ebay idiots strike again!

[Thomas Mayberry]

I learned my lesson several years ago. I was bidding on a trunk for my motorcycle and had lost out on a few previous tries. Another bidder and I kept bumping our bids until I had the top bid that was well above what I thought was a reasonable price. Fortunately he outbid me again and I let it go. Since that day I put in the max I'm wiling to pay and don't touch it again.

 

[Wisco]

My experience with auctions of all kinds has been witnessing bidders overpay. They start out wanting something cheap and end up having to have it.

“I need that” is the worst mentality to have when spending money.

My philosophy is “I want that - for the best possible price.” Which has never been at an auction.

 

[kmw1954]

Again, nothing I bid on is even remotely close to being rare so there will always be another come along. The only thing I can think I really paid too much for on an auction was a Lee 3 hole turret press with auto index that was brand new still in the box. I wanted it to compliment the Pro1000 I had and to be able to swap turrets between the two.

 

[theotherwaldo]

I used to make much of my pocket money by buying odd lots at auction and selling the individual items at retail.
The big, important factor is to be able to identify exactly what an item is at a glance, even when it is buried in junk.
Many times I have realized several hundred dollars from one dollar bids.
That's how I've bought much of my reloading gear - buying a box of "unidentified" items out of someone's closet rather than (for example) a pair of basic Lee presses, powder measure, scale, capper and shell holders, four die sets, some pistol magazines, a BB pistol, and some random odds and ends for $17.50 plus shipping.
I am more likely to buy lots than objects.

 

[SamT1]

I used to make much of my pocket money by buying odd lots at auction and selling the individual items at retail.
The big, important factor is to be able to identify exactly what an item is at a glance, even when it is buried in junk.
Many times I have realized several hundred dollars from one dollar bids.
That's how I've bought much of my reloading gear - buying a box of "unidentified" items out of someone's closet rather than (for example) a pair of basic Lee presses, powder measure, scale, capper and shell holders, four die sets, some pistol magazines, a BB pistol, and some random odds and ends for $17.50 plus shipping.
I am more likely to buy lots than objects.

Love me those dollar lots at farm auctions. I’ll fill the bed of my truck with those lots no one wants. Go to the dumpster and sort it when I get home. Rarely buy anything like wd40 and silicone new. And I’ve found lots of $100 items in those boxes!

 

[SamT1]

If I had sold that the buyer would not pay for the item and it would have trouble hitting the BIN function on eBay. Or they would claim it defective and eBay would make me take it back.
I hate eBay, they have no seller protection and charge high fees. It serves them right that place is half full of Chinese junk now. I had near 10 years of flawless feedback, sold a guy a heavy item I’d had worked over at a machine shop. (Sold for less than the machine work) It was listed as untested and showed tooling marks, etc. very well described and pictured. Sold very cheap, shipping was more than auction. Guy gets it. Claims defective. Sends eBay pics that look just like my pics in the description. eBay makes me eat it. Guy leaves bad feedback and I don’t even get to tell my side. I’m sure he is enjoying the item still today.

 

[theotherwaldo]

I love EBay. My feedback score is 1656 from twenty years of buying stuff.
Of course, I'd never sell anything on EBay. Everything is slanted toward the buyer on that platform.

 

[Thunderchicken]

An interesting party trick that reveals ... something, is to auction a twenty dollar bill, but with the clearly-stated proviso that the winner takes the bill but the next-to-winner also pays. Bids start at a dollar. Several people will start pushing up the bid, because: free money! Then the bidding gets up near $20 and you can watch the gears grinding. Eventually there are two people that are each determined to make the other one the big loser, while they’re only the little loser.

It’s not quite the same thing that happens online, but it sure shows that folks aren’t very quick to think about the consequences of things. Of course, I don’t suggest doing this with folks that are hot tempered, but if everyone can afford to lose a few bucks and has a sense of humor, it can be funny. Putting the proceeds towards a round for the group is a good plan.

I try to stay off the real auction sites because I am one of those folks whose competitive nature can easily overrun my thinking skills...

 

[Wishoot]

The psychology of auctions....

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120907-why-we-overpay-at-auctions

 

[doubleh]

Hmmm... my 9mm reloads run me $0.05 each. Or $2.50 a box.

Please expand on your method of reloading this cheaply. Around here primers cost from 3.5 to 4 cents each. That leaves very little for bullet and powder even if you use 100% free scrap lead. I would love to learn how to shoot this cheaply. I am not, however, interested in buying 50,000 primers and powder by the 100 pound lot to do so if it's even possible that way.

As to the original post about auctions going crazy. That's pretty normal and I never attend an auction anymore for this very reason. If I'm interested in something online when it ceases to be what I consider a fair price I just quit and don't stick around for the outcome.

 

[OneFreeTexan]

A few years ago, there was something I wanted, it showed up on ebay, however, three other people wanted it more than I did, and the bidding ended like at $120. In a little while the same item, from a different seller, and the two losers from the previous auction bid it up to $120 again, so one got it.....Another one shows up, and last bidder of those three entered a quick bid for $100 and won it.
About two weeks later same item from another seller shows up, I’m the only bidder and get it for $20.

 

[SamT1]

Please expand on your method of reloading this cheaply. Around here primers cost from 3.5 to 4 cents each. That leaves very little for bullet and powder even if you use 100% free scrap lead. I would love to learn how to shoot this cheaply. I am not, however, interested in buying 50,000 primers and powder by the 100 pound lot to do so if it's even possible that way.
.

I don’t buy primers for more than $30/1000.
I don’t buy powder for over $26.
Buy a good amount when you see them under those prices. Otherwise just don’t buy stuff.
You can always save up until you can make a powder valley order. $19 powder and $28 primers. It doesn’t take a crazy amount to pay hazmat and keep it under the rule if no one near you will price their stuff right.

The last place I bought primers was cabelas where they had S&B primers on sale for $23 I believe it was. Even the small rifle ones.

 

[kmw1954]

I don’t buy primers for more than $30/1000.
I don’t buy powder for over $26.
Buy a good amount when you see them under those prices. Otherwise just don’t buy stuff.
You can always save up until you can make a powder valley order. $19 powder and $28 primers. It doesn’t take a crazy amount to pay hazmat and keep it under the rule if no one near you will price their stuff right.

The last place I bought primers was cabelas where they had S&B primers on sale for $23 I believe it was. Even the small rifle ones.

Not sure how any of this has anything to do with ebay purchases but I will add that the Cabela's store in Hoffman Estates Illinois hasn't had any primers since the beginning of March and hasn't had any pistol primers since Feb. I know because I bought the last 2 boxes of pistol primers they had in the store.

 

[kmw1954]

Just so happens that today there is an auction for new Lee Breech Lock Pro presses with a BIN of $125.99 free shipping or Best Offer. I submitted an offer of $110.00 they countered with $115.00 so I bought one. Titan Reloading has them right now for $106.00 and by the time I would add sales tax and shipping it would be well above the $115.00..

 

[Texas10mm]

Please expand on your method of reloading this cheaply. Around here primers cost from 3.5 to 4 cents each. That leaves very little for bullet and powder even if you use 100% free scrap lead. I would love to learn how to shoot this cheaply. I am not, however, interested in buying 50,000 primers and powder by the 100 pound lot to do so if it's even possible that way.

As to the original post about auctions going crazy. That's pretty normal and I never attend an auction anymore for this very reason. If I'm interested in something online when it ceases to be what I consider a fair price I just quit and don't stick around for the outcome.

I cast my own bullets.

Primers are $27/100. I'm still working on stock that I bought at $17.50/1000. Powder is $20 a lb.

Prime $0.0175
Powder $0.01

So I've got under $0.03 in powder and primer

I'm paying $20 for a 5 gallon bucket of wheel weights. Scrap lead is running $0.70 a lb. I use a 50/50 mix. I get about 70 lbs of wheel weights from a bucket. That makes that lead $0.29 a lb. Total lead cost is $0.50 a lb. I get ~53 bullets to the lb. So $0.01 for the bullet.

Total cost is really under $0.04 per round. I use $0.05 because I'm replacing my $17.50/1000 primers with $27/1000 primers. I keep a rolling stock of 10k small pistol primers and 15k large pistol primers.

My .45 ACP loads come in at below $0.06 per round.

You don't have to buy large quantities.

Graf's has Vectan Powder for under $20 a lb right now. Some of it is $15 for 1.1 lbs.

 

[SamT1]

I cast my own bullets.

Primers are $27/100. I'm still working on stock that I bought at $17.50/1000. Powder is $20 a lb.

Prime $0.0175
Powder $0.01

So I've got under $0.03 in powder and primer

I'm paying $20 for a 5 gallon bucket of wheel weights. Scrap lead is running $0.70 a lb. I use a 50/50 mix. I get about 70 lbs of wheel weights from a bucket. That makes that lead $0.29 a lb. Total lead cost is $0.50 a lb. I get ~53 bullets to the lb. So $0.01 for the bullet.

Total cost is really under $0.04 per round. I use $0.05 because I'm replacing my $17.50/1000 primers with $27/1000 primers. I keep a rolling stock of 10k small pistol primers and 15k large pistol primers.

My .45 ACP loads come in at below $0.06 per round.

You don't have to buy large quantities.

Graf's has Vectan Powder for under $20 a lb right now. Some of it is $15 for 1.1 lbs.

You can sell the steel and zinc weights to the scrap yard and recoup some of your $20! They don’t check them!

 

[gundoc1]

Just goes to show you can't fix stupid...

 

[Texas10mm]

You can sell the steel and zinc weights to the scrap yard and recoup some of your $20! They don’t check them!

I do sell them back. I also sell back my spent primers and bad brass. I'm to the point where I might start scrapping 9mm brass.