E-Bay Corals & Bidding on them

[Braves Fan]

I have never bought corals off of E-Bay and have a few questions on how this works. One of the Reef 2 Reef sponsors Austin Aqua Farms, sells corals on EBay I was thinking on bidding on a few. Some of the corals have a reserve, I know what that means the corals have several bids but it says Reserve not met. Some of the Acans I was looking at have several bids on them, but it doesn't say the reserve hasn't been met. This kinda has me confused, some of these acans are really nice but the top bid is like $7.50 will they really sell these corals for that price or am I missing something? The shipping charge for most of these corals is $30 can you buy more than one coral and have them shipped in one box? I am sure their is some sort of gimmick to all of this that I don't know about.

 

[reid429]

email the seller and ask them, those acans will sell for a lot more than that amount in the last few minutes trust me

 

[returnofsid]

On any Ebay auction, if there's nothing in the description or shipping information about Combined Shipping, always ask, prior to placing a bid. Some sellers use Reserve pricing on all of their auctions, some use it on some of their auctions but not all, some never use Reserve pricing.

Yes, typically, bids will come in, in the last few moments of an auction, sometimes the last few seconds. This is known as Sniping and is becoming much more common.

 

[aherre07]

Having bought many times on ebay, there is usually no reserve on the corals and yes they will sell at a low price if indeed it stays at a low price. Most increase in price on the last day and at last minute. If buying more than one usually they just charge you an additional charge of like $2 per additional item and will ship them all in the same box. No gimmick they just know that we reefers are addicts and will increase the price to what we think is fair...

 

[bct15]

If you want some entertainment, watch some corals on eBay end as the price usually skyrockets within the last ten seconds. If there is no reserve and they don't get sniped, then as per eBay rules they have to sell it for that price. Generally, sellers will combine shipping but it should say in the item description, shipping details, or you should ask the seller.

 

[Braves Fan]

Yes, typically, bids will come in, in the last few moments of an auction, sometimes the last few seconds. This is known as Sniping and is becoming much more common.

I knew there had to be something I wasn't aware of Guess I will pass on EBay corals, don't have time to watch coral bids up to the last second.

 

[brahm]

you don't have to watch them at all. Just set what you are willing to pay, and if it will increment up to the amount if it goes above you loose the auction and you won't pay more then the next increment above what the last person is willing to pay

 

[huuta]

when it say 2bids and the price next to it,does it mean that's the highest bid or just the starting point?do we get to see the hihest bid or it's a guessing game?

 

[Braves Fan]

you don't have to watch them at all. Just set what you are willing to pay, and if it will increment up to the amount if it goes above you loose the auction and you won't pay more then the next increment above what the last person is willing to pay

Thanks for that info, didn't know you could do that. So what U are saying is: I could put my max amount in and it would auto bid for me until I reach that amount. Thats pretty cool. Guess I will track a few corals to see what they are selling for so that I know how much to bid on them.

 

[brahm]

exactly, people like to wait until the lats minute though so the price doesn't inflate to quicky which is why they use snipping tools (which are very easy to use and free)

I use this
https://www.myibidder.com/

 

[luke33]

What you have to be careful about is if you bid on say 5 items and you only win one, you have to pay the shipping for just the one item so if your going to buy corals on ebay, i'd suggest watching the auction and buying more than one. I've had great luck and not so great : )

 

[Glenn]

when it say 2bids and the price next to it,does it mean that's the highest bid or just the starting point?do we get to see the hihest bid or it's a guessing game?

If the webpage you are looking at is a LIST of many items for auction, it may not be updated to actually show the most recent bid - so the price could be wrong. However, if the webpage is the actual item, it should always show the highest current bid. There used to be a way to see the bid list (i.e. - all of the bids for a specific item) but I haven't paid much attention to eBay lately to know if that is still available.