This is VERY odd.

They contacted you through ebay (theres a featre thaty lets members contact eachother)

I would have promptly bid the same amount as that bidder.

 

I'd bid a little less. He could be bluffing....and I'd hate to actually get stuck winning it, unless I just wanted to.

eBay will let you send e-mails to other members through their system. The only way the other bidder would actually get your address is if you answered him.

 

If it is something I have definately decided I want I figure out the absolute max I will pay for it then go to www.auctionsniper.com.

It's not cheating or illegal or anything. That what I will pay for it and it won't even put in a bid until the last minute

 

In the future, just ignore any bidder that contacts and tries to coerce your bidding activity. Such behavior is beyond inappropriate; I would report that to ebay. And yes, people sometimes will get others to try to bid up an item's price too. My suggestion to you, since this has worked very well for me on auctions with INCREMENTAL bidding, is to establish in the back of your mind the highest price you are willing to pay for an item. Then, with under a minute left in the auction, throw the full amount at the item. This is known as "sniping". If you have a fast internet connection, you can do this with maybe 10 seconds left in the auction. This is how I bought my last truck. The competition, especially if on dial up, has no time to react . Also, by getting excited early on and bidding on stuff, you cause get other buyers to probably get in the game. All they do is bid against you and then you are driving up the price. I think of this as bidding against yourself. Just wait till near the end to avoid driving the price up.

BTW and just a FYI, never contact a seller and ask them how much will it take to buy an item now and if they will end the auction early. This is against Ebay policy. However, asking a seller what the reserve is, should one have been established, is fair game. Some sellers disclose it, others don't. On selling international, there is no reason to fear shipping costs if you do it right. All one needs to do is to have a statement in their auction informing international buyers that they pay all shipping costs and that you will determine this before bidding if desired. I just started selling car stuff this week. You better believe I'll ship to Canada; there's tons of car fanatics up there and to not offer the item to those people is only decreasing my chances of selling things. And remember, just because a seller doesn't offer the item internationally doesn't stop a buyer from asking a seller if they will sell internationally. All the buyer has to do is ask, it never hurts.

As I say in the last line of my auctions, "Good luck and happy bidding!!!!!!".

 

i buy levi and tommy hilfiger jeans and shirts on ebay. i try to pick out good buys and bid them up to the most i want to give. i also use the buy it now option when possible.

 

I enjoy manually sniping.

 

I live in the wood and I have dialup. DOesn't work out too well

Mike