Vendors, repair vendors, and other lessons learnned.

[Lt Teddy]

In my opinion service and the ability to get ahold of the seller or repairman are the biggest factors in buying anything. I have been trying to get parts from a vendor that I thought had a good reputation for over a year and have been given a song and dance the whole way. I realize that we all have our opinion on who is reputable and who is not but their should be someplace to give ratings on the ones that are selling or repairing. I have talked with alot of members and they have the same opinion as mine. You also hear alot of the same complaints on some vendors.


While I am giving my opinion I would like to add buyer beware if having someone or some business trying to buy for you on the Japan market. They run the bid up to your max in the overtime part of the bidding and you will the item for your max bid only if they want to sell it for that. It has nothing to do with having won the item.



Buy the way on a more somber point: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

[emmadog]

I agree with LT about buyer beware on YJA. There's more involved than on eBay since you have to use a proxy bidder, there's other associated fees, and things to know about YJA in general. All of this means be a smart adult, think critically, and do your research BEFORE using a proxy bidder. Ask questions on here definitely, but research and think for yourself.
However I don't agree at all with his assessment of bids being runup just to screw the bidder. Sure it may happen but it can also happen on eBay. One unfortunate experience is just one data point of which a survey/study/assessment does not make. That's pretty much the definition of an unfounded, blanket statement. If all of your dealings with YJA (and there'd have to be thousands to be statistically relevant) were bad and you polled tons of others and there's were bad too, then you'd have a good case. That's like saying since my new dishwasher broke then all dishwashers don't work. I'm not trying to break anyone's balls but YJA is the best source for pachinko stuff. No I don't have stock in YJA and frankly, the more people that are scared away means less competition for me but it's a great resource and out of my 12 or so transactions only 2 went to my max bid. Sure, the time extension things sucks in my opinion but some people hate sniping on eBay. Bottom line is don't bid more than you want to pay and you won't be upset which is true of any auction.
Also, the word "somber" means dull and/or gloomy.

[Steve Cebu]

I don't like sniping on eBay. I think ebBay ought to extend the bid time for 5 minutes after a bid is put in. If you go to a proper auction that is how is works. You get a chance to bid or outbid someone not based on time but on price.
I have no experience with Japanese bidding except that the whole process looks pretty complicated. Shipping could very well cost you more than what you bought. It looks like a great way to get stuff you couldn't otherwise get.
I may have to buy that way to get stuff that I will never see on eBay or anywhere else. I don't believe you can snipe on YJA they extend the time instead.

[emmadog]

I happen to like sniping on eBay for reasons I've already mentioned plus most people who try it keep using it but to each his own. YJA is not complicated but you just have to be aware of the ins and out and not all auctions have time extensions.

[luckydog]

if i'm not using buy it now on ebay i snipe for what i am willling to pay,

win some, lose some.

i like snipers at the end of stuff i'm selling, because the bids are higher

[BigBearSteve]

I use a sniping program on e-bay, that way I never pay more than I want.

And I don't have to sit at the PC waiting for the auction to end so I can bid.

[Steve Cebu]

Ok so what is the best program for sniping on eBay?

[JACKSJE4]

esnipe is what I use. If you Google "ebay snipe" you will get many options.

[Steve Cebu]

Thanks, I was looking around and saw that name. looks like it has a free trial but you pay for everything you win after the trial. The fees seem ok.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

[JACKSJE4]

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Exactly!!

The fees on esnipe are minimal. You buy points to use the service, and they deduct points based on the final sale amount of the item you won. I think I bought 1,500 points for about $5 last year and still haven't used them all.

[emmadog]

I use Gixen. It's free and for a small fee you can subscribe to their mirror service which is a backup server that will still get your bid in if the main server fails. I don't use the mirror service and everyone of my snipes has made it in. They're done by computer and you can set how many seconds before the auction ends.Sniping frees you from having to wait for the auction to end, your having computer issues or can't press buttons fast enough, etc. I'll venture a guess and say most serious eBayers use sniping regularly although sniping doesn't guarantee you'll win, it just guarantees your snipe will make it in.

[BigBearSteve]

x3 on esnipe, never missed an auction yet (and I'm set at a 2 second bid time)

[Steve Cebu]

Wow 2 seconds!

Thanks for all the suggestions I will try it out when something interesting becomes available. I buy a lot of non-pachinko stuff so it might help with that rather than waiting to hit the button manually.

[mxfaiman]

Wow 2 seconds!

I was bidding on an auction and someones sniper placed their bid 1/2 a sec. before auction close. That was really surprising. Then again I'm not really angry that I lost because it was way over priced. (the 3 machines sold for about $95; 2 Nishijins, 1 Daiichi. Weren't in the best shape either)

[Steve Cebu]

Wow that's just crazy 1/2 a second! Well I guess that's an auction I'd lose.
still I'm not worried i'll give it a try and see how it works out.

[Rival]

I never really understood the concept of sniping. I don't really see how it benefits you. Lets look at two cases:

1) I want to buy a machine. The most I will pay is $125.00. So I bid $125.00. It does not matter if you beat me 5 days before the auction ends, or snipe me at 2 seconds. The result is the same.

2) I want to buy a machine. The most I will pay is $125.00, so I tell my sniping program to bid up to $125.00 in the last 2 seconds. Someone else told their sniping program to bid $150.00 in the last 2 seconds, so I lose. There is no difference in outcome if we had both placed our bids 5 days before the auction ended.

In fact, I would tend to think sniping keeps the bids artificially lower for an extended period of time, encouraging even MORE people to get involved in the bidding. If, in example 2, two bidders had only bid it up to $25.00 with 2-second snipes set as above, three or four more people may look at the cheaply priced one and set some snipe bids of their own. Perhaps the hope of snipers is that people will not bid as high as they would if the bids were just placed. I tend to think these people would probably just have been outbid anyway.

[emmadog]

Sniping is more of a convenience for the reasons stated above. I dont want to be glued to an auction on my computer at 3 in the morning. I set my snipe and forget about it. I also agree that sniping keeps final prices low because it eliminates emotional bidding which is most definitely a factor in many auctions. Also, snipers dont want to jack the price up for obvious reasons. If you put in a max bid via eBay it will bid for you constantly until you win or your max is exceeded. Great for sellers not for buyers. I wonder now why people even bid on auctions for hotly contested items when it's highly likely there are several snipes waiting. There's also another factor that determines who wins via sniping and I've never seen it mentioned on here. I utilize it, and it can be risky but I almost always win. Maybe someone here will post it. I can't spill all my secrets.

[emmadog]

Also in your examples above let's say the auctions don't go to your max of 125. It's at 100 bucks with just a few seconds left and you're pretty confident you'll win. Then a snipe comes in and takes it. That's the beauty of it. The snipe was set days ago. You're at your computer and cant leave it hoping you don't experience a technical difficulty or press the wrong button if another bid comes in. Whilst the sniper is having a good single malt at a bar surrounded by honeys. A little embellishment there but you get the point.

[Steve Cebu]

@Rival
From what I have been learning the idea of sniping is to make it look like there is no interest in the item so you don't show your real interest in the item until the last few seconds.
This keeps the interest level down on hot items.
There are many items that don't require sniping. I've bought many things from ebay and just set my bid and that's it. They aren't super hot items or the seller has a bunch of them.
However to buy a Pachinko machine on ebay pretty much requires that you use a sniping program unless it has a Buy it Now price.
I have to sign up because it's likely the only way I will ever get a Julie or a Cutey Honey they just aren't available and they sell fast when they are.

@emmadog
I almost posted your secret but wisely thought better of it, since I am going to be using it myself. Bidding is competitive.

[Drunkenclam]

Sniping aside. Back to sellers boosting the sell price. I don't use any sniping program's but normally I bid in the last hour. Using modern mobile phones makes it possible. Also if I get outbid and suddenly I get a second chance offer at the end. I never accept it. Then the seller gets lumbered with the completion and listing fee and doesn't make anything. I also look back at the sellers past items and view the bid history, to see if anything looks odd.