9114B and 2225B Battery Pack Find

[Katie]

As a public service, I thought that I'd mention that there's someone on ebay selling 100+ NIB 82199A battery packs for $4 Dutch. These are the battery packs used in the HP9114B disc drive and HP2225B ThinkJet printer.

Here's the auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31577&item=3411635573&rd=1

[Andreas Müller (GER)]

Hi Katie,

Are you sure that this battery pack is used in both the HP9114B and the 2225B? I own them both and the mine do have different battery packs. Are there different manufacturing releases affecting the type of battery pack used?

Regards,
Andreas

[Ellis Easley]

I think these are only for the 2225B and one other ThinkJet printer - I think there is a portable parallel version as well as the HPIL 2225B. The 9114B uses a pack that contains a lead battery and these contain NiCads. According to an EduCalc catalog, the battery for the 9114 is 88014B.

[Raymond Del Tondo]

The ThinkJet battery pack drawer doesn't fit inside the 9114. Very different drawer, and different battery cells.

Regards,

Raymond

[Katie]

Sorry, my mistake. The 82199A just fits the ThinkJet printer.

[Gene]

Sadly, I'm afraid someone might do this. I'd like a couple. I'm sure others would too.

Gene

[David Smith]

The guy said he had HUNDREDS of them... only 100 are listed. If somebody bought all 100 of them, there will probably be more to follow.

[Mike]

Until there are more than 100 bids, there is no need to bid higher than the minimum bid.

IF you do, you help setup a higher than necessary auction price.

For instance, there is a rule in dutch auctions that says you don't have to accept any items, IF you don't get all you bid for.

So, now that someone bid $20, unnecessarily, here is a situation that can result. Someone can bid $19.99 for 95 items and if he loses even one, he is not obligated to take any. On 100 items, it's very likely that someone will take one at $20 or more. So with his $19.99 bid, and qty of 95, he is not likely to get all 95 but the price is $19.99 and he can opt out. And the person that bid $20, is stuck at the higher price, because the auction price will be $19.99 or higher.

So that $20 bid has essentially run the price up. There is no reason to bid more than $4.00 and no reason to bid early, in my opinion.

[Ellis Easley]

That was my bid. I'm going to study your argument until I understand it, I'm not much of a strategic thinker! But in the meantime, let me explain the reasoning behind my bid:

First, I'd be willing to pay $20 each - although after I placed the bid, I began to wonder if the cells inside are in very good shape, I've had brand-new NiCads that got "frosty" over time even though they were never used!

Second, since it is a dutch auction, everyone whose number of lots bid on are among the 100 highest lots bid on will get them at the lowest bid among that group of bids - I have that right, don't I? If not, I'm very sorry! I have just tried to insure that I will be among the highest 100 lots bid on. And since I'm trying to avoid spending too much time on Ebay every day (compulsive disorder!) and since my ISP connection often mysteriously locks up at the last moment when I try to snipe, I just wanted to bid once and wait till the auction is over.

In the scenario you describe, if the person who bid on 95 lots opts out, why isn't that treated like a retraction? Is it because Ebay is out of the picture at that point? I can see that it is a different case from an auction for 1 lot, where I was the second highest bidder, and the highest bidder decided not to buy, and the seller then contacted me - in that case, I would know something happened to the winner so I wouldn't pay his winning bid, in fact I would only be willing to pay one increment more than the third highest bid, as if the winner hadn't bid at all.

But in the case you describe, since I thought I won my lots, I wouldn't know if the big bidder opted out unless the seller told me.

Wait a minute - if that big bidder opted out, how does the seller avoid paying Ebay the commission on those items without notifying Ebay (suppose there was just the 95 lot bid and a bid for 5), and if Ebay is notified, why don't they treat it as a retraction?