Why I Hate Ebay!!!!!!

J

Jeff Fillmore

Member
Oh man- I am so bummed out.... ; :(

There I was a few nights ago chasing after the latest thing I want- a 28mm f1.4- http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/co ... index2.htm

First off- I hardly ever do Ebay auctions- I usually opt for buying used off a few forums or if Ebay I normally do 'Buy-it-Now' but for this lens the few buy-it-now's I find are in outer space. ; But I find one with a sort of reasonable (for that lens) starting bid and -0- bids so far. The lens is in good shape- the seller has good feedback- and as said they are kind of few and far between so I watch it for a few days and still nothing. ; I hate to bid- and I especially hate to bid first but had to since we were going out of town for the holiday and was not sure if we would be back for the 10pm bid tonight- so I put my bid in this morning before we left a few hundred above the opening but several hundred below the buy-it-now option- and it was still the only bid- even when I would sneak a peek during the day today.

So here I am tonight and help get the kids off to bed and get to the computer with 30 minutes or so left on the auction- still no other bids. For the next half hour I am sporadically refreshing the page keeping an eye on it and no activity- I am thinking wow- maybe I will get a bargain since it's Easter and I am the only one on Ebay tonight looking for ridiculously overpriced lenses. At least that is what I am thinking until only TWO SECONDS left when I lost it.

Here is my smiley depiction of the last ten seconds of the auction and beyond: ; :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) ??? :o >:( >:( ...:'( :'( :'(

Well sorry to burden you all with my Ebay sorrow but I had to vent to someone who might understand- all my wife offered for sympathy was to ask 'Didn't you just get a new lens?' on her way to bed. ; Sometimes I really wonder about her.
 
BTDT and I share your pain and disappointment. ; Sometimes the prices are just very unrealistic as people get into a bidding war or swoop in and snip as what happened to you. ; I've been watching a couple of items on eBay for a few months and, so far, they've all sold OVER the price I can get new. ; Do people even know what the MSRP is when they are bidding?

If I can't get a USED item at a significant discount, I don't bother. ; Like you, I've had more luck on the photography boards where most (but not all) sellers are reasonable when it comes to selling used equipment. ;
 
I totally understand your frustration. ; I have lost many auctions that way. ; Its unfortunate that Nikon stopped making the 28 f1.4 several years ago and now if you can find one, you can easily pay double the original price for it. ;

I wanted one of those too, but I have given up on finding one at a reasonable price and am hoping that Nikon releases a new version. ;
 
That sucks. ; Someone locally was selling theirs; they seemed to be dumping all of their Nikon gear on Craigslist. ; Something about switching to HD.
 
What a bummer. Ihave never bid on anything on eBay & doubt I ever will. Especially after reading about your episode here.
 
That's why whenever I've bid on something on Ebay I figure out my maximum bid and just don't go over it. ; Often you can go quite a while and it can seem like you've got it, but I know that things heat up at the end. ; I put in a bid that's as high as I want to go (since it'll only bid slightly higher than the next highest bid and will keep the rest of your bid in reserve) and then I let it go. ; Whatever happens will happen.

Of course, so far I haven't won a single auction.

My experience has been that the items seem to be selling for more than I feel they're worth. ; It's looking like ebay is more of a seller's market.
 
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