Corvette6769 Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 Well as they threatened a week ago (see original post below) eBay has removed the starting date and auction duration from the listings (i.e. "7-day listing, Ends Mar-07-06 19:11:15 PST") and simply replaced it with: End time: Mar-12-06 20:00:00 PST (6 days 6 hours), to create a sense of urgency and withhold further auction information for a buyer to consider, knowing full well that the less informed a buyer is, the higher he will bid on something he wants. This will really serve to encourage the 1-day auction scammers. As I mentioned in another post, apparently eBay is culling the completed auction listings and eliminating the lowest sale amounts (presumably since lower ending bid amounts = lower final value fees). The reason I stumbled upon this is that a couple months ago, 5 days after I won an auction for a stereo power amplifier, I did a completed items search to review the auction and it was no where to be found.After seeing this occur more than once for other auctions, it prompted me to do the same for other items like Klipsch speakers and noticed a trend that the record high sale auctions would return in a completed auction search often for more than 30 days, and more shockingly that the past 30 days search were omitting most auctions from the search results in less than 25 days.Obviously, eBay realizes that if both buyers (and sellers setting reserve prices/starting bids) are kept in the dark through a limited amount of market activity data, then the prices will go up as will the final value fees, since many have the approach that "well, that is only 10% more than another one that sold for recently", the prices will naturally escalate exponentially.Further fueling the fire are questionable sales like $800.00 Heresys, $800.00 Fortes, $3000.00 La Scalas, and $5,500.00 Klipschorns (click the proceeding links to view my posts) which possibly are phony auctions intended to do exactly what they did, which is to create a false impression that someone would actually pay above Cornwall prices for Heresy/Forte or double Klipschorn prices for La Scala. As an example, within the last 6 months more than one nice pair of Belle Klipsch have sold for $825.00 like the pair on 9-15-05 offered by a power seller with 5000+ feedback, however if you do a completed auction search today, you will see what a single pair at $2,700.00 did to the recent pricing. Corvette auctions have been notorious for this which is why at the auction held every year in conjunction with the Bloomington Gold Corvette show, it was important to watch who the players were to ascertain an accurate perspective of the market.What eBay can not prevent is someone taking the time to track and record the last 1400+ Klipsch speaker sales as I have and as an informed buyer adjusting my purchase price limits accordingly, based on my own due diligence. What eBay can count on is that the majority of people will not do their homework, which is good news for sellers (including my executor some day). ***Coming Soon: Layout Changes to the Top of the Item Page***February 27, 2006 | 03:42PM PST/PTHi everyone, this is Scott Loper and Elliot Shmukler from eBay's Product Team. Weve done a lot of buyer research over the past year, and one of the things we learned is that newer members have some difficulty finding the most important information on the item page. Basically, we need to better organize some of the information at the top of the item page (the section above the item description). Here's a rundown of what you'll see in the next few weeks: "Meet The Seller Section - Were renaming the Seller Information area on the item page to "Meet The Seller." Most of the information will remain the same, except for a few visual changes to make it easier to read. New "Buy Safely" area - Directly below Meet The Seller will be a Buy Safely section. Buyers expect to find trust-related information in one place, so here we'll list the seller's feedback information, any applicable protection programs (such as whether the listing qualifies for PayPal Buyer Protection), and the seller's return policy, if specified. Shipping Information Higher on the Page - To make it easier to quickly determine the total cost of the item, we're moving the shipping information up on the page, closer to the current item price. Relocated Links - The Watch This Item and Email to a Friend links will be moved into the center of the "blue" section. Theyll still work exactly as they do today they're just in a different location. Show/Hide Additional Listing Details - Additional listing details, such as the Starting Time and Duration, have been moved underneath the Watch This Item and Email to a Friend links. These will be hidden by default, but you can easily choose to display them if you wish. Plus, your choice will be "sticky," meaning that these will display (or stay hidden) as you move from item to item. View the Changes in AdvanceTo become familiar with the new page layout, we encourage you to check out this screenshot so you can see exactly how it will look. Sincerely, Elliot Shmukler and Scott LopereBay Buyer Product Team Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Def Leper Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 What really cracks me up about these half-baked conspiracy theories is that ebay has such a limited staff that they can't even offer a rudimentory support system, and yet they have time to create and conduct fake auctions to hump up final auction values on a few of the millions of items that appear weekly on ebay, and even items that are relatively rare like Khorns. When you've got about $500,000,000 worth of cars on auction at any given time, what is two or three pair of Khorns a month? Ridiculous......and pure internet circus of the absurd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 This has been mentioned before, but in light of this thread check this out from the very same originator of this thread: http://dallas.craigslist.org/ele/138805530.html Yeah, that's right, depending on model and condition, $1000 for Khorns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 Damn ... I want somma them $300 LaScal's too ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 hehehe ... wasted post ... i just noticed i was at 2,999............[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 Duke, your posts are never wasted.......crackin' me up...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvette6769 Posted March 6, 2006 Author Share Posted March 6, 2006 What really cracks me up about these half-baked conspiracy theories is that ebay has such a limited staff that they can't even offer a rudimentory support system, and yet they have time to create and conduct fake auctions to hump up final auction values on a few of the millions of items that appear weekly on ebay, and even items that are relatively rare like Khorns. When you've got about $500,000,000 worth of cars on auction at any given time, what is two or three pair of Khorns a month? Ridiculous......and pure internet circus of the absurd. No human intervention needed - very simple to do with the same software that runs their search database, through simple algorithms written to automatically cull auctions with common title keywords and lower final bid amounts. How else would you explain why auctions that ended within the last week, fail to show up in completed search results? Where did you ever come up with your absurd notion that eBay staff would ever "create and conduct fake auctions" ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeritageBob Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 What upsets me is the change where now you have to pay to have your avatar picture posted to the left of your sale caption whenever people do a search. This used to be free, and other than making more money from people having to throw more cash to post an avatar pic it makes searching for something a pain in the butt. No one pays for the avatar to be used now and when you do a search you never can see a quick picture of the item without having to click on the auction to get to a picture of the item. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarence Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 its been like that since I can remeber... (01?) i always spring fo the 10-25 cents it cost... (cant remember how much) maybe thats how I always seem to get a good response. I sold my 740il on eBay a couple years ago. final bid 25,500. (not bragging, just a large sum...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 Just what is wrong with eBay doing everything they can to help sellers get the highest price (and therefore earn the highest fees)? That is the whole idea of an auction. It certainly is not to let you get something at the lowest price. eBay's customer is the seller, not the buyer. As far as things not showing up in searches when they are supposed to, or showing up when they are not supposed to, as a database administrator, I can tell you that corrupted indexes will do just that. And corrupted indexes can, and do, happen in any database system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 Just what is wrong with eBay doing everything they can to help sellers get the highest price (and therefore earn the highest fees)? That is the whole idea of an auction. It certainly is not to let you get something at the lowest price. eBay's customer is the seller, not the buyer. As far as things not showing up in searches when they are supposed to, or showing up when they are not supposed to, as a database administrator, I can tell you that corrupted indexes will do just that. And corrupted indexes can, and do, happen in any database system. That is 100% on the money (pun intended). DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerohm Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 Just what is wrong with eBay doing everything they can to help sellers get the highest price (and therefore earn the highest fees)? That is the whole idea of an auction. Well then I guess you could extrapolate from there and say that the auction's end should be extended by some amount of time whenever a final bid is placed (effectively eliminating sniping). Isn't THAT how any auction is done?? Something tells me, you would have a lot of unhappy buyers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 Guess it is time to put my Belle's up with a $2500 BIN since the last Belle auction ended at $2700, I just made $300 by selling 6 pair of DBX rack ears. Where else would I get that kind of coin for some pieces of aluminum. I don't mind the fees for the kind of nationwide exposure I get on items I am selling. Don't like eBay prices, then DON'T buy! Pretty simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 Guess it is time to put my Belle's up with a $2500 BIN since the last Belle auction ended at $2700, I just made $300 by selling 6 pair of DBX rack ears. Where else would I get that kind of coin for some pieces of aluminum. I don't mind the fees for the kind of nationwide exposure I get on items I am selling. Don't like eBay prices, then DON'T buy! Pretty simple. More proof most of the folks on here are just plain cheap bastards! Offering $300 for La Scala's and $1000 for Khorn's now if that is not a cheap bastard I don't know what is, oh lemme guess you are a bargain shopper. Gimme a break! My friend in Vermont; the adress you gave me for Audioclassics was great, and I thank you for it, BUT why must you call people cheap? I asked you before,"Did you pay full price for all your fine equipment?" It's easy for you to call people cheap, you already own all those fine speakers. What about the guy trying to purchase that stuff today? If I'm bidding on La Scala's and the starting bid is low, I bid low, what is wrong with that? If you want $2,000 for them, start the bid at $2,000. If I bid $1000. and win, I don't think I'm cheap, lucky, not cheap. E-bay is about the SELLER not the buyer. Why would anyone want to pay more than they have to for anything? Give me a break!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 I call them as I see them, can you look me in the eye and say that a person offering people $300 for their La Scala's and $1000 for their Klipschorn's is not cheap??? I will be the first to step up to the plate and say that I am cheap, it is only a word! Get over it. I want deals like everyone else but you must be realistic, and not take advantage of people's lack of knowledge or naivity when it comes to purchasing speakers from them. The scenario you presented is not what I am talking about. And if you must know I will post what I paid for my speakers prior to updates and upgrades: '88 Klipschorn's - $1250 ( I was offered '88 Khorn's, '67 Khorn's and '78 La Scala's for $2100, I shared the other pair of Klipschorn's with a forum member who got them for $1000, I came back for the La Scala's) '77 Klipschorn's - $1375 '78 Belle Klipsch - $1750 '78 La Scala (single) - $300 Show up at my house with a big truck and $7250 and you can haul them all away, all updates and upgrades included. There are you happy now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
126mhz Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 As has been mentioned, Ebay's customer is the seller not the buyer. While I admit to buying two items through Ebay it proved to be much more trouble then it was worth. (especially since the items were worth very little in terms of money) Some say; "Never say never," well, I will NEVER buy anything through Ebay again. Two very close friends make a hefty part of their living selling on Ebay and if I have anything to dump I'll get them to sell it for me and float them some coin for their trouble. Ebay is way too big and makes way to much money to be truly interested in any of their customers, (sellers or buyers) who have trouble.There's too many other sites out there that specifically auction goods I'm involved with, no need to deal with Ebay.It's a shame more people don't quit dealing with them as well.Regards, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petrol Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 My friend in Vermont; the adress you gave me for Audioclassics was great, and I thank you for it, BUT why must you call people cheap? I asked you before,"Did you pay full price for all your fine equipment?" It's easy for you to call people cheap, you already own all those fine speakers. What about the guy trying to purchase that stuff today? If I'm bidding on La Scala's and the starting bid is low, I bid low, what is wrong with that? If you want $2,000 for them, start the bid at $2,000. If I bid $1000. and win, I don't think I'm cheap, lucky, not cheap. E-bay is about the SELLER not the buyer. Why would anyone want to pay more than they have to for anything? Give me a break!! Call me 'cheap' all you want, because I am... if I wasn't, I wouldn't bother with ebay at all. Instead, I have often bid low in hopes of winning a bid on something that I want... When I shop on ebay, I consider ANYTHING over 75% of what I would pay at a brick & morter to be a rip So I am in agreement and simply don't care what names I'm called... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psg Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 And if you must know I will post what I paid for my speakers prior to updates and upgrades: '88 Klipschorn's - $1250 ( I was offered '88 Khorn's, '67 Khorn's and '78 La Scala's for $2100, I shared the other pair of Klipschorn's with a forum member who got them for $1000, I came back for the La Scala's) '77 Klipschorn's - $1375 '78 Belle Klipsch - $1750 '78 La Scala (single) - $300 Show up at my house with a big truck and $7250 and you can haul them all away, all updates and upgrades included. You're not thinking of selling the setup again to go Reference, are you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 No PSG, just getting tired of the hobby and I think I want to do something else. Once you get to a certain level there is not much else that you can do. My overall price went up since I have more invested than I did the last time I made the offer. I think I had the '62 Cornwalls last offering. I am thinking about dumping it all and going back to a two-channel arrangement, but a few hours from now I will probably change my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meagain Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 Frz - Nice scores on the khorns! Keep them. (But just in case, umm... what is the Green Mountain State exactly?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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