Etiquette, it's something not many people seem to display anymore. Not that I'm the queen of it or anything, but at least I try.
A few days ago on eBay I was bidding on some wings for my Halloween party costume (I'm going to be an angel, unoriginal, right?). So anyway I placed a bid on these wings, they started at $14.99, and the buy it now price was $18.99. I went ahead and made my maximum bid $18.99. So my price for like 4 days stayed at $14.99, but in like the last hour some asshat outbids me. Now I'm sure you're thinking "but that's the way eBay works, big deal".
If it were a one of a kind item I would see your point, but the fact is that this person has at least 10 of the same thing up for auction. So this asshat decides to outbid me and pay more than the buy it now price. Smooth move there, exlax. I really wanted to send this person a message and tell them what a dumbass they are, but I decided not to. What good would it do anyway? They got their "victory" and I still got my wings before that auction even ended from one of the many other auctions for the same exact thing. Not to mention I got the item for less because I used buy it now.
I guess it's slightly trite to let something like this bother me, and it doesn't bother me so much because I got outbid. It bothers me more because, come on, how stupid can a person be? If you see the exact same thing listed, why don't you go for that and pay less, instead of fucking up my bid? Sure, it's 4 more dollars I spent, but it's the principle of the thing.
A couple of months ago I saw this skin I really wanted to get for my Nintendo DS on eBay, but somebody already had placed a bid on it. I could have tried to outbid them, but I realized that the seller would get more of the same thing, so I cut the bidder a break. I got my skin a few weeks later, it was the same exact thing and I didn't even have to fuck up anybodys bid for it.
I've been on eBay for a few years now though, and the person who outbid me has only been on for a few months, so I guess I can just chalk it up to ignorance. After all, it was only hella rude if the person knew what they were doing, otherwise it was just hella stupid. They ended up only paying about 50 cents over the buy it now price, but it was still the thought of going over at all. I really wanted to jack up their bid to get them to bid like $30, but by that time I had already bought my wings and I didn't want to do that on the off chance that I'd outbid my dimwitted outbidder and end up with another pair of wings (which I wouldn't have been able to afford).
Anyway, the moral of this story is, if you are on eBay, check and see if the seller has a store and is selling more of the same exact thing. If they are, please leave the current high bidder alone and bid on an auction that nobody is bidding on yet. You'll save yourself some money and you won't look like a total dumbass. I thought it was something that just went without saying on eBay, but apparently not. That is my code of eBay etiquette.
Oh, and as an afterthought, I learned something new from this whole thing too. I didn't even realize you could actually bid higher than the buy it now price. You really do learn something new everyday.
A few days ago on eBay I was bidding on some wings for my Halloween party costume (I'm going to be an angel, unoriginal, right?). So anyway I placed a bid on these wings, they started at $14.99, and the buy it now price was $18.99. I went ahead and made my maximum bid $18.99. So my price for like 4 days stayed at $14.99, but in like the last hour some asshat outbids me. Now I'm sure you're thinking "but that's the way eBay works, big deal".
If it were a one of a kind item I would see your point, but the fact is that this person has at least 10 of the same thing up for auction. So this asshat decides to outbid me and pay more than the buy it now price. Smooth move there, exlax. I really wanted to send this person a message and tell them what a dumbass they are, but I decided not to. What good would it do anyway? They got their "victory" and I still got my wings before that auction even ended from one of the many other auctions for the same exact thing. Not to mention I got the item for less because I used buy it now.
I guess it's slightly trite to let something like this bother me, and it doesn't bother me so much because I got outbid. It bothers me more because, come on, how stupid can a person be? If you see the exact same thing listed, why don't you go for that and pay less, instead of fucking up my bid? Sure, it's 4 more dollars I spent, but it's the principle of the thing.
A couple of months ago I saw this skin I really wanted to get for my Nintendo DS on eBay, but somebody already had placed a bid on it. I could have tried to outbid them, but I realized that the seller would get more of the same thing, so I cut the bidder a break. I got my skin a few weeks later, it was the same exact thing and I didn't even have to fuck up anybodys bid for it.
I've been on eBay for a few years now though, and the person who outbid me has only been on for a few months, so I guess I can just chalk it up to ignorance. After all, it was only hella rude if the person knew what they were doing, otherwise it was just hella stupid. They ended up only paying about 50 cents over the buy it now price, but it was still the thought of going over at all. I really wanted to jack up their bid to get them to bid like $30, but by that time I had already bought my wings and I didn't want to do that on the off chance that I'd outbid my dimwitted outbidder and end up with another pair of wings (which I wouldn't have been able to afford).
Anyway, the moral of this story is, if you are on eBay, check and see if the seller has a store and is selling more of the same exact thing. If they are, please leave the current high bidder alone and bid on an auction that nobody is bidding on yet. You'll save yourself some money and you won't look like a total dumbass. I thought it was something that just went without saying on eBay, but apparently not. That is my code of eBay etiquette.
Oh, and as an afterthought, I learned something new from this whole thing too. I didn't even realize you could actually bid higher than the buy it now price. You really do learn something new everyday.
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