Originally Posted by Bon-bon
Originally Posted by QuiltnLady1
Candace -- I love your avatar!!!
When we buy on ebay, we look at the buy it now price and if it seems reasonable we go that way instead of bidding.
what is avatar?
The avatar is the picture that appears to the left of the post with the person's board name.
We're kind of morphing into a discussion of how we think eBay should work and how we use it, which might be valuable to some of the sellers. Let me explain why I don't usually look for long at items with a reserve that hasn't been met. It's just not worth my time to wonder what the reserve is, and there are *always* identical items offered (maybe not that day, but eventually) that don't leave the bottom price to the imagination. It's not quite right to say just figure out what you want to pay and bid. Let's say there are two similar or identical items vying for my bid, both have an entry price of 99 cents, and only one has a reserve. I don't want to bid on both, because I don't want two of this item and I just might win both if I bid on both. If I bid on the one with the reserve, I might lose out even though I'm the high bid. So naturally I will bid on the one without the reserve. Also, if I bid the same amount on both, I might win the one without the reserve for a smaller price. So why would I want to bother with the item with the reserve?
As far as shipping for small items, I don't care if the cost is lumped in with the item's price and listed as free shipping, or if it's listed separately, since eBay lets me sort items by their price plus shipping. However on bigger items I would like to see it separate, since I just might live close by enough to pick it up and avoid shipping, and would prefer to do so if the item might be damaged by shipping.
And when I'm looking for a commodity such as new yardage or rotary blades (although I now get those from Harbor Freight), I always look for someone with the BIN option rather than wait for an auction to be over. When I want stuff, I want it NOW.