Bidding Against Your Friends or Fellow Theme Collectors

[island_style]

A recent thread surfaced about eBay bidding and using snipe services. The discussion was why bid early on an item when a snipe service can be used.

It got me thinking...

How do you handle a situation when an item comes up on eBay and you know that your friends and fellow collectors of the same player/team would want that same item in their collection? I know that there are some Ripken, Canseco, ARod, local teams/players, theme, etc. collectors out there who share mutual interest in the same item. On the same note, there are bidders who you have never met, but you know that they actively bid/acquire items that you are also interested in (and may have engaged in a bidding war).

Have you backed off if that friend/fellow collector placed an earlier bid (maybe even just the minimum bid) to show their interest in the item?

Kind Regards,

Ron.

Rsamiano@aol.com

[Swoboda4]

I may back off an item if I see a collector (bid history) who "needs" an item and I just "want" the item.That's rare though. But, if I see that item that I got to have,and you stare at it every day throughout the auction,you already fantasize it being on your wall-that kind of thing,I'll bid within the last minute (no snipe service as of yet-have any of them ever failed to place a bid yet?) with a bid that's way over the top. Then if I lose I lost to someone who's crazier than me and at least feel a little better about it. Other than that,normal "I want it stuff but don't need it' still gets bid on within 1 minute but not with a crazy amount.
I would like to know,on a similiar note,has anyone not mentioned an item to this forum for fear of alerting other members to it,but still needed to have extra info on it,but risked buying a bad item for again,not wanting to open the bidding to more people.
Robert

[Yankwood]

I have to admit that I have stayed away from an item to help out a friend but if it's something I really want, the friendship is "over" 'til the auction's over. It's every man for himself.

[cohibasmoker]

I would have to agree with Yankwood. But, if a friend points out an item on either eBay or an auction house, then I would NEVER bid against that person.

Jim

[Vintagedeputy]

I have such a long list of ebay issues, I dont know where to begin......

[fixter]

I don't see any problem with it. There is another guy who is on this board (Hi Jon!) and we found each other bidding against each other constantly. He contacted me one day and we talked about our unique collection of Bell family items and since then we have let each other know about items that we really want or might want if the price stays reasonable. On several occasions we have both benefitted greatly by avoiding a bidding war. I am happy to stand aside when someone who shares the same excitement I do and I know will not run off and sell the item gets something that they don't have tey and really want.

[wahboom22]

i would stay away from an item and not bid against for a friend/fellow collector. and i will even go as far as contacting a buddy if i see an item that i know they are looking for.

[Yankwood]

In fact, sometimes I will go after an item I don't even want just to eff over a buddy of mine. We all do it to each other. It makes us even closer that we can hold things over each other's heads. We get to call each other up and laugh at each other. It's great......

[B1SON]

I respect the guy who leaves something he "wants" alone when a guy like me who "needs" it will pay anything for it. Example: A Dolphins fan has a nice collection of team jerseys. Gordon's jersey goes up on ebay and he thinks. A Dolphins gamer at a cheap price = perfect. If he sees me place a bid he waits for another "cheap" Dolphins jersey, because he knows there are not many lamar Gordon gamers out there and I have to eventually find and buy them all.