Ebay Bidding Gone Haywire(?)

I was bidding on a Brazilian coin on ebay that I've been looking for, for awhile. It was expensive but MS64 grade (ngc) would make it a great addition to my collection. Here's how the bidding went in the last minute---it was at 198 and I put my max bid of 231 in (I'm pegjsg13) then it jumped to 260, then to above $600??? What happended to the increments?
Will anyone explain this to me because it's been awhile since I've bid on ebay (a year?) but this looks so erratic it makes me wonder if bidding is futile.
I'd appreciate the help.

private listing - bidders' identities protected $615.00 25 Feb 2019 at 7:04:02PM PST
private listing - bidders' identities protected $266.00 25 Feb 2019 at 7:04:02PM PST
private listing - bidders' identities protected $605.00 25 Feb 2019 at 7:04:02PM PST
private listing - bidders' identities protected $260.00 25 Feb 2019 at 7:04:01PM PST
private listing - bidders' identities protected $260.00 25 Feb 2019 at 7:04:01PM PST
pegjsg13 $231.00 25 Feb 2019 at 7:03:30PM PST

 

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Most likely two bidder's had placed max bid's around the $600 area. Looks like at the very last second one of them one upped the other. That's why it jumped like that.

 

Could one of them been the owner trying to reach a minimum that they wanted for it?

Also one more question- if NGC gives a price for XF at $175 how do you reach a reasonable price for a MS64, no mintage info (1820) and no comparative data? I just need help figuring out the value in order to bid but when I just see dashed lines on the NGC site I don't know what to bid-- besides higher.

 

Absolutely, but I doubt it! Stuff like that happens all the time! I have lost items when I thought nobody in their right mind is gonna out bid me on this coin, cause I want it more than they do. I lose and it hurts that I lost the coin of a lifetime, but I let it roll off my back and move on to the next coin. Life is too short to worry about whether I've been truly out bidded or out shilled. Nothing I could do about it either way. Better luck next time, Trish!

 

Possibly. But more likely, it was just two people putting in bids at the last minute ("sniping"). By doing that, they didn't give you time to react (even if you wanted to go that high), and didn't give others time to notice the high price and check what was so special about the coin.

Sniping is a way of concealing your interest in the coin -- and when you're bidding competitively, giving away information puts you at a disadvantage.

 

Also check the auction archives on Heritage and Stack's Bowers. I would recommend bidding on their platforms over eBay. Just make sure you factor in the buyer's premium and estimate the shipping and handling.

What were you bidding on? Some of the 960 reis are overstruck on unusual hosts that can really drive the price up.

 

Sometimes eBay appears to have a glitch and the bids don't show up in order. You can see that two people put in high bids in the end (sniped like @-jeffB mentioned), so that is why the price jumped to $615.

As far as pricing, it is difficult to judge with high graded world coins, especially where there are no (or few) other prior sales. If this coin rarely shows up for auction and two people really want it for their set, then results like this can happen.

private listing - bidders' identities protected $615.00 25 Feb 2019 at 7:04:02PM PST
private listing - bidders' identities protected $266.00 25 Feb 2019 at 7:04:02PM PST
private listing - bidders' identities protected $605.00 25 Feb 2019 at 7:04:02PM PST
private listing - bidders' identities protected $260.00 25 Feb 2019 at 7:04:01PM PST
private listing - bidders' identities protected $260.00 25 Feb 2019 at 7:04:01PM PST
pegjsg13 $231.00 25 Feb 2019 at 7:03:30PM PST

 

Check out www.numista.com - in addition to the prices they list, they have a tool to match recent online sales, so you can see what recent auction values have been (which is the source of the listed prices).

 

320 1820R

 

There's no advantage to them over eBay as a buyer, you also have no return privileges there.

 

Not likely. That seller has been on ebay since 2001 and has a lot of top quality items. He probably has a big following with a ton of snipers.

 

If something in XF lists for $175 in XF, an MS64 would be worth more than $231. By a long shot. At least 4X obviously. If that were a U.S. coin, you could multiply it by 12X and not be close.

 

Here you go:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/392075095409

 

Of course you do, for a legitimate reason (and probably with a bit of a fight). Most items are TPG graded so you don't have much reason to argue.

 

Sorry, I appreciate the rule of thumb but it wasn't obvious to me. I felt silly in asking because I thought it must be a large multiplier but can't figure out why it isn't written in NGC. Most coins I have I got from my father in law (luckily) so I'm inexperienced at this.
Thanks for the link too.

 

Let me know how it goes telling Heritage or Stacks you changed your mind and want to return your purchase.....

 

Oh, yeah I've done some hellacious sniping in my lifetime, still do! With that said, I've also been sniped out way to many times to mention! It's not fun at all, but there's absolutely nothing I can do about it! Besides, normally when I've been sniped out, another coin comes around and sometimes, it's even nicer than the one I lost before it. Hopefully that happens for the OP.

 

I too have been on the receiving end of these "snipers" you speak of. It's gotten to the point where I'm better off being the first person to see a good price on a buy it now listing rather than waste my time hoping that my last minute bid will beat the competition.

 

I always just bid my sincere maximum willingness to pay whenever I find the item, no sniping. So what if someone learns a little bit about my willingness to pay? I'm not going to pay more than that no matter what, so they're welcome to it. But I guess if there's something you absolutely have to have, sniping makes some sense.

 

I agree that this makes sense but I think the idea behind sniping is that people who are bidding on an item tend to fall in love with it a little bit, so if you put your maximum bid in early and you get outbid, you might have second thoughts and go back and bid a little higher. So if you set it up to snipe at the last minute, you don't give people that chance to reconsider and put in a higher offer.