Just got offline with 'Ebay Live Chat'.
Looking at 'My Ebay' to check on the progress of some items, I noticed that on one of my items that I had started the price at £0.99 had '2' bidders...but the price remained at £0.99.
I was told that this was because THE SAME bidder put 2 bids in ?
When asked 'why would Ebay allow a 99p bid and then accept another for the same price ? Tried giving me a load of technical Devlan Mud.
When asked, 'so the same bidder can make 50 bids of 99p, it will show 50 bids, but the price will remain at 99p?'

Lots of silence...so I left.

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There are fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world

I have to say that there appears to be a lot of artificial bidding keeping prices high particularly for LOTR miniatures and scenery. Of particular annoyance has benn the mini Weather top pieces that were made for GW in store displays and never officially sold. I have appeared to be the highest bidder several times in the past, then to be snippered an to find that the same item is up for sale again.

Also a great deal of the stuff appears to go for higher prices that GW retail!....or does it?

Yes it does, its weird, but I was selling a Mumak Mahud the other day, UKFreddybear was a watcher, it sold for more than the GW asking price.
Just down to folks that don't research before they bid me thinks....but I aint complaining

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There are fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world

I had always hoped to get miniatures at a second hand goods price, and have pretty which limited my use of eBay. It does seem crazy that there are people out there who will pay a higher than retail price + commission and postage. I usually buy from a local GW or independent retailer as I like to support a physical shop.

Same here, unless I can't get it any other way.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

I've done this as a bidder before. Here's how it works.:I bid at 99c. Then I decide I want to make sure I get the item and up my 'max bid' to $2.99. That counts as two bids, but because nobody else has bid, the price remains the same. For some items that start at, say, $5, I've bid 4/5 times, or even more, up to my max bid, in small increments. This way to anyone glancing at it it looks like it's a hotly contested item, even though it isn't. If they look under the bidder history they can right away see that it's just me bidding, but I hope it still throws some people off at least.

So would I if the post Finecast and Hobbit:UJ miniatures were fairly priced.

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My (more regularly updated) painting blog:
https://www.facebook.com/Pindergorn/

Yeah it will appear as 2 bids if you proceed to increase your maximum bid (eg enter.99 for first bid then 2p for max bid). As far as I'm aware, you are the only one who sees 2 bids - everyone else sees just 1.

As for why people pay a huge amount sometimes - I have no idea. Saw a Galadhrim army go for over 500 pounds a few weeks back. Sure it was painted but it was really only 1 of everything with an extra box of Galadrhim knights.. not worth that much in my opinion. I have paid cost price for Floi Stonehand by mistake before - thought he was no longer available.

As for items being sold then being re-listed. I have definitely noticed this, though only with smaller auctions. I messaged the seller to tell him I for one was not pleased that he kept on allowing the person to bid and asked him to give me a second chance offer. The result was that I ended up paying a little more than I would if that other bidder had not been around, but I only accepted the offer when it was a good deal. I noticed that before and after contact about this, some items were relisted at the final bidding price (I had been watching it, not bidding, so this is how I know). So I don't know why it happens, but it does.

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My trade thread
http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=25957&p=325932#p325932

I am glad I stay away from eBay.

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Published ebooks:
Instrument of the Empire
A Note of Defiance
Phantom Ships, Ghost Flotilla
More to come!

Yup. As afore mentioned, If there is only one bidder, who initially puts in a bid, but then later decides to up his maximum bid to a higher amount just in case, the record will display 2 bids, but since they are from the same person, the initial asking price remains unchanged. You cannot get in a bidding war with yourself. It is impossible (unless you have two accounts of course).

And not to worry Brian. I picked up a Mahud for £6.90 including postage shortly afterwards so it all worked out

As for items being relisted straight away after sale, there are several bootleggers on ebay who have moulded GW figures and then cast them themselves to sell as new but loose minis. These sellers always use the same stock photos and sell the same minis over and over and I'm surprised they've got away with it for so long. It's not even discreet.

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You don't have to be great to start. But you do have to start to be great.

Sometimes you think the buyers are paying a lot more than GW are asking but I for one often buy on Ebay and at prices which are still lower than had I bought here in Australia, unfortunately we have downunder nearly a 60% price hike than our European counterparts so what may seem high to you is still cheap for us, even with postage.
But I do find it annoying when have bid on an item and been pipped for it at last moment, then see it relisted, some bad sellers out there if want profit then set starting price higher.
I am looking forward to my trip to US next month to purchase figures cheaper, my suitcase maybe heavy coming home but im not taking much clothes going over

I'm kinda surprised this guy (I know of one in particular) hasn't tried to get really rare figures, like the one pose of lurtz or something, and sell bootleg copies of those. That would make a lot more $$....

Two reasons for that.
A) ultra rare minis hardly ever surface, and when they do they go for hundreds of dollars. Not many can afford that kind of outlay.
B) if the bootlegger continually put out the same rare mini time after time it would become very obvious. Everyone would notice what he is doing ( including GW) whereas by selling ordinary copied minis he stays under the radar and largely unnoticed.

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You don't have to be great to start. But you do have to start to be great.

If you are caught selling recasts then be prepared to feel the full force of GW legal.

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12th GBHL 2013.
13th GBHL 2014
9th GBHL 2015


Mid Sussex Wargamers

Yeah....I've thoguht about doing that, but Ithink I got one of his fugures a while ago not realising it was a recast and it was pretty good. So I've kinda held off hoping I can get somne elites (khazad gaurd/bezerekers/crossbowmen/ etc.), but they all seem to go for too much. Maybe I should try black mail...

Been selling for a couple of weeks now...£80 in fees already

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There are fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world

How much of a % do they take now?

10% I think

Anything over £0.99p they charge a listing fee, below is free. After the sale, they take 10% of the sale. Using PayPal, the buyer sends you money and then PayPal charge 'the seller' for receiving money.

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There are fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world

That's a lot. I didn't realise that ebay took off a full 10%! A good reason to try to sell on local sites first. (Like kijiji here in Canada...)