Bidding on Aquatic Auction (1 Viewer)

[fishcraze]

It's weird to me on how bidding is done on their website. I tried to bid for a bleeding apple scolymia. The first price I saw was ~$127 and with ~3 mins remaining. So i bid the next increment. Received an highest bid confirmation thru email then an outbid message a minute later. And the time came down to 30 second, i bid again. Then suddenly the page refreshed, and the countdown time showing ~4 mins left :? So I waited till it came down to 5 seconds and hit the bid button, the page refreshed AGAIN showing a higher price and a NEW remaining time ~4 mins (again!), and I got an outbid message. I gave up, stopped bidding, and just watched the countdown time. The price stayed the same and the time did count down to 0 and closed out.
Does anyone else has this experience? Look like if there is a competing bidder, they will extend the time to allow re-bidding till noone else competing w/ the highest bidder? not like eBay that the last price at the last second wins the bid?

 

[fishcraze]

oh shoot now after refreshing my email and found a message that I won the aution at that final price $143 and with shipping/tax, it comes out to $173.. is it a reasonable price? did i overbid

 

[joedirte8]

I have tried to buy several of those bleeding apple scoly's on Auquatic Auction, and each time I was outbid. The auction style that they employ is one where each time there is a bid, the auction extends by 5 minutes(if there is less than 5 minutes left).

I had a similar experience the first time I tried to buy a scoly. I bid with 5 sec's left and became the highest bidder and when the time reset to 5 minutes I was like what just happened.

Anyway, they have some great corals, but in my experience, most of the final sale prices are more than the market value unless you buy a huge colony. But $173 is a good price for a bleeding apple scoly.

 

[fishcraze]

But $173 is a good price for a bleeding apple scoly.

ok that makes me feel better since i was thinking what's the hell I had done when i got the winning bid email Though i heard from a few other members PMed me they got their for only ~$100??? I blame you and Raymond for getting me sucked into these LPS craze lately

 

[i_am_poor]

Saw you at Pho Binh last week =)

 

[fishcraze]

Saw you at Pho Binh last week =)

I thought I saw someone either waving or smile at me last week but i couldn't regconize or was busy talking to someone else?.. now I guess it was you then

 

[Kemah]

I had the same problem, altough I have bought several corals from them including my bleeding apple I was a bit confused. They add 5 mins on after a bid so no one can use a bot to win the auctions everytime. (this seems fair) Also I asked them why I was charged sales tax since it was an out of state internet purchase but they said that they have a location in dallas.

What I dont understand is why some of the same corals keep coming back? If you watch the auctions people will bid on corals and the auction ends at a pretty good price and 2-3 days later that exact same coral is re listed. All of the corals are WYSIWYG and there is no reserve price so this should not happen. The only explanation I can see is that they are bidding on there own items to get them to the price they want. If this is the case it is really bad business. Taking a loss on an auction that is marked as no reserve is a risk you take when selling that way. Also I agree that some of their "Retail Prices" are rediculous but if you dont do your research and just believe them it is your own fault. If you can use their store you can price shop others via the internet as well.

 

[UoH_Chibi]

Im sorry to say this but looking at current items listed and seeing the same person bidding on everything the first bid is a bit strange. Maybe they just log in when things are posted, ok. But why would that same person bid on most things 2x in a row (mace01)?

I like the idea of their site but I do not like what I see when I view the bid histories.

I agree with what someone said above, it seems as if someone is bidding on things just to raise the bid so the company can make profit on the item.

I would love to be able to view the IP addys of all bidders, might be surprised on what it reveals. I will not be bidding on anything there until some more info can be found out.

Do members get any type of discount with them seeing as they are an auction site?

 

[Kemah]

No, members get no discount. As far as the principle behind the site I love it. Nice corals and cheap shipping. I have been very pleased with what I have gotten from them so dont get me wrong on that. And the double names you see in the bid history are caused by users sometimes, I have had it do it to me when I have a proxy bid and another person out bids my current bid but not my max bid my name will show up twice.

But I do feel that they may be pushing up the prices themselves. If this is the case I would rather see them just set a reserve price on the corals and be honest about it. I really dont like saying bad things about people and companies but seeing the same corals sell then be reposted 3,4,5 times is odd in my opinion.