Who are these eBay microbidders and do they ever win?

Almost every time I see an object sell on eBay there are these guys that cap their bids at under 10% of the value of the object. Example given.



I'm pretty sure this a multi thousand dollar item. But look at this.





Are you really going to win this for a few hundred dollars? There are 8 different bidders on this item for under $1000. Do any of them ever win any auctions like this. If you are a microbidder can you post an eBay clip showing how you won an auction at a tenth of the value? I do understand that everyone wants something for nothing but do these people actually pull it off? If the eBay seller actually only got to $85 would anyone realistically think he is going to just mail the coin away for $85? If someone can shine some light on this and help me understand I would appreciate it.




Coin for the thread. This time the cat selfie is my other cat.

 

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I don't think these bidders are ever successful. Everything on eBay goes for retail or more.

 

You have to admit, their persistence is hilarious!

 

Wonder if the cat's name is Penny?

 

that coin is Purrty

 

Not entirely sure if this counts, but on 30 Nov 2012, I won a 40% Bicentennial set (25c, 50c, $1), two 40% Ikes, one wide rim, one random SBA and a confederate restrike for $47.09. Silver was just about twice what it is today, so the lot had $33 in silver Ikes, $8.75 in other silver, random SBA $1 face, wide rim and restrike. I old the silver and odd SBA immediately on receipt (9 Dec 2012) for $43, leaving me with $4.09 for the restrike and wide rim. Not exactly the same as buying a $4k coin for $400, but $4.09 for ~$50 of coins seems close.

 

Your cat's face perfectly represents what the seller of these coins looks like seeing those low-ball bids.

 

I have a habit of bidding a bargain price (but probably not that lowball) so that I'm in the game - you get a reminder if you have been outbid so can up you bid close to the end of the auction. Okay I have never got a bargain like you are describing but occasionally I get the item for what I'd consider a bargain. I guess it doesn't affect the final price any either way.

 

The coin is obviously going to sell for much more than $300, hence the shill bidding to exaggerate interest in the coin.

You're more likely to take part in the fun and place a bid when there are 100, rather than bid on a $4,400 coin when there are only 2 bids.

 

I just start out with my max bid and only go back if I win.

 

Too many people think all bids are shill bids. My auctions look just like this one (with a bunch of low bids by same bidder), and I don't shill

 

I would agree. Always jumping to the "its just shill bidding" is a crutch. There are simply people out there who try to get everything cheap.

Btw, I have gotten items on Ebay cheap, it can happen. OP, you act like a coin's value is some kind of known item, like everyone on earth knows the value of a s VDB in that grade. Maybe a lot of US collectors do, but most people in the US, let alone the world, have no idea why that coin sold for so much money. I have gotten items I place $400 snipes on for $85, and I thought I was being my usually cheap self at $400. Its all about who knows the value, and who shows up to bid that day.

Btw nice cat. I just lost my cat of 17 years a couple of months ago. At least he had a good long life.

 

The reason why they do that is an alternative of adding an item to the watch list. You put in a low bid, and the auction will be saved in your ebay bids/offers. Then, before auction ends you will get a reminder, if you want to put in a higher bid, you can go for it.

 

Whatever the reason is, is it bad to have bottom feeder activity in an auction? Coins often times have an investment appeal especially to the lumpentariat public-so they likes dems shiny moving objects.

 

It's the automatic bidding. If I put in a $5000 bid right now, it would register, if at all, at lowest incremental $50 bump necessary to be the top bid. But if Z...Z(85) already has a max bid of $5250, the high bid will be z...z at $5000.

The real fun happens in the last 10 seconds, when the snipe programs kick in. I use ibay with a 7 second fuse.

as for the early-on low bidding...could be a number of reasons. an attempted steal? do it 1000 times, and you might hit 1 or 2. This coin will attract a lot of attention, so ain't no steals gonna happen. and there is likely a reserve, anyway.

I picked an 1881-CC GSA a couple years on a snipe bid. Terrible, blurry obverse picture. no reverse pic. My max bid was $400. opening bid was something like $325. i got it for $345 or so...which I consider to be a steal. Dealer buddy will pay me $400 for 81s all day long. There was a bonus. a beautiful rainbow on the reverse.

 

Well, I "microbid" on auctions and here it why. I don't have any intention on winning the item at that price, but it is my way of putting it on an upgraded "watch" list. Anything I microbid on, I am somewhat serious about and I want to really keep it on my radar and bidding on it does that. Sometimes the bidding gets too high and I never place another bid, sometimes I just decide against the coin, and sometimes I will put in a higher bid or snipe at a realistic price. So I am not sure how many others do this.

There is really no downside to tagging your auctions like this, and who knows, if all the stars align, you may get something on the cheap, but has that ever happened to me????? No

 

I've placed some low bids on competitor auctions that are competing with mine. This is not shill bidding, but I figure if their auction is higher than mine for a similar coin, it will help mine too.

 

I think others do the same. If I look at an auction I want to snipe, and there are a number of tiny bids of different bidders, I usually know there will be quite a few last second snipes. I didn't know they did it for that reason, but it now makes more sense to me.

 

I've done that too. Sometimes I have a lot of auctions I'm watching and things fall through the cracks. When I put a bid on one, even when low, I know I was more serious about buying it.

 

I understand sometimes getting a good deal. But $8 is not going to win this auction. $400 for $85 possible

$4000 for $8? Not going to happen.

Sorry about your cat.

This would make sense to me except when you look back over these auctions time and time again the microbidders never have another bid in. Just the $8 for a $4000 coin. Never a last minute win paying real money. I get you do this. I'm just saying most don't.

So who are these people? Not the ones winning at half or quarter value. The $8 bidder?