I encounteredd a true jerk on ebay minutes ago. I was bidding on a 7.0 Bullet There are currently 5 up for sale. When I was out bid. no big deal except that the new high bidder is selleng that exact same kite with the exact same starting bid. All other bullets at the time had no bids on them. I emailed him asking what the deal was and he got VERY defensive. Saying he "didn't need my bid". It all just seamed a little funny. Unless this guy is truely the day traded of power kites. Has anyone had a similar experiance?

I have had simalar problems with ebay, people dont learn, when your interested in buying something you just watch it, and at the last couple minutes you bid, or else your just spending more money, biding more throughout the days to be the highest bidder, I have noticed when buying kites you always run in to the same bidders, and they have already bought 5 of the kite that your bidding on.... whats up with this?
sometimes i get the feeling your bidding against the same person who is selling the kite.... so the seller can make what he wants......

Yup, I've encountered this as well, it's a common practice for people to use a buddy to bump up the bid. a couple days before it's over they bump the bid up a little, They'll start it with a low bid and no reserve to suck people into watching it, then if it's going to go for too cheap they get their buddy to buy it, no money changes hands and they keep the kite.

Ive found alot of on-lline store offer Demo Kites..Used cheaper kites,but still with store service.. I tend to trust them more then the ebayer's.. I agree, I think they/friends bid on there own kites to raise price.. I searched google for Demo Kites..
Also by spending lots of time online I found a misprint for my Samurai.. All sizes were being sold for the 2m price.. He had to sell them at the low price because thats what he advertised( last year).. i got LUCKY..
I also found an "extreme ocean kite"store that sold me my blade with no tax and no shipping..$499 to my door..

If he did bump the price of the bid that is shilling. Ebay says you can't do that. So if it happens again I will report him and hopefully get all his auctions shut down.

After this happened I also took the time to look up his negative feedback. What I found was exactly what happened to me "harassing emails". Can't say that I am suprised but I will NEVER buy a kite from him.

I just bought a 7m bullet on ebay. Without naming names, I found that if you searched under kiteboarding mostly 1 person came up. When I searched Flexifoil under ALL CATAGORIES another dealer came up. His kites started at a slightly higher price but the dealer felt more trustable. Almost no one was bidding on his due to the bad catagory choice so I bid and won. Simple ! It turned out I'ld be out of town at delivery time and the seller was VERY helpfull with tracking and replies.
Bottom line..... The bullets are a great deal right now. Just avoid "the man" and you can still get one at his price or better. Seach ALL Catagories instead. :bird:

P.S. Don't hate Ebay. My stocks are hurting bad enough right now!

EBAY IS GREAT DONT GET ME WRONG..
you just have to do your re-search before you bid/buy,
know what the kite is really worth, how much are you willing to spend?, you may end up spending what you would have at the store, but end up having to pay shipping, re-search the sellers feedback, ask as many questions as you like, if they dont respond dont bid / buy....

its sad that people play the bump up the bid using your buddy game but, theres no way around it, and ebay wont do nothing about it, it takes to much time and effort and they never get to the bottom of it, plus i hate to say it, but ebay wins no matter what, they charge to post, they charge final value on the sale, they make money throguh paypal, they just win all the way around....
I strongly feel that if you plan to buy an item, support your local retailer first, these are the guys that buggy,board,kite as well and they have more info and knowledge than some guy on ebay who got a deal on 20 kites at the end of the year...., plus you dont have to pay shipping at your local retailer and you will be able to see the item, and leave with the item all in the same day...
you might pay more, but you will know 100% what your buying before you pay for it...

With the number of shops represented on this site, there should be no shortage of places to look, I'm sure if you ask around someone can hook you up with what you need for a reasonable price. Doesn't hurt to ask in the buy sell area either, I'm sure lots of us have kites they're thinking of selling and would jump on the chance if someone else is looking.

I would have to agree with Pablo..it's not a bad idea. Might as well support our fellow members. The other thing is that I know there are a load of people that come to this forum that actually own kite stores in the states and elsewhere. Who knows..maybe they would be willing to cut a deal for accessories, kites, and such for members of the forum. It couldn't hurt to ask. Maybe do group sales too...if a bunch of us need lines or something.
~Joe

It is pleasing to hear that i am not the only one that has encountered this problem. I was recently bidding on a bullet 7.0. There was seven or eight of these and for the longest time they were cheep. Suddenly with one hour left the same bidder jumps the price up on all of the auctions. I dont waste my money bidding to be high bidder, I wait until the last minute then place what I can afford. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you dont just keep trying. It pays off in the end. I guess you just have to be patient with ebay.:cool2:

i for one avoid Ebay as much as possilble..
here in Holland whe have ' market place' (wich is owned by Ebay.)
and there you just put your second-hand stuff for sale.
no deadlines and waiting and all that sh#t.

just my 2cents...

Take a course on how to get rich on E-Bay; courses are a couple of hundred bucks. I got it free from my brother, what a sucker. It is one of those make million from home gimmicks. The course teaches you on how to set up numerous accounts and do just what you’re complaining about.

You learn how to list items that may or may not in your possession (a middleman), then you bid against yourself when the time is right. If you win you pay yourself (Duh). If you loose, you get paid from the buyer. With practice it does work; the biggest problem is; you need to invest serious time on line in E-Bay.

My brother did it for a couple of years; He was out of work due to an accident and had plenty of time to invest on line. In the two years he made over $10,000 US Dollars. Not bad considering he had nothing else to do.