Re: Strategies for Buying Test Equipment off Ebay

If buyers are willing to pay more, they should have a chance to do so. The current system allows a robo-bidder to outbid you within a split second of the end of auction, giving you no opportunity to rebid. Removing the "last split second" from auctions also discourages robo-bidders, giving the humans a better chance of winning.

Gah, I hope so. It's all tubes and silver solder, and has about a

Well, it was 40 years ago.

John

Look for postings that say "AS-IS" or "FOR PARTS ONLY." Many times, the seller puts these expressions in to cover his/her ass. This is true for many of the large surplus junk e-stores.

Usually, they just have so much stuff, they don't even have time to plug it in. Many people are totally against buying like this, but I have gotten some VERY good deals on units that work fine. Sometimes, I am the only bidder and the price I pay is less than the shipping costs.

But be aware, you should pay no more that 20% of the cost of a "good" unit, with a warranty. That way, if it truly is junk, you haven't lost much.

if you bed high enought (remember the more you can bet...) the robot will not be able to outbid you... if you bet the actual bed plus $1, you will be outbed !

I saw that the final price for an object is almost always twice the price it was half an hour before the end of the auction...

Primarily because the price a half hour before the end of the auction is totally meaningless.

No intelligent eBay bidder would bid so early.