Before christmas i was constantly ebayer for about 3 weeks, searching the house of items we no longer needed, placing them online, and then watching throughout the week to see how many watchers there were on items, seeing the bids creap up during the week and then the all important bidding wars in the final 5 mins.
This benefited us hugely with many of our christmas presents coming off ebay so it didnt feel like we was spending a penny but can you become addicted to the world of ebay, from a sellers and a bidders point of view?
From a buyers point of view ebay isnt what it used to be, and thats because of the fiancial climate and the deals the shops offer today. When Ebay first started you was normal guarnteed a bargain, but nowdays you have to shop around as with so many stores having half price of sales nearly all year you can actually be paying someone more money for their second hand cast offs than brand new in a store with which you can take it home that day and not have to wait for that seller to take it down the post office (and this sometimes isnt always very quick i must add). I know i sold some games and was even asking myself why these people were bidding so high when they could go on websites such as play.com who offered the game cheaper and free delivery but who am i to judge, i definatly didnt moan when i saw the income in my paypal the next day.
With this in mind i think think i could become addicted to the bidding side of the ebay world, however from a sellers point of view its very different.
I started my ebay selling again last week, whilst i had a week off work i managed to find various bits and pieces i no longer wanted or needed, and so took a few pictures and half hour later i had them placed for sale on ebay.
And the addiction starts from there, once i put four items on i felt like i needed to find more and so was hunting the whole house in case i had missed something that someone else may possibly want. and from there everyday im reviewing my status do i have an watchers, are there any bids?. Its definaty more exciting from the sellers point of view.But if i feel like this and i feel like i am quite a tame ebayer how far do people go to get that thrill from the bidding wars and how much are you willing to sell just to get that bit of delight from seeing your unwanted prosessions go up by £1 at a time.
I found an article on bbc news website which explained that some doctors believe that it isnt the item itself that give ebayers an addictive buzz but the excitement of bidding against others and winning.
In some cases people bid on things they dont need just to get a buzz from the ebay bidding.
There are even some extreme cases featured within the article as follows
"Some people come because they have been fired from work - doing eBay at work is not permitted, so they seek therapy after something like this happens.
"One woman was in debt by $400,000 and took a second mortgage out on her home and all the money from her retirement account.
I personally dont know how people can take it to these extremes but some people dont have the control.
So for now im just going be happy with whatever I from my unwanted items, and be happy when i do find an ebay bargain.
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