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Bay estate pipes and bid retraction?

herfdog

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What is wrong with estate pipes on the bay?

I've been lurking on estate pipes on the Bay for some time and anytime I bid, I get sniped: overbid at the last second.

Something else I have noticed recently is the sheer amount of bid retraction on estate pipes. Several of the pipe sellers have most or all their pipes having bid retraction. Bid retraction is supposed to be super rare cases on auctions. Some auctions have more retraction than valid bids!
Smells like shill bidding to my dog nose...

Sooooo.... WHAT IS WRONG WITH ESTATE PIPE SELLERS?

Also, is there a more valid legit place to get good deals on Estates?

Please post your comments or opinions.
 

The_Rev

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I find the most trusty place to buy estates is www.smokingpipes.com. The pipe is cleaned and ready to smoke. Of course they are more expensive than eBay but you see a good picture of the pipe and it comes as advertised. That said, I've had pretty good luck on eBay finding good smokers but have never really ventured into expensive estates because it's not my bag really. Just like good smokers.
 

herfdog

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I find the most trusty place to buy estates is www.smokingpipes.com. The pipe is cleaned and ready to smoke. Of course they are more expensive than eBay but you see a good picture of the pipe and it comes as advertised. That said, I've had pretty good luck on eBay finding good smokers but have never really ventured into expensive estates because it's not my bag really. Just like good smokers.
Thanks for chiming in.
One part of getting Estates for me is the restoration project that comes with it. I was lucky to be given the opportunity to try that and enjoyed it very much.

Unrestored Estates is something you can find on eBay, but I haven't found another place for that yet. I am sure there are.
 

jasonsbeer

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You should report to customer service if there are improprieties on ebay. Sounds like what you describe is a pattern.
 
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I don't have a comment on the bid retractions, but I have had the same experiences with sniping on eBay, not only with estate pipes. I found that I had to adopt the old adage "if you can't beat em, join em!".
 

herfdog

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I don't have a comment on the bid retractions, but I have had the same experiences with sniping on eBay, not only with estate pipes. I found that I had to adopt the old adage "if you can't beat em, join em!".
I also noticed that some of the pipe where I have been outbid or sniped gets relisted a few days after auction closes.

I don't feel like playing their artificially inflated prices game.
 
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I've "heard" that there's a way to set your maximum price you want to pay in the settings. Never done it because I've always been at the computer for any of those auctions. And have been outbid many times. I don't know for sure if there really is something like that out there. So I don't deal with the bid wars anymore and just search for the "Buy it now" products. Makes life a lot easier for me.
Aren't there Sniping Apps?
I'm sure there's an app for that! If not, let's make one! We'll be rich in no time! LOL.
 

redneck_toy

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There are several sniping apps for eBay. I don't recall the name of the one my friend uses, but you'd have to get super lucky to snipe that app. It waits for the final few seconds of the auction. I'll see if I can't get the name of it.
I've been browsing the estate pipes and haven't ever noticed a retraction on any of them. Never seen a bid retraction at all actually.
 

herfdog

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I've been on eBay for 15 years and barely ever saw a bid retraction. But I've seen lots of them since looking for pipes. Hundreds.

Look up item 201375171512
My eBay app says it has 12 bids from 7 bidders, plus 15 bid retraction. 15!!!
Unbelievable.
Most of the auctions with retraction are from the same 4-5 sellers.
Fishy
 
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