I was watching an item that retails for $130.

7 day listing starting at 99c

With 4 days to go people start bidding and it rises to $70 with still 3 days to go.

Ends at $147 (same seller does it for $130 as buy it now )

2 weeks ago same item, same seller, went for $90. A bargain. Sometimes the retards are out in force I guess......

Why do people bid early, thus increasing the price for everyone and giving somebody 4 whole days to beat them, when they can just wait to the last 2mins? Duhhhh

Then again, when I sell stuff it is nice

holden is onto it...it's not unheard of for people to get mates or use other accounts to get the bidding going to make it look like its an item in demand.

Saying that, it doesn't forgive the retardness of bidding more than the buy it now price.

I sell quite a bit on ebay and it does surprise me of alot peoples attitudes and lack of understanding of the supply and purchase process.

I once had a girl who won an item I sold (a book) I sent it off all good no troubles. 3 months later!!!...she leaves negative feedback and at the same time telling me it didn't arrive!! Who f**kn waits 3 months to tell someone they didn't receive an item?

I also get regular comments about items taken too long after only a day or 2 from paying for the item. Like f**k me people maybe if you were in Perth and I got to the PO straight after you paid for it ...but when you're on the other side of the friggin country...use your head.

There are some people that still have not ebayed and have no clue about ebay...
From that I seem to gather...the people bidding early are either the people that have no clue types...or as you said..just clearly retarded...and the last possible scenario shill bidding

well its the nature of auctions and is what makes ebay pretty good for selling....
You can sell stuff and sometimes get a pretty good price, especially when a couple of people get into a bidding war over the item.
(I used to find I would end up paying more than I wanted for an item - purely because I was annoyed someone was bidding against me and the desire to win becaome stronger than common sense. Now when I bid I always set myself a max and dont go over it).

look ... you can even sell rocks on ebay.....
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Landscaping-rocks-retaining-wall-water-feature_W0QQitemZ200378584046QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Building_Materials?hash=item2ea77e8bee&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
brilliant.

I was recently trying to buy something off ebay. There were maybe 5 listings starting at 99c and 3 buy it now. I was happy to pay the buy it now price but thought, hey I might get it cheaper by bidding. Put a max bid the same value of the buy it now items. Each time I got outbid! Unbelievable!!! Then twice I got second chance offers because the other person pulled out of the deal.

Also I add the bid price and postage together when looking at a listing. If an item sells for $10 but postage is $29 I say the item costs $39. If the same item sells for $70 in my nearest department store and I have to drive 30 min to get there, then yeah, I'm gonna pay $39 for it. I can't believe the people who complain "postage is excessive". ok, $29 might be a bit steep, but I'm saving $31 plus the petrol!

On the postage thing Herry..... unrealistic postage costs are annoying
you often see items, prticularly from asia, wher eone seller has it for $5 with $10 post, and anothe rhas it for 99c starting with $20 post.
Unscrupulous, and I' sure some ppl fall for it. I won't buy it, but it annoys me to see blatant ripoffs

See, I'd say one item cost $15, where as the other cost $20.99 and I'd bid on the $15 one first.

I did look at buying something through on of the ebay stores that was listed at 99c and I asked about postage and it was something like $79. That is ridiculous. I bought the same thing of a different website for $40.

some things are only listed by a couple of sellers (like uncommon hobby type stuff) and they list them every week. One week it will go for a lot, the next pretty cheap.
Eg when I raced RC cars, there was parts I knew I'd break, but didn't need them now, so I'd watch them... usually from USA sellers. Some would be $50 here and go for $30 (aus) one week, so not worth it with post, but the next week nobody wants one and it would go for $10 and then I'd buy it in the last few seconds for $12 or whatever

Unfortunatley nobody does that with brand new WS sails ;-)