TOPIC: I did a bad thing....

I broke my E-bay mantra.
I got E-bay pissed ! I normally bid the highest I'd go on my first bid. and let the cards fall. I will admit I bid lower than I figured the winning bid would go for, but I had a moment when I got sick of losing with 4 seconds left in the auction.
Yes Jan, I know you said to ask the seller what they'd take to buy it and decide if it was worth the price ? But this was an auction house seller, SO, you guess what the answer was going to be ?
Anyway.... I had the first and only bid for 6 days 22 hours and change in seconds in a 7 day auction. (at least they had the common coutesy to give me a chance to up my bid, un-like the pricks that think they know that the last second biddersgot the jump on you ?). I end up bidding against someone with 695 purchases. I pick on the dudes name, and he primarily buys tools. Why did he or she need a stern light pole ?
I was pissed enough that I was going to make them pay for but it, but I made one to many bids.... Damn-it ! oh well.... It's all part of the game... I feel better now... carry-on !

Sounds to me like you won the auction and got the light pole, right? Congrats! You're a winner! It's only money, Chuck. If you hadn't spent it, your wife would have used it to buy stupid girl stuff like purses, shoes and knick-knacks.

Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. It might have cost you more than you wanted to pay but you clowned that guy...a real smack down. Ya done good. I'm proud of you.

I almost did the same thing last night! I was bidding on a set of bullet cleats for my Renken project and at the last minuets worth, the price started to skyrocket. Luckily I kept a level head but man was i pissed!

There are programs (apps) that will do the sniping for you.
www.auctionsniper.com/
No more guessing of when to pull the trigger. I've been guilty of sniping within 2 seconds and have won by as little as a buck.

Yeah, I hate it when I am the high bidder for days and right in the closing minutes, I get sniped out of it. Such is the way of the auction. Sometimes I wonder if the seller will have a buddy drive the price up when there is only the one bid and it looks like ya might get a good deal.

I never put my self in the position go getting pissed. I decide the max I am going to spend on the item, then place my bid within the last minute. If I don't get it, someone justified their purchase at a higher level, but not me, I just didn't want it that bad. If I get it at my max bid, all is well. If I get it lower than my max bid, I feel that I stole it. This is the only way to look at it.
This is just my way of doing it since i started buying and selling on eBay way back in 1998.

For what its worth,
StevieB

Nautilus' Psychology of Buying 101

Here's my system: If you put in your maximum bid with 4 or 5 days left in the auction, the dingbats will usually keep submitting bids over and over until they find out where yours is. I've actually seen people put in 15 bids in a row, going up a few dollars every time. I wait until the last five minutes and then put in my max bid. If someone wants to skunk me in the last five minutes, they can have it...but I'm not giving them all week long to do it.

Also, I've been known to email a seller and ask him for a Buy It Now price. Sometimes sellers don't know what they have or what it's worth. Sometimes they just plain need the money and the boat gone and guaranteed cash now beats a maybe sale later. I've bought several things like that over the years, especially boats. If they go for it at a price I like, I ask them to add a "Buy It Now" to the auction and then I immediately pounce on it. (That keeps the Ebay sale legit...and covers your butt if the deal goes south.)

Last tip: Whenever possible, negotiate for a boat while the wife is there. Address many of your comments to her. She can't make her husband sell it for less but she can make him wish the hell he had...and he knows it!