Why would someone buy something twice?

[beccabear67]

I see the person who won those high priced auctions for some old fan magazines last week is bidding on copies of the exact same issues again already. I know it's not illegal, but why? The seller of the earlier batch was in Texas and the seller of the current bunch is in Oregon. I can only think this bidder is either trying to make someone else pay a lot like they already have, or that they actually want more than one copy. I hope they get stuck buying these ones for even more than the last ones. If ebay showed the full ID instead of two letters and the feedback you'd have me bidding up a lot of stuff you want in retaliation. You either have a lot of money, a lot of time or both... and I will probably never get to read that one ish I don't have, at least until I catch a buy it now before you, you default on paying a seller, or one appears on another website you don't spend all day on, Member ID: i***o (259). A big raspberry to you!

Aside from this I also don't understand people who bid a bunch of times instead of just entering the most they want to pay right at the end, and they usually are there bidding just before the close too! It doesn't change the result at all. Unless you are the very first bid to ensure the seller can't pull out easily why not save your time and bid once near closing time?

 

[chas_kit]

I presume you're not talking about whoever was lucky enough to score two issues of Fuzbrains for .99 each.

 

[beccabear67]

It's funny, I've gotten some huge deals on some zines lately while others are setting record prices; someone is trying to corner the market on certain issues of Ugly Things, into the hundreds of dollars with the one bidder I mention.

Example: Ugly Things #20

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&_trksid=p4340.l2565&item=260797170742

this copy has that same i***o(259) bidder all over it as the earlier one that i***o(259) won at $76.65:

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&_trksid=p4340.l2565&item=270756752572

 

[bosshoss]

There's plenty of other reasons I can think of, for someone bidding on more than one copy. For example :
1 - maybe this person is bidding for a copy for a friend or relative who doesn't have a computer. Maybe that friend is homeless, or disabled, or mentally retarded and can't use eBay themselves.
2 - maybe the first copies that the person won, were lost or damaged in the mail, or arrived faulty and had to be returned to the seller. Maybe they arrived and were in less-than-described condition.
3 - it could be a gift for a very deserving fellow collector.

As for the practice of bidding early, I can also think of plenty of good reasons (some of which I have done myself in the past)
1 - once a bid is entered, it's unlikely that the item will be pulled from sale or sold via a private negotiation behind the scenes. I've bid early for this reason this many times.
2 - if the bidder lives in a country other than (for example) the USA, then the auction ending may occur at 4 am in the morning or some other ridiculous hour. For international bidders who don't want to pay for eSnipe, that's a problem.
3 - if there is an early bidding war, it's possible that one of the bidders may give up in disgust before entering their theoretical high bid. When you bid with a proxy bid, you usually expect or hope that your high proxy bid will not be reached, so some people may pull out of the bidding war well below their absolute max. It's a valid strategy for some bidders (not me).

 

[beccabear67]

I can see wanting an upgrade on a vinyl record, but in this case they won copies of these magazines (not just #20) only a week ago, and are bidding on the same issues again? A strategy of driving others away I guess could be a valid reason, and I mentioned about the seller not being able to pull a listing as easily when there has been a bid. Bidding four or five times over a few days isn't required if you're sleeping when the item closes. I'm still kind of leaning toward them just driving the price up because they paid too much on those copies a week ago, but if it were a person buying on behalf of others at these prices they are doing a bad job for them.

I guess it must be a bit funny to have people fighting over a relatively recent fanzine instead of a rare '60s 45, I'm probably blessed I've never had this happen on any of the hard to find vinyl records I wanted! :rolleyes:

 

[Michael W]

When I'm selling stuff I love it when people place early bids - makes the outcome more certain. As a bidder I mostly snipe in the last few seconds. Will occasionally place a small opening bid to reduce the likelihood of the item being pulled.

 

[beccabear67]

That's how I am, and when I used to sell it was always nice to see a lot of action even if I still didn't find the point of most of it. As it turned out I got Ugly Things #15 for less than half of the price the last one went for (and only $6 over if I had've bought one from the first issue I got new, #25), but that i***o person got yet another #20. Maybe they forgot they won the same one over a week earlier?

 

[Manos E. Brazos]

Don't overlook the possibility of shill bidding.