Damn you!!! Well, not all of you, just the ones in seach of the same bottles I want. What is the deal? I bid on the bottles I really want, and end up not being fast enough (sheesh, even when I’m bidding in the middle of the night), and then when I finally give up, the ones I SHOULD have tried for (but got too discouraged and said forget it) end up ending with either no bids, or a bid price I easily could have handled.
STOP, just let me get ONE teal one. PLEASE?
But seriously. I am seriously out of touch with the ebb and flow of bidding on what, when. I do fine on all other items, but these specialty bottles which I collect, anyone else got any gripes on this process, or even better, hints?
I already to the maximum bid thing for when I’m going to have to be at work when the bid ends. Any other ideas, similar whines on losing out on items you really, REALLY wanted?
Not sure I understand. You do bid the maximum price you’re willing to pay, right? If so, then I advise learning to find enjoyment in knowing the winner paid more than you did (and therefore, paid more than it’s obviously worth).
Sorry, no advice. Enter the maximum you’re willing to bid plus a few cents (ie, $25.09). That way, ebay will automatically bid for you up to that amount. The extra few cents are there to beat out the people that’ll pay up to $25.00.
The only almost failsafe way to do this is to buy one of those programs that synchs with the ebay clock and automatically submits a bid for you at a time you specify, i.e., 5 minutes before end of auction, 30 seconds before end of auction, etc. You don’t tell it the amount, it just bids an increment over the current bid. Can’t remember the name of the program, but I’m sure you can Google it easily.
This is probably not good advice to give to someone else, but what I’ve done is put in outrageously high maximum bids that I’m all but certain no one is going to come close to. People bid a few times only to find they still haven’t matched me, so they get frustrated and give up, while it’s still at a price I can afford. So far it hasn’t backfired, but YMMV.
I’ve also done the get-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-to-snipe-at-the-last-minute thing.
Advice? If you’re trying to snipe, and it’s in the middle of the night, use one of those automated bidders posted earlier. If I’m not mistaken, they even have a feature where you can participate in several auctions for similar items, but will stop as soon as you win one, so you aren’t stuck winning more than one auction. No offense, Nordic, but I’m gonna have to vehemently disagree with you on bidding an insanely high amount. My advice is to determine the absolute highest amount of money you would be willing to spend (don’t forget to consider the shipping cost), and make that your maximum bid (add a few cents to make it an odd number in case there’s a tie). Why would you want to ever bid more than you’re willing to pay?
Also, don’t forget that when you’re looking at the final results, and thinking your arch-enemy outbid you by just a measly dollar, and that you would have won if only you had bid another dollar, don’t forget that that’s not necessarily the case. For all you know, the other person could have entered a maximum bid hundreds of dollars higher than yours. The bidding is automatically halted as soon as the high bidder outbids the second-highest bidder. That doesn’t mean the high bidder only bid a dollar (or whatever the bid increment is) higher than you.
I sympathize with CanvasShoes problem, though. Ebay has become overrun with speculators who buy items in order to turn them around at a profit. It has become exceedingly difficult to find bargains any more, since there seem to be people who pretty much spend all their time buying and selling on Ebay. It’s good if you’re selling, but it makes it hard if you’re trying to buy something.
Actually, it’s kind of like the housing market in California right now. All the starter homes are being bought by investors hoping to make a profit. Since there’s no shortage of buyers, prices continue to rise, and most first-time buyers can’t afford anything.
GingerOfTheNorth advice is the best. Find your item, bid your maximum (+small change)- then forget it until the auction has ended- one way ot the other.
Yes, there is a certain satisfaction in that. No, I’m bidding the max. I’m just annoyed that I’m not fast enough on the trigger for the ones I REALLY want. I guess I’m pitting my own slow clumsiness, and then my fellow ebayers by default for not letting me win.
CanvasShoes, can you post a link to the type of bottle you want? I hit a LOT of junk stores, auctions, etc, and I’ll be happy to keep my eyes open for you.
And if I find one, I’ll send it to you at cost.
Best,
karol
Sure! Wow, thanks for the offer! There are two types that I like, the “banjo” bottle, and the violin or cello bottle.
Makers are Old Jersey Glass Co., Wheaten Glass, and Clevenger, though there may be more.
Some are reproductions from the 70s and some are the originals from I believe the early 1900s. I’m not all that particular about whether they’re the repros or the antique ones.
They come in several colors, two green, one dark emerald, one very light sea green, three or more blues, a teal, a cobalt, a light blue and a brighter blue similar to the light blue but richer. There are some rarer red ones, and there are amythest ones.
They also come in amber but blech (where’s the mr. Ick smiley?). I’m partial to the blue hues and the amythest.
