Heavy duty 80 rear bumper

[Andrew Prince]

.... I have to say that if I really wanted an item that someone had declared interest in and decided to bid myself despite the informal agreement - I wouldn't say anything on the forum frankly. If I won, I wouldn't shout about it.

I think the point Chris is making is that many people bid on stuff on the off-chance they can get a bargain and wouldn't pay close to new price for the item.(i.e. a speculative byer rather than serious) I fall into this category 99% of the time on ebay. Another person may desperately want the item and be prepared to pay much more. Does our forum etiquette mean that the speculative buyer (i.e. example no 1) get carte blanche to bid without forum competition simply by virtue of calling dibs on the forum first? And if he has his bargain bid sniped, then such is life? The desperate buyer has to sit on his hands and be a good citizen observing the gentlemen's rules and see the original guy's lowball bid not win anyway? And lose out on a great opportunity to buy a cheap bumper that he needs because his bumper is toast?

I'm all for us playing nice and not costing each other money in a bidding war but IMO there is a limit. In this case Chas was 1st register interest here but had bid a very low amount that was almost certainly never going to win the item. To then beg the indulgence of the forum in not competing is probably unrealistic in practice. My 2c - not saying what is right or wrong.

What is the best way of playing this without falling out over it? Every man for himself? Or a system where a serious buyer that arrives late PM's the 1st registered person and explains his interest and indicates roughly what he'd pay. The 1st registered person can then opt to stand back or to tell the serious buyer that he intends to continue bidding and would bid in excess of that offer?

 

[Chas]

Andrew do you really think my bid of just £10 was in hope of winning it, that was just to register interest, I will be willing to go much higher than that up to a realistic maximum anyway, but I may just say what the hell and win it with a higher bid, so fellow bidders, beware of the sniper.

 

[Graham]

Got say that whilst you chaps are all quite correct I am with Chas in terms of Gentlemen's etiquette. There has always been an informal agreement that when someone sees an auction item posted up and declares an interest, that we don't bid against each other. I am not saying that's right or wrong - but it's what we have done plenty of in the past. I have to say that if I really wanted an item that someone had declared interest in and decided to bid myself despite the informal agreement - I wouldn't say anything on the forum frankly. If I won, I wouldn't shout about it. Auctions are fair. Highest bidder wins. But on a specialised Landcruiser item like this there is no sense bidding against each other. After all there are unlikely to be hundreds of people after it. That's kinda why we post them up isn't it?

Having said that, there have been occasions where someone had taken first dibs as it were, others have held off and the original member didn't go on to bid. Now that's plain bad manners.

I am talking here, in general terms not about this item in particular. Easy for posts to cross. In essence it's a bit like Larry's rule for buying. But it's a free country.

Chris

.
I agree,

I wouldn't bid if Chas had said he was bidding on it, as in post #3
If it got too rich, I would expect Chas to say, "OK guys, over to you"
However, I guess other "non forum" members would be bidding though.
I don't think it's the done thing if some one posts it, and says so, then I don't think it's fair for other forum members to also bid.
May be I am just way out on this thinking?

Gra.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I thought the point of this section of the forum was mainly to bring things to peoples attention and secondarily to register interest so that if anyone does want to be gentlemanly about it they can do so? E.g. if I was casually interested in that item but I see Chas really wants it I'll keep out of it, or if I really really want it I might PM Chas and say oy just how much do you want it then but that's a personal choice not something I think should be any kind of forum rule because apart from anything else that's a bit unfair to the seller.

 

[Chas]

My interest in this bumper is because I need one as my 'new' Land Cruiser has an LPG tank where the spare usually lives, so at the moment the spare is lying in the back, not really safe to have it loose I'm not really willing to say what my maximum is as I don't want some *<&^%>* putting a bid of £1 less

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

I agree with Jons comment about this "forum protocol" being unfair to the seller. If in the case of Chas's sliding draws, which incidently I was very interested in but refrained from snipering at £250 because of "forum protocol" I had bid The seller would have got the true market price. I am sure the seller would have been less than amused at this "restrictive practice"
I would imagine there are several forum members would like this item (the bumper), especially others with LPG tanks under the rear of their 80's or with 80's they off road and are keeping their intentions under wraps at the present time waiting to see how the market forces develop, because of the fact that forum members do not all have the same opinion on this "forum protocol" I cannot see how it can possibly work.
However, I must ask, Chas, are you having 2 spare wheels on your 80 if you win this auction? If not will the draws be surplus to requirements? By expressing interest in two desirable items in quick succession the question must be asked is " forum protocol" a fair practice to its own members.
In a free market situation every deal should be satisfactory to buyer and seller, If any member of the forum put their 80 up for auction and another forum member expressed interest and no one bid against them the car would or could be sold at a level the seller was not happy with, would " forum protocol" have been a good thing and would the aforesaid forum members opinion change on the subject? or would their opinion be that it was restrictive?


This subject was always going to open a can of worms

Andy

 

[Andrew Prince]

Andrew do you really think my bid of just £10 was in hope of winning it, that was just to register interest,

Sorry, Chas - was just using you as an example to make a point, which was not that you expected to win for £10 but that it was a "place-holder".

However your response here does underline my point below...

To then beg the indulgence of the forum in not competing is probably unrealistic in practice. My 2c - not saying what is right or wrong.

If you're the original poster of an Ebay and identify that you're a serious buyer, then it's pretty clear what your intentions are. If somebody else first posts a link to bring an item to the forum's attention, then it's (rightly) a free for all. Until someone identifies themselves as a serious bidder, how can one expect people to hold back on bids? That is the situation in this thread.
Jon and Andy make fair points about Ebay etiquette/rules and fairness to the seller - forum protocol is promoting collusion against the seller

Please note I am not making judgement - just adding my 2c (final bid!) to try and avoid us all falling out over this. I am all for us collectively getting the odd bargain and not costing each other money but we should acknowledge that there are no absolutes here.

Over and out

 

[nivapilot]

I'm backing Chas all the way on this one, and after this I would deffo think twice about posting an item I was interested in.

 

[Bat21]

I'm backing Chas all the way on this one, and after this I would deffo think twice about posting an item I was interested in.

Maybe I'm getting confused here so perhaps someone can clarify.

Take this scenario:-
I see an item on eBay and I think to myself "oh now that I do want", so I decide to keep schtum and not tell the world about it.

Then someone on here also spots it and posts up on here saying "I want this so could no one else bid please".

Am I then not supposed to bid on it?

 

[karl webster]

I'm backing Chas all the way on this one, and after this I would deffo think twice about posting an item I was interested in.

Maybe I'm getting confused here so perhaps someone can clarify.

Take this scenario:-
I see an item on eBay and I think to myself "oh now that I do want", so I decide to keep schtum and not tell the world about it.

Then someone on here also spots it and posts up on here saying "I want this so could no one else bid please".

Am I then not supposed to bid on it?

That's what I was getting at. I'm not goin for the bumper but I had seen it on the bay before here.
As alot of things I never post on here unless I'm selling and I hardly ever do that!

Karl

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

You have to question your conscience on that one, but you shouldn't be put in the position that you have to.

Andy

 

[Chas]

If in the case of Chas's sliding draws, which incidently I was very interested in but refrained from snipering at £250
However, I must ask, Chas, are you having 2 spare wheels on your 80 if you win this auction? If not will the draws be surplus to requirements?
This subject was always going to open a can of worms Andy

First of all Andy thank you very much for not bidding on the drawers, secondly, no I only have the one spare, I think I did mention on the drawer thread that the drawer is big enough to house a spare but that would use up most of the space inside which could be put to better use so I will be keeping it. Obviousy having just bought another vehicle there will be lots of different bits and pieces needed/wanted.
You are right, I do seem to have opened a can of worms here so apologies to all concerned

 

[Bat21]

.... I do seem to have opened a can of worms here so apologies to all concerned

No need to apologise Chas.... it gets people talking (posting), and debate is always good

 

[Rob]

I'm backing Chas all the way on this one, and after this I would deffo think twice about posting an item I was interested in.

Maybe I'm getting confused here so perhaps someone can clarify.

Take this scenario:-
I see an item on eBay and I think to myself "oh now that I do want", so I decide to keep schtum and not tell the world about it.

Then someone on here also spots it and posts up on here saying "I want this so could no one else bid please".

Am I then not supposed to bid on it?

This happened to me a while ago before our forum agreement, there was a bumper which I bought outside of the auction for a good price but decided I would pick it up in a couple of days as it was a long drive. I did not post it on the forum as this would inevitably drive the price up. The next day the bumper was posted on here and the seller called me soon afterwards saying that its not for sale anymore so obviously got a much better price from someone else Lesson learnt , should of driven down immediately and not complain about getting back at midnight and at no point did I blame the post on the forum.

This is a tricky subject as some of us do not bid until the last moment or we identify items that we want and as a result not post it on here. Lets not get into trying to identify who made which bid on ebay. There is no easy answer to this one so lets try and avoid the knee jerk reaction of creating a new forum as a result of this

 

[Chas]

Looks like there's a bidding war going on between two bidders on this bumper (not me, yet, anyone here?) over 7 days to go and it's over £300 akready. I expected it to go high but this is climbing too fast.
Any estimates on final price?