Banner Sponsors
For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
Posts: 3,177Yes, thanks Kim :clap:
Penny 
Winneybears and FriendsLaura..Please explain to us newbies or just plain don't know ??? what is " sniping srvice "..Winney
Hi Winney!
Sure not a problem! The term "sniping" means to bid at the last minute. By waiting that long you don't bid up the item during the auction and get caught up in "auction fever".
The sniping service places the bid FOR you in the last 10 seconds of the auction! How many times have we let something get away cause we saw the auction ... and it doesn't end for a week (or a few days or whatever) and we PLAN on bidding when it gets closer to the end of the auction.... and then FORGET!??!!
If you place your order with a sniping service (in this case, bidnip) you don't have to worry about forgetting... and it lets you wait till the last minute to place your bid. Of course, if someone else bids higher than your bid you had bidnip place for you, you still don't win the auction.
I've used this several times recently very successfully!
Edited to add: The only "problem" is that you have to give Bidnip your eBay password in order for them to place the bid for you. That is why I use my eBay ID that I do NOT sell with (and thus have no financial info on file with eBay with that account)
Hope that makes sense 
Winneybears and FriendsPerfect sense, thank you...Wow this has been a great topic to discuss and read to learn how the Ebay thing goes....if we can ever second guess selling on Ebay.
I have bought several times off Ebay and was really pleased but I have never sold anything .
It all sounds so complicated but so does trying to use a digital camera for the first time or creating a great photo enviornment and then using photo software and writing your own profile and creating a web site . So much stuff to figure out...do we ever get any bear made ? LOL.Winney
Bear Paws by RoxanneThank you Nancy,
I myself am considering my next auction as a private one. I guess it will not hurt to mix things up a bit to see what works best... right?
One thing that I have noticed when with my non-private auctions is that there are bidders that bid on certain type of bear. For example, If I make a fluffy fu-fu girly type bear, or a traditional type, or open-mouth, there is almost aways the same bidders on that one style of bear. Has anyone ever noticed this trend?
Hey Kim,
Does it show the bidders ebay name and their e-mail address with the private?
I'm having another blonde moment here... 
It was also mentiond how difficult it is the the buyers now aday too. For example, my brother who is very new to ebay came across a 69 camero in imaculant condition for $5,200.00 It also said that it would be delivered to his front door. After he was in contact with the guy via e-mail the auction was stopped by either ebay or this guy, the guy said that my brother would be hearing from ebay on how to make the money transfer. My brother was telling me all this and I am freaking out!! First, if it sounds to good to be true, it is. I asked my brother what this sellers name was so that I could check him out. He gave it to me and sent me all the letters that were sent to him from ebay. Well, this seller was from the Indiana, he had not sold or bought anything in 2 years, when my sis in-law spoke to him on the phone he had an Arabic accent, the car was coming from Ireland and the money was going to a money-transfer agent in Germany!! I'm like OH MY GOSH! Stop right now! Send every bit of information that you have to the spoof@ebay.com address right now. They did and as we all know, it was a scam. So this guy still kept sending my brother e-mails that were suppose to be from ebay asking them if the deal was final and all. So to mess with this guy, my brother sent him a e-mail saying that he knew someone with the airlines and was going to check out the car in Ireland! And come back with it to the states.The guy stopped writing them.... But now they are so upset that someone could really take advantage of them, and not expect to be caught. They are really in shock right now and do not know how they can bust this guy. Other than they have sent all the information they received to ebay.
Well, there ya go.
Posts: 3,177eBay can be minefield for the unititiated Roxanne - thank heavens your brother had someone to help him out!
So many scams so little protection - sometimes i think eBay should be more particular with their auctions if you could check the guy out why could'nt eBay, they have far more resources than an individual.
Penny
Jellybelly BearsJust finished reading this thread and boy it is scary!! Who knows whats what anymore!
One thing I thought of with the shill bidding thing, wouldn't they have to pay ebay final value fees?? Wouldn't that just be a loose situation??
I've had the same people bid on my auctions....and I'm only a small timer. It must be hard for popular sellers when they suspect you of pulling strings.
I've also found a few people bidding on lots of artist bears all the time...they bid and win like 5 bears a week. I suppose they are buying for shops? Its hard to know who is honest these days...makes it all confusing!!
Kiprie BearsHi Roxanne and everyone !
I just went thru all post in here(half day just reading this :doh: ) and
now I think understand about the private auctions and snipping for sure. 
I was wondering what's about private ? and didn't
have a clue :redface: Thanks for questioning this and thanks everybody for good advise.
I am so scare for my first E-bay selling from 06NOV !! :wacko:
I guess I have to live and learn for E-bay thing but
I will be careful for scam !! thanks everyone for your informations.
:hug: :lol:
Bear Hugs/Marie
Delartful BearsOh how exciting that you are putting your bear on eBay in early November Marie. How come you have chosen the 6th of November???
Good luck - hope it sells for loads of $$!!! You need to let us know how you go!
Danni
Kiprie BearsHello Danni ,
Oh yes, my auction date was set by Teddies 4 Charity(Ms.Nancy Tillberg), About 5each participants are selling on E-bay for same week 
I hope my bear will find a new home (sweet home). :pray:
You can see today's auction for this charity at here. :whistle:
http://www.northcountryteddybears.com/T … /index.htm
:hug: Marie
Wild Thyme OriginalsOne thing I thought of with the shill bidding thing, wouldn't they have to pay ebay final value fees?? Wouldn't that just be a loose situation??
I've had the same people bid on my auctions....and I'm only a small timer. It must be hard for popular sellers when they suspect you of pulling strings.
With shill bidding, the idea is that the shiller just keeps barely outbidding the real bidder, inching them up in price gradually....creating an artificial bidding war.... in theory the actual bidder does win, but they've paid an artificially inflated price (they would have paid much less if they hadn't had to bid against the shiller).
If the shiller does accidentally win the auction, ... then yes, the shiller would win his own auction, and have to pay the final value fees..... Then their scheme didn't work.
It truly a terrible thing, and obviously, it would be a whole lot smarter for those people who DO do it to to just to use a reserve! It's also a completely illegal form of criminal fraud, so not only can you be banned forever from eBay... you can face criminal charges for doing it!
In our category just about EVERYONE has the same groups of people bidding on their auctions! And, in many artist bear auctions, the bidders DO just keep gradually bumping eachother up by just a dollar or two with each bid, so some of the traditional "red-flags" of shill bidding don't really apply. I don't think that it is something that is rampant in our category, simply because as a seller our reputation is such an overwhelmingly HUGE factor.
It wasn't that hard for me to clear my name when someone erroneously reported me, because once eBay saw the category I was selling in, and the overall bidding trends in the category, as well as the bidding trends in my auctions and other auctions very similar to mine it was apparent that I had done nothing wrong at all.... It just takes a long time to get an actual, real response from eBay, other than the automatically generated eMails.
It can be quite a tough market, and a difficult place at times... with scams and schemes, etc.... but really this kind of yuckiness is everywhere in our world.... phone scams, credit card fraud, personal idenity theft.... it's just everywhere!!!! It truly is sad, all these things that make our lives better & easier (ATM cards, credit cards, computers, the internet, wireless connections, etc....) can be used by bad folks to prey upon us.... 
Beray truly yours,
KIm Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Pandy Potter BearsI would also add to send any bears by 'signed for' mail. I had 2 bears in the same package go missing. I refunded the lady her fees but was out of pocket as the Royal mail only refund upto £30 without insurance. It was my first ebay sale. Now the 'funny' part is I had a email saying they had not arrived (from the lady) and maybe they were giving each other a hug, or something like that, I can't remember exactly. Guess how I packed them? Hugging each other in the box. Benefit of the doubt that they never got delivered, but hmm...
So now I always get them signed for.
Kim-Bee BearsDoes insured mail get tracked or is that extra... do you get signature confirmation or delivery confirmation???
Bears-a-Bruin!From the UK, I used the 'signed for' option when sending internationally Kim. The parcel is signed for upon receipt. I cannot track it....but I confirm (or otherwise) that it arrived. It is also insured for up to £30, but if my bear is worth more than that I can add extra compensation.
I never send my bears uninsured anymore, not even within the UK. Apart from the compensation, the parcels are sent separately from the bulk of the mail so I have that little bit more confidence in the delivery service....
Is there a similar way to send insured parcels out of the US?
