I determine what the bow is worth to me and set a price accordingly. I use esnipe to bid, only placing my bid in the last 4-6 seconds of the auction. Bidding earlier is a waste of time, all you do is create more competition among the bidders, driving the final price up. He who has the deepest pockets will be the high bidder... hard to beat Troutbear nowadays. I remember when a couple heavy hitters were buying on E8ay, one collector from Omaha and another from Martha's Vinyard would drive prices right thru the roof on collectible bows in the final seconds of an auction...those of you that have been around a while know who I am talking about...hard to stay on a "budget" as a bow collector back then.

The European market is strong right now because our good ol' US dollar is so weak. Times are changing boys....

what is esnipe?  Any burlap bags, blindfolds and flashlights involved?

I too have been beaten by troutbear on several occasions.  But I'm not bitter, he simply wanted the items more than me, needed them more than me or had deeper pockets than me.  Probably the latter, but that's auctions.  

Trap

Makes me sick to see what these slugs are doing to archery.  I go to a yard sale or an estate sale and see the eba ers there and I intentially get in their way, grab stuff and walk around with it and place it in  other areas in the house just to screw with them .  You watch dogs keep up the good work!!  I have never bought off that site and never will.  We had a guy and his wife go to the sales the night before they start and tell the homeowners that they had a death in the family and asked if they could view the items early because of a funeral they had to attend.  When I see their  car at a sale (on the day of the sale) I try and block them in so they can't leave.

Actually sniping is very  easily fixed.. One of the Gun auction sights has it any bid placed in the last 3 minutes, extends the auction 30 minutes.. Hard to snipe like that.
A couple of pet peaves of mine are guys who get on here or other sights with "How much is it worth threads" then the item shows up on the auction sight.
Or the guys who cruise the classifieds then put it up for auction before the brown truck is out of the drive.
I guess I always feel if there is a good deal to be had, but I am not specifically interested, I'll let it ride hoping some one with a lot of heart and little cash can find a "Deal"

One more note,I can't figure out why we can't spell the word ebat on this sight...Over 75% of the folks on this sight use the other one to sell and buy.72% of them have a different user name then the one they use here.Thinking maybe no one will notice ??? 60% of those folks will actually say I hate that sight...but they use it..Kinda stuck me a little odd...I actually contact **** and asked if I could use the name tradgang in an auction...they said heck yes you sure can..Good for the gooose,but not for the gandier....seems a litte preditist don't it ??? bowdoc

When all of the TG sponsors become **** Power Sellers and **** Stores, then **** will be OK.
I just figure that **** collectors who get paid in Euros will eventually siphon off everything.
Ever check out what the Germans resell our old bows for?

Holly cow Tony you ever check out the Japenies resale of Finder...Martin maybe a Les Paul ele.gaurtroooo's...those guy's are nuts...I saw them buy one finder with a small amp...restore the laquer paint on the body and resale it for about 20 times what they paid...They being an asia country buyer......That blew me away....I was pretty inpressed with the sale though....darn euros..the dollar was down hard yesterday against the euros too.   about 1.00 = 1.60...makeing the US dollar about 40 cents.....yikes.....bowdoc

Remember when all the samurai swords were in ex-GIs attics? Now Pearl Harbor is a rest home for Japanese golfers.
The only thing that might save us is shipping charges and postal regulations about size - otherwise the dollar is pretty helpless right now.

Hey Rich I sold a whales penis several years ago...it was made into a bar stool....I really never liked setting on it myself...Sold it to a lady from N.J. in 97.....bowdoc

I check out Fleabay all the time, I am a bowaolic.
I noticed that bid ID's are hidden I know that we are watching/bidding on some of the same items.I would pass on some items if I knew that fellow tradwallers  were bidding sometimes because I know you have deeper pockets.
Mostly I like buying at newly listed items w/ buy it now.
           Kurt Bel5
           Fleabay ID Sendit805

One of the ways I do it is place a bid...some winning some not winning...but you can see the number of feed backs on other buyers....ie just one jerk I mean other buyer has 996 f-b's...so I track him by the number of feeds....Hidden user names....Now you see how bidder A can bid on seller B's bow and no one know it's really neal and bob....the twin brothers from La Tuque......or some cheese-head selling bows for 37 different members of an archery club....what are they thinking we are thinking none of the other 37 members did not falsely run the price up....ya right......Born at night,but not last night....bowdoc

Don -
That is called shill bidding, and **** will suspend the seller if they catch it. Just click on "Report This Item" and list your concerns.If they sre honest, they won't have any problem. If not, good riddance.

He has a higher proxy bid then your sniper bid program..ebat blocked the lesser amount automaticly...That makes ebats cut of the action bigger as they get a percentage rather then a flat fee..hence the higher selling price is sometimes controled by ebat....those bas%$#@s...bowdoc

Don't worry. All his bows will be on sale for only twice what he paid some day, maybe next week!

Pray for his soul...I would like to kick them guy's in the jimmy's..............sorry I got a little carried away guy's....I know a stock broker whom has around 10-12 Grumleys.....he paid just under 6 grand for the best of the best with original reciept and paper work.....he wants 4,500 now for it.....you can see where this ones headed...you live by the sword you die by the sword....Prices are slowly sleping down down down.Kinda like my house.......How much money can one man lose.......bowdoc

Na I only went about 50.00 was just kind-of watching from the side line...bd

I'am sure some of you guy's been window shopping this morning huh??? Me too....I see some really nice Kodiaks for sale again........I told ya there was something fishing going on.....Friends helping friend !!!! pretty nice huh??? no good for nothing SOB's...........bowdoc

I was kinda wondering who you guys were talking about when you said you kept getting outbid by the same guy. Now I see one guy has put up a BUNCH of Kodiaks. My powers of deduction tell me that must be the guy you were talking about, huh?

There actually is a pair of them...maybe working the circut together.Prices seem to have gone up faster then gas too huh ?? bowdoc

Rich-
Wasn't looking to name names. My point was that I think got'er figured out.