Thread: Bidding on ebay.de

Goaded by BT, I spotted a nice Haimer on ebay.de. Shipping was Deutschland but I contacted the seller to see whether he would ship to Au. Yes, he would. I put a bid in last night and got the usual bid accepted splash screen - the one that in Australia tells you to bid again in case someone out bids you. I checked this morning and the item had sold for around 2/3 the amount I had bid - my bid had vanished. I've sent an email off to the seller explaining that he missed out on a larger bid, but I don't know what went wrong. My password and id were accepted, I got a screen that to me looked like my bid had been accepted and previously my bids on things like UK or US only auctions have been accepted. Anyone with experience in ebay.de have an idea what may have gone wrong? At roughly A$120, it would have been a good buy and I'm sorry to have missed out.

Michael

Seller may have changed his mind and cancelled your bid at the last minute.

Michael, I don't know the answer but GIXEN - Free eBay Auction Sniper would have avoided the problem I think.
It has put a few smiles on my dial.

I use Hammersnipe when I can't be there to snipe in person.

If the seller cancelled the bid there should be a record of it in the bidding list.

My question, Are these Snipe sites safe?
My concern is that they have my Ebay password. Whats to stop them using my account for their own purposes and I cop the bill, or they stuff up and bid thousands too much for something you only bid $500 on and legally I'm required to pay.
I may be a little paranoid yes, But I have been a victim of internet bank fraud in the past (6 years ago) that cost me nearly as much as my first and second Ex wives put together.
The only way I transfer money online now is via PayPal as I have a written and signed agreement between them and my bank and if more than a certain amount is attempted at either end I get a phone call and go through a series of questions with an actual person. The lengths you go to when you have been screwed out of $300,000 through no fault of your own is amazing. Especially as insurance companies can find amazing ways of getting out of paying

So my question is a valid one I believe anyway.

Sorry for the rant, I didn't mean to get so heavy

Originally Posted by Michael G

Goaded by BT, I spotted a nice Haimer on ebay.de. Shipping was Deutschland but I contacted the seller to see whether he would ship to Au. Yes, he would. I put a bid in last night and got the usual bid accepted splash screen - the one that in Australia tells you to bid again in case someone out bids you. I checked this morning and the item had sold for around 2/3 the amount I had bid - my bid had vanished. I've sent an email off to the seller explaining that he missed out on a larger bid, but I don't know what went wrong. My password and id were accepted, I got a screen that to me looked like my bid had been accepted and previously my bids on things like UK or US only auctions have been accepted. Anyone with experience in ebay.de have an idea what may have gone wrong? At roughly A$120, it would have been a good buy and I'm sorry to have missed out.

Michael

Michael the same thing happened to me when trying to win a couple of Centec arbours from England, I was told by an experienced Ebayer that when you contact the seller you have to get him to change his item to 'posts worldwide', otherwise EBAY automatically rejects the bid at the end of the sale

Originally Posted by matthew_g

that cost me nearly as much as my first and second Ex wives put together.
T

that is still cheap...I wouldnt grizzle if it would only cost that amount...might even be willing to go up to twice that ...I 'll keep on dreaming

I have bought a few things on German ebay, the only problem i have had was paying for one item. It let me bid and win, but when i went to pay i got the message "this item cannot be shipped to your location" i even had a postage quote etc from the seller. I did use a snipe program though. I asked the seller and he changed the listing so it could be paid for. Postage from Germany is cheap too, my 150mm tesa dial caliper only cost 9 euro to send, about the same as within Aus.

I have had my bid reject before aswell, Although I found if I log onto the Ebay site which the item is posted on (ebay.fr for example) I don't have any problem bidding.

For what it's worth.. Shipito now have an address in Austria, that might be handy for EU sellers that won't post to Australia.

I've used them numerous times for USA to Australia forwarding.

Regards
Ray

http://www.shipito.com/

My wife has some friends in Germany too who would have bought if I asked but I have begged enough favours over the years so try not to impose.
The bidding was through the .de site - I'm surprised though that my bit was (seemed to be) accepted and then did not go through. I would have thought that rejection should have been instant. To get a window telling me the current bid and my maximum bid suggested to me that I was in.

Michael

Hi Michael,

I recently bought some bearings from a ebay.de, not problems other than everything coming up in Deutch! I kinda stumbled my way through and was able to pay after requesting a new invoice from the seller.


Simon

the seller did not change the listing to add Australia as an acceptable destination.
It tells you when you putting in your bid that it cannot be accepted because the seller will not post to it.
It looks like a bid is going in but it doesn't. The rest of the text is telling you Aus is not a valid destination.
You needed to get the biller to add Aus as a destination.

I've had this a few times with US sellers, had to get them to allow aus bids.

Peter

Originally Posted by matthew_g

My question, Are these Snipe sites safe?
My concern is that they have my Ebay password. Whats to stop them using my account for their own purposes and I cop the bill, or they stuff up and bid thousands too much for something you only bid $500 on and legally I'm required to pay.
I may be a little paranoid.....

Matthew, I don't think you are paranoid at all

I had the same concerns when my son first put me on to Hammersnipe. In the end I overcame it by changing my Ebay password after every time I have used Hammersnipe.

I only use it when an item finishes during the night or when I am not around to bid.

Having said that, I know several people that are using this snipe service and I haven't heard a negative report yet.

What does Hammersnipe do?

Simon