someone may have got a good deal earlier

alastair

http://cgi.ebay.com/VOLVO-P-1800-ES-1800ES-CLASSIC-CAR_W0QQitemZ4575182730QQcategoryZ108797QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Decided to bid up to €1585, even though I already have an 1800Es in great nick. It would have made a great donor car if (as is likely) the rustbug had gotten in too deep, and there was always the possibility that it could have been better than that. All the same, I've nowhere to keep it, and couldn't justify spending anything near real value on the thing. Still smarts that it went for a mere €20 more. They don't often turn up at that sort of money.

PaulK_CCI

alastair wrote:

http://cgi.ebay.com/VOLVO-P-1800-ES-1800ES-CLASSIC-CAR_W0QQitemZ4575182730QQcategoryZ108797QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Decided to bid up to €1585, even though I already have an 1800Es in great nick. It would have made a great donor car if (as is likely) the rustbug had gotten in too deep, and there was always the possibility that it could have been better than that. All the same, I've nowhere to keep it, and couldn't justify spending anything near real value on the thing. Still smarts that it went for a mere €20 more. They don't often turn up at that sort of money.

But the winning bid went to someone with ZERO feedback.... very suspicious , i'd say it's more than likely the owner himself deciding to stick an automated bid on it with a new ID to make sure it's not going away for peanuts.

Forgive me, but putting a reserve of 1500 euro's on a Volvo P1800 ES in good to reasonable condition smell like trying to lure as many people to start bidding on the car as possible under false pretences! , as the owner is describing it is, and (although pictures don't tell you everything) the pictures do show that the car is still in reasonably to good condition... Unless the car is only suitable as a donor car, which the seller is clearly describing it is not, the car would be worht much, much more than his suggested 1500 and I am pretty confident that the winning bidder did NOT actually purchase the car for that sort of money.

P.S. A Volvo P1800ES in mint (!!) condition averages between 10 - 15k here on the continent and I have seen examples in truly magnificent low mileage, genuine concours winning condition, for up to 18k!!!

alastair

I had my own suspicions about the winning bidder's profile (only registered the day before as well), but if it's the seller, they went about things in a pretty strange way; I'd set up a snipe bid (been burned too often by them myself, and learned my lesson) of €1585 for 20 seconds short of the deadline, and, given that I already have a perfectly good ES, I was really only interested in getting this one cheap to act as a donor car, or re-selling if it was too good to break. It looks fine in the photos, and I'd requested some pics of the restoration, which looked professional and thorough, but who knows how far the acknowledged rust has penetrated by now. It's also possibly in need of a replacement MAP sensor, and those things run to fairly big money.

Anyway. My snipe bid screwed up due to my unfamiliarity with the snipe app, and my bid went in too early (by a few hours!). The subsequent bidding by the eventual winner was not automated, and wouldn't have won out over my snipe (had it appeared at the right time). A bit of a risk, if it was the owner trying to ensure that they kept their head above a reserve. The owner had mentioned a reserve of €1500, but hadn't actually set a reserve on the auction. To be honest I half expected to get an email from the owner as the highest 'losing' bid in a botched price management process. I decided I wasn't interested over my maximum bid, but could well have gone for a second snipe bid.

My gut feeling however, is that, if the car hasn't actually sold to the winning bidder, it will sell for a similar price elsewhere. It's an akward sale (no MOT, hassle of shipping back to UK, uncertain degree of rust, not clear if it's driveable), and probably an owner who just wants rid of the thing. I feel it's a genuine bargain to someone.

MercMad

Why would the owner bid for his own car ?

If it didn't sell then he wouldn't have to pay for anything ! If he bid himself under a different user he will have to "Buy" it and pay eBay their part too, therefore costing him more money !

It also seems the seller has bought lots from eBay but hasn't sold much if anything !

Seems fairly genuine to me TBH but the usual with eBay, buyer beware and have the car inspected first otherwise its your own money your are risking !

alastair

MercMad wrote:

Why would the owner bid for his own car ?
QUOTE]

To ensure that it went above his reserve, which he hadn't set in the auction? Who knows? As I say, it didn't make a whole bunch of sense as a strategy, but it's also suspicious that a bidder, registered only the day before, and with no feedback, would be a legitimate bidder. Indeed, the seller stated that those with less than five feedbacks should contact him before bidding.

junkyard

Anything that sounds too good to be true usually is.

TigerTim

Hi Alastair,
Just started using E-Bay recently. Can yo tell me what's involved in a Snipe bid?.

Thanks,

Tim

alastair

TigerTim wrote:

Hi Alastair,
Can you tell me what's involved in a Snipe bid?.

Here's a pretty good summation of what sniping is all about:
http://auctioninsights.com/ebay-snipe.html

I'd guess that automated snipe bids have become the majority of winning bids on high value ebay auctions like cars.

Dades

alastair wrote:

I'd guess that automated snipe bids have become the majority of winning bids on high value ebay auctions like cars.

This is true, but a snipe bid will still only win if someone is willing to pay more than your "maximum" bid.

It's funny though how the maximum amount you'd pay for something gets higher when you suspect someone trying to snipe the auction.