about eBay: If an early bidder and a sniper top out at the same price, the early bidder gets the item, because the first bid has priority. I've won a couple of auctions simply because I entered my bid early and the other guy came in late.

Hmmm, this could be an interesting subject to analyze through game theory...
 
It is a big world, there will always be someone willing to pay $1 more than you on everything. So if you bid your max and wait, you will loose, a lot, or pay more because others will peck away at you to win. If an item has no or fewer bids, if the price isn't inflated by this pecking, then by sniping you may be able to get an item cheaper.

That is what I look for when I am looking for bargins. I am probably wrong, but it works sometimes. That being said, if there is a nice item, a clean Leica M3 for example, it is going to sell for what it is worth no matter what because there will be a lot of interest.

Besides, it is fun to play with your bidding. Have you ever played ebay roulette? You find a reserve auction, try to guess the reserve amount and bid just under that total so you don't win, but the next guy that comes along does. I have a seller who I more or less have figured out his reserves for Minolta SLR cameras, $150 for a CLA'd x-700, $125 for an SRT 102. I think I am doing him a service because without me his reserves wouldn't be met and his cameras wouldn't sell.
 
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Rover's system got me my M3...and I didn't even really plan on buying it! It was a very clean, recently CLA'd DS M3 with a fancy serial number (amount which I care about this=0) and a buy it now of 950. It was going to be over in 20 minutes and had a starting bid of 600. I figured that no one would have put the reserve that low if the buy it now was so high. I was wrong and got it for 600.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
Okay my Friends to the North! Is the Canadian Football League Still around?
Click to expand...

Still going, stong as ever. The Grey Cup is tomorrow in Ottawa. BC vs Toronto. Played the way football should be played, outside. Too bad it's gonna be so warm for the game, probably above freezing :)

http://www.cfl.ca/

Go Argos.
 
They used to carry the CFL games on the local channels here. I suppose the "local leagues" complained too much.

Back in my Nasty Ebay days... When I really wanted an item I would find all of the other items that the competition was bidding on and bid those up as well. The theory was to exhaust his reserves. It was mostly for buying camera parts that I needed to restore a few cameras. Have not done that in yeras; EBay teaches that no matter how rare an item is, another will be along and fly below the RADAR screen. It is not "FUN" like it used to be, and I prefer selling items to "known Entities" even if it would get more from strangers.
 
Yes, You have heard of Sniping. I called that "Strafing".

I think that if anyone is looking to buy for themselves, now is not the time. I just looked at two Canon 50mm F1.4's , one well past $300 and another close to it. We are too close to Christmas. I paid $395 for my Near Mint Canon 7 with the Canon 50mm F1.4 after Christmas and before Tax Time. Feb and March are slow, and near April 15th so that people sell of stuff to pay the Taxman.
 
Brian is right. Xmas isn't the best of times to buy, but the first week of the year. I remember how a Contax G1 body virtually flew in my eyes for a whooping $187.65 in January 2002. But then, I got mine in February, with a Planar 45/2.

Don't you guys love the sellers who claim their items are going at low price and NR, only to find that the minimum first bid is 100 or 50 bucks below their BIN price?

So much for the NR!!
 
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