Bidding Against Friends On Ebay

[Darren Honeycutt]

Recently I was in the situation of bidding on an item that interested me on Ebay and noticed that someone who had helped me in the past was also bidding on the item. Has anyone been in this situation and how did you feel about it?

 

[Mark Baber]

There are no friends on eBay.

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

All is fair in love and war- and ebay. Although once or twice, I have emailed someone who agreed to making me a copy of something I dearly wanted but lost the bid for. It is the content sometimes which is so important, not owning the original, and there are nice people out there who will help if you explain why you need it. And then there are one or two who are not nice!

 

[Darren Clossin]

Unless you and this person have a "Gentleman's Agreement" not to bid against each other, I would consider any item "game"- It's not personal, but Business.

 

[Patty Miller]

Once , I passed on a bid, I really wanted, because a friend , was interested in the item.
They in turn sold it for a much higher price, more than I could afford. So much for chivalry.
(LOL)
Mark, you are right...there are no friends on Ebay.

 

[Inger Sheil]

There was a group of us that - once upon a time - had a 'hands off' policy when one of us was bidding on an item. It didn't last too long! I've also refrained on the odd occasion when I saw a friend had a bid in for something. Otherwise, MAB is quite right - it's everyone for themselves! I know when I lost out to a friend bidding on a postcard that had gone into the statosphere that I felt no hard feelings at all when he won - he offered me use of the image if I needed it anyway.

There is such a complex network of friendship, contacts and associates competing for a limited amount of material that it would become quite awkward if we were expected to hold off because of our relationship with other bidders.

 

[Trevor Powell]

I concur with Inger. It's "Every man for himself" as the old saying goes.

 

[Jonathan Granato]

Money changes everything.