For me living in Germany the best source of Dinky, Corgi, Matchbox etc. is ebay.co.uk. The flee markets here are not very abundant. So ebay is the most important source to get the models i want. But this could be very expensive. So how reduce the costs?

Here are my "Golden Rules of Bidding".

1. Think about how much money is the car worth to you before someone else bidded.

2. Bid 5 seconds before the auction ends. Not before!

I know this is bad for the seller. But it is good for the buyer! I never give more money to the cars I would.

Why only 5 seconds before ending?

Every bid calls a reaction to other bidders. And very often it is a beginning of a battle. But if you bid 5 seconds before end nobody have time to react. And if you bid too little it is ok. And so i never give more money I would.

This is 11 years experience on ebay.

What you guys thinking about it?

Here in France we do the same.

But... sometimes I put in the first hours my final bid. Ending with £3 or £8

As many interested biders often offer £101 or £56 to be sure to win an item that is worth £100 or £55, some seller bid on their own items to round the price.

What a vicious pleasure to find again an item you've lost for just on step ! When I do that, 4/5 times, if I've lost for only one bid's step, I find the same item, two weeks or six months later...

avoid bidwars.

if it is too good to be true, it probably is. been burned a few times.

always pay with Paypal.

I found that most items I get from the UK take anywhere between 8-10 days to be delivered to NZ.
If an item still hasn't arrived after 14 days contact the seller. keep the emails of sent and received.
When making a claim with Paypal (linked with eBay) within 45 days be aware that they will try to give the seller 10 days to respond, although this could be extended. If no resolution had been decided by Paypal do prod them politely to hurry up.

I try to avoid dealing with Europe. Although I found that Holland, Germany and Belgium were very good.
Was surprised that one Russian transaction was excellent. I did allow three-four weeks with that one because its Russia, but received the package within three weeks, much to the surprise of the seller.

I've been dealing with eBay since 1998.

Most of the time I can find what I want as a buy it now, but I'm not chasing after Dinky or Corgi toys from the 50s or 60s.

I had a seller in Kansas doing that Corky. I'd put in my max bid, and when the auction ended, I would lose by .50 cents or a dollar. A week later the same item was back up for bid, so I put in the same bid, and lost again by just .50 cents. A week later, same item back up. Needless to say, no bid from me. The item didn't sell this time around. I don't buy anything from that seller, and I won't buy from dishonest people.

See, this is where I differ. That seller who bid on his own stuff must be doing it at a friends place. Ebay would be able to tell if it came from the same person those two times. Therefore I would have reported him the second time around. It is not only not fair it is illegal as far a eBay is concerned.

Yeah, like I said, don't deal with people who are dishonest. He could have a buddy bidding on it and ends up buying it back from him, or the other bidder could be a flake. But I'm not going to bother with him any more. I can find them elsewhere, and have.

Thats why I bid only five seconds befor the auction ends. I'm doing this also when I am the only one bidder. Because the auction are wachting always at least two people. The seller and the bidder. After my bid could nobody react and bid more. And the seller could not know how much I will bid. And he want to sell the item at the end.

Yes pixmax, I agree. I usually don't bid until the end but from time to time I do bid at the beginning. Usually a very playworn model and hopefully it does not attract attention do to the play wear. I have an auto bidder I use from time to time but usually only if I would be around at auction end. The other trick I use and it works pretty good most times is to bid 3 or 4 times in a row on the toy. Say you want to pay $15.00 for a car. With a day or maybe 2 to go and no or few bids I would try say $5 first. If I get that I would go with $8 next then $10 then $12 all in a row. Save my last bid for the auto bidder or do it myself at the last few seconds at $15. Usually I get the item as with the three or four bids in a row people think I really want it and I must have a high price so I don't usually get beaten.

Ah, thats an interesting strategy.

An auto bidder I use always when i want a car from USA or Canada and the auction ends 3 or 4 clock in the morning here when I usually sleep.

Nobleco, $15?????????????????????  I almost never bid that kind of money!  Pixmax, I think you have your strategy about right.  In Cyprus I'm in the same position you are: no flea markets worth bothering about, so I resort to ebay.co.uk, and very occasionally ebay.com.  I bid in the last 24 hours what I think the model is worth to me, knowing I need to budget another 3-4 pounds for postage, though some sellers charge... well, whatever they like, it seems.  If I'm only prepared to pay 3.50 (for example) I have to be ready for the possibility of the item selling for 9.50.  It happens a lot, but sooner or later I should be able to find most things at the right price.  Just today I've won a James Bond Collection Aston Martin (The Living Daylights), after months of seeing them burst my budget.  So there can be a happy ending, you just have to be patient.

Yes, you are right. I forgot the third rule of bidding.

Be patient!!!

 

I almost always use BINs. I rarely bid on stuff.

Yeah, anymore the stuff I buy is cheaper at buy it now off evelpay as it is from the manufacturer's site or one of the online stores.

Most of the time I sort by 'ending soonest', then start on page 1 and work my way from there - this way, I won't have to go through a long and agonizing wait before I find out if I win or lose. I also don't have to bother with auctions that end up way overpriced (or just out of my league). I hate searching for a model, fining a good one really cheap with several days to go, add it to the watchlist, then, as it resurfaces near auction end, find that the price has gone from great bargain to ridiculously inflated.

The downside is, of course, that sometimes there's very little time to react/decide. It's also not possible to 'ask seller a question' when there's just minutes to go, but that doesn't really bother me, since I generally avoid such auctions anyway... I mean: if 9 sellers out of 10 can list the shipping costs from country A to country B, then why can't #10? Same with condition: if you're trying to sell a model at above average price in (presumed) above average condition - show it! If your photos are so lousy, it's impossible to see the condition, it's just not good enough, and you need to try again, and again, and again... simple as that. "Nice toy car" is also not a very good description, especially not if you consider, that a simple look at the baseplate would most likely reveal lots of relevant data. I'm really tired of sellers who can't be bothered to spend more than 10 seconds per auction - they rarely get my money!

Buying form Denmark, I also use ebay.co.uk as my 'base', but mostly I have preferences set to show auctions from all of the EU. "Worldwide" I rarely bother with, mainly because of import duties and possible long delays in customs.

Like others, I also use an autobidder and hardly ever bid on anything in advance. I can't see what good it would be? Simply raises the price.

I hardly ever bid on auctions with more than 5-6 bids. It may have started out as a good bargain, but 'the bird has flown', the secret treasure has been discovered by the rest of the world... too bad, but maybe next time. Also if there are many bidders, chances are, that one or more of them are desperate to win, so even if the price still appears resonable, there's a hidden, very hig, max bid.

More strategy? Hmmm... I generally avoid the angry, bitter sellers - you probably all know them... "if you're not happy with my terms, don't bid!", "due to some stupid people, I no longer...", "don't buy from me and then give me less than 5-star ratings for postage" - For a seller to be so angry, some disputes must have taken place and you know the one about "smoke without fire"