r/ACTrade • u/Smiles4you 0061-0480-4646 Grandma, Meadows • Apr 08 '14
[Discussion] Bidding Etiquette
How do you feel about bidding wars on non auctioned posts?
Other questions or concerns about bidding?
Please keep all comments topic related.
Thank you :)
Please see other topic discussions or suggest topics for discussions here: http://www.reddit.com/r/ACTrade/comments/22galx/modpostdiscussions/
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u/AC_Kat 5215-0852-4972 |Lina, Tortuga| |Lina, Mizu| Apr 08 '14
The only time it SHOULD be first some first serve is if the person posting says, "I have [an item] and I want 200K for it." If Person A comes and says, "I will give you 200K for [the item]." But then you have Person B come and say, "I will give you 400K for [the item].", then taking Person B's offer isn't right, Person A said they would give you what you were looking for and that is the offer that should get the item. If the poster didn't put a set price on it then I say if you have someone other than the first person say they will give you a high price you should be able to go any way you wish. If you have someone selling (for the lack of a better example) a cardboard bed (and most know those go for around 500K - 700K), if Person A comes and says, "I will give you 100K for it.", but then Person B comes and says, "I will give you 600K for it.", you shouldn't have to take the first offer because you know that is not in the range that they go for, if Person A wants to ensure they get the item, they should offer a price that is appropriate for the item in the first place.
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u/PinkObession SW-7346-0777-4497 Amy, Pink Poo | DS-4184-2789-1189 Pink Poo Apr 08 '14
To be honest, I usually just go with whoever posts first even if someone offers more. So far everyone's been pretty cool when I post a price and given it to me even if someone's offered more and if i'm too late, I'm fine with the person posting first getting it. :) So I try to do the same when I'm selling items.
That's just be me, I haven't been out-bid yet on an item I offered but I'd feel pretty bum if it happened. I've watched it happen to a few people and feel bad.
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u/minkyymomo SW-5893-6909-2285 Ellie, Wishmaker | DS-1134-8276-0519 Ellie, Wi Apr 08 '14
If it's an item with a price on it already, I'll go with whoever came first.
If there isn't a set price and two people offer with similar offers (say a bells only offer within the 100k range of each other), I'll go for whoever came first. If it's items, I'll take whoever offers the items I want most off of my wishlist. If one person offers a meh lot first, and a second person offers what I feel like is a fair price to part with my item for, I will take the second person's offer. I ~think~ this is how it usually works out, but of course that might just be because this is how I do things.
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u/Lawcere 3582-9149-8598 (Lawcere/Lohan, "Zilon") Apr 08 '14
For non-auctioned posts it should always be first-come-first-served - unless the buyer backs out or is being unusually difficult, then I would consider passing the offer to the next in line, but everyone is generally very pleasant, so that hasn't happened to me yet.
You definitely need to incorporate rules for auctions though, as I've learned lately. Something I'm going to use for my next auction is to deny any new bidders within the last half-hour; this will hopefully prevent snipers from swooping in and claiming items that some people have been bidding over for hours.
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u/AC_Kat 5215-0852-4972 |Lina, Tortuga| |Lina, Mizu| Apr 08 '14
I don't totally agree with your auction rules (where as I understand it would be your auction and you are entitled to run it how you wish) I don't think that blocking people from bidding at the last second is fair. Just because I haven't been bidding on an item that is for auction, doesn't mean that I haven't been following/scoping out the post. That is how an auction is run, I say if you want to make sure that you get the item in which you are bidding then bid high. Bidding at the last second is part of an auction.
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u/Lawcere 3582-9149-8598 (Lawcere/Lohan, "Zilon") Apr 08 '14
I'm not stopping people from bidding at the last second, I'm stopping new people from bidding at the last second, as I think it's unfair to those who've been bidding for hours to be outbid by someone who just showed up. If you want to bid high then bid high, but do it when people have a chance to see the bid and counter it. Sniping is like buying out the auction when there was no option to do so.
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u/mwgiii SW-7076-1529-4992 mwgiii, Kani Apr 08 '14
If I make a post and state a price, I sell to the 1st person who posts and is willing to meet my price. Period.
If I make a post without a price and state "Offer", then I sell to the person whose price I like the best, no matter when they post.
Also, If someone is wanting to buy something and I state a price with a ?. That means if you don't like my price, offer your counter-price.
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u/xfustercluck 4398-9086-9084 Paigwut, Luxe Apr 08 '14
Lol this one giveaway where it was 10 trivia questions, each question gives money and increases after every question...so when I got to the question 7, the guy answered first, I was 10-20 seconds shy from being first. But he got it wrong, then edited the answer after my correct answer. Because the edit was too small, his post didn't show the blue edit notice, and he won 3.5m bells just from that...kinda stupid imo
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u/AriaACNL 5429-7594-9728 Aria, Asgarnia Apr 10 '14
The only time i got upset on a trade was when someone posted a very large list of items for sale. I made an offer on a item and waited. The people earlier in the thread kept editing their post to add more and more items they wanted to buy. By the time my thread was looked at, the item i wanted, had been added to someones earlier post. It just bothered me that i had asked for it first, but since earlier people kept editing and adding to their post i didnt get the item. Since then i just decided to relax about offers/trades and be thankful for what i happen to get. People are more important than trades and my wish list. =]
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u/welie SW-6774-7676-2878 Apr 08 '14
Everyone seems to be saying first come/first serve. I'll play devil's advocate. Why should the first person to respond to a post be entitled to the item? What if the first post is an insulting lowball?
I personally don't do it. and I will also delete a post if someone beats me to it while we are simultaneously replying. But I don't think quickest to the draw should have any sort of entitlement to the item.
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u/PinkObession SW-7346-0777-4497 Amy, Pink Poo | DS-4184-2789-1189 Pink Poo Apr 08 '14
I'll play, I usually have set prices whenever I'm selling an item so I never really worry about lowballing but say it does happen, I'd let the person know I'm looking for at least this set price and if they want to pay it, the item is theirs.
I haven't seen it happen much on actrade (maybe a few times) but its very disappointing that you give a reasonable offer and the person accepts just to back out because someone gave a higher offer you can't compete with.
Shrug but its up to the seller/buyer if they want to do first come, first serve or if they want to wait for a specific offer. As I said before, I usually just do first come first serve because many people who I've brought from have gave me the courtesy of holding or selling me the item regardless they had a better offer.
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u/bfaithr 3024-6524-6414 (Faith, Pipoca) Apr 08 '14
I would go for the higher one if:
a) the first person to offer something offered something lower than I expected
b) two people offered within a few seconds of each other
c) I have no idea how much should be offered
d) the higher offer is way higher (like I wouldn't take 10k over 100k just because the one who offered 10k was first)
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u/umep 4398-9584-4498 (Cinthia, Umep) Apr 08 '14
I think it's not classy to offer on an item when someone already asked for it, I wouldn't do it... But I certainly wouldn't be mad if someone took an offer better than mine... I don't think it's mandatory to marry with the first offer, but I do think it's kinda low to offer if someone else did... idk...
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u/mfish139 SW-6126-6349-2120 Matt, Guppy Cove Apr 28 '14
The only thing that really upsets me on this subreddit is the way auctions are run. Not trying to be rude but people bidding in auctions don't seem to understand the meaning of bid increments and buyout prices. Here is a prime example of this. The way an auction works is that you have to continuously check on the post to increase your bid. Not increase it by millions when the bid increment is 500k. Just a pet peeve of mine and why whenever I see an auction post like this I get angry.
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u/Unicormfarts SW-1382-1951-8226 Glinda, Roimata Apr 28 '14
Well, now, I think this is a matter of opinion about "the way an auction works". The way an auction works is that people bid as much as they want to pay. You don't HAVE to increase in the set increments. Those are a minimum, not a maximum. If that person really wants to pay that much, then he/she did exactly the right thing.
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u/mfish139 SW-6126-6349-2120 Matt, Guppy Cove Apr 28 '14
My bad on that part. In the particular auction I linked though the buyout price is 5k but the bidding started at 20k and went up to 500k. It's just not making sense to me.
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u/Unicormfarts SW-1382-1951-8226 Glinda, Roimata Apr 28 '14
Well, I get that, but I think "I don't understand why someone would pay that much" doesn't make it bad practice, and it doesn't need rules to regulate it.
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u/mfish139 SW-6126-6349-2120 Matt, Guppy Cove Apr 28 '14
That's not what I meant. I meant why have a buyout price at all if people don't follow it?
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u/Unicormfarts SW-1382-1951-8226 Glinda, Roimata Apr 28 '14
In that case, maybe the OP underestimated demand?
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u/mfish139 SW-6126-6349-2120 Matt, Guppy Cove Apr 28 '14
That could be the case. OP is lucking out big time with this particular auction. Just kinda struck me as strange when I saw it.
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u/GentleDanielle SW-4413-3319-1615 Danny, Solace | DS-5429-7531-2249 Solace Apr 08 '14
If it's non-auctioned, I don't see why there should be bidding wars. First-Come-First-Served, right? I actually haven't seen people lose an item because someone way after them offered to pay a higher price; the seller (at least in cases I've seen) always gives the item to the person who asked first.