"bidding against friends" Topic

Just curious what people would do…

You spot an auction for something you want and point it out to a friend, saying you plan to bid on it. The friend PMs you back and says he will bid on it too. Do you squash him in a bidding war, or let him win it?

Tell him you've changed your mind and aren't interested in the item anymore – then swoop in the last minute to outbid him.

Depends how badly I want it, but it strikes me as pretty poor etiquette on the friend's part to be bidding against you in the first place….

Bad form on the friend's part. In our 1/87 group, we generally did not bid against one another on e-bay auctions. Instead, some would offer to purchase select portions of particularly large collections – thus giving the original bidder a financial boost in advance.

I suspect that this kind of action is one small factor in the hidden bidder IDs ebay instituted.

Wyatt

As mentioned, very bad form for your friend to bid against you. I would go ahead and bid just as I had planned to as if the friend wasn't involved. But I sure would be tempted to bid on the high side to insure I won it.

I never tell friends what I'm bidding on

I've only bid against Bill Armintrout, but now I have no idea who I'm bidding against.

I've only bid against Bill Armintrout…

And saved me from myself, thank you!

I've only bid against Bill Armintrout, but now I have no idea who I'm bidding against.

I can't be sure, but this might be him on ebay – B**L

I've bid against a friend – course I didn't realise until I checked the bid history – the friend was using their proper name, and the product was just the sort of thing they'd have been after.

I was only somewhat interested – so I stopped bidding.

Never bid against a friend, never offer to split lottery winnings. Simple rules to live by.

I don't have friends, so I can neatly sidestep that whole issue.

Unfortunately, with the hidden bidder ID, I now risk bidding against my husband or friends (or known TMP acquaintances). With Michael it's not such a big deal; we can discuss things before either of us bids. With everyone else, I can only say I'm sorry.

A bit rude, that. I'd bid what I had originally planned to bid, and let it go at that. And not tip off the friend next time.

I don't bid against friends, it's bad form IMHO.

Mike "Bunkermeister" Creek
bunkermeister.blogspot.com

I'll ask my fellow club member to see if he's interested. I have been outbid by a Mr Armintrout in the past.

Your friend should be consigned to the Seventh Circle of eBay Hell, bid with impunity.

Some seem to think that eBay is itself a competitive thing. Thus, all the "strategeries" you see, and the thrill of the hunt, the thrill of the snipe.
I play my best friends on the table all the time, regularly stomping on and getting stomped. If you think eBay is a competition, I see no problem bidding against friends. Trash talk is always best against friends. "Hey, Fred! Didn't you bid on the wizard? ZZAAPP!!"

Isn't this what the "Guy Code" was invented to solve?

Now, at Endgame's wonderful annual used game auction, which is extremely fun and friendly, when the seller and buyers are all in the room, I'll bid against a friend when it's for something not particularly rare, down in the $4-10 range. After all, this is only fair to the buyer. This is particularly common if we're bidding on something silly (this auction is a roaring good time). If it gets serious, in rarity or in price, there is eye contact, an unspoken agreement, and one of us drops out. Friends are more important than games.

The Endgame auction is April 24 this year. I highly recommend it.

Andrew

No, but usually I try to "Lowball" some of my friends when no one else is bidding on their auctions (Sorry, Antonio!)

I make jokes to a friend of mine about bidding against him. I'd never do it. That's just lame.

I would have pointed it out to them in the first place.

They would have found out about it after I won the auction.