Bah. Remember, it’s not the LAST bidder who wins, it’s the HIGHEST bidder. The other person may have bid $50 for all you know. I bid at the last minute whenever possible (or use the proxy system) because I refuse to get in bidding wars, plus sniping gives me a body rush. You are really sabotaging yourself by not figuring out your true maximum and just bidding that. Forget the raising the bid by .50 - $1, it’s a waste of time.
At least take comfort in the fact that you made her pay twice what she would have for it.
About a year ago I’m bidding on a PII laptop which to me is worth at most $200. The bidding starts at $50 or something close to that. It starts creeping up to $175 and I figure I’m going to drop out after another $25. Along comes some idiot and bids $700. $700 dollars is almost enough to buy you a brand new low end laptop which will run rings around a PII. An idiot and his money are soon separated.
Why do you say that?
And hey, where’d my wallet go???
$10? Good lord man, at least keep something of value in there.
When you sue this person for ruining your life, don’t forget to claim compensation for the time you’ve spent on this.
Oh, and try to put a figure on your stress too… :rolleyes:
[looking through jackelope’s wallet]
Hey, didn’t this condom company go bankrupt in the late eighties?
[Peers over Bryan Eckers’ shoulder]
Nah, at least not until
'91 according to the trademark on mine, see?
I hold off on bidding until mere seconds from auction end. I’m one of those “hawks” you mentioned and I’ve never lost yet.
Hey, I hear ya. I get pissed off when someone outbids me on Ebay. Come on, guys. The dude just needs to vent. We’ve all been there…
Hey now!
Leave the dog outta this…
Regards,
-Bouncer-
PS: ebay is frequently a sucker bet. Know the value before you bid, as people overpay WAY too often for stuff there.
Hey, now accepting bids on “jackelope’s wallet.”
Reserve not yet met.
I do occasionally get annoyed.
Earlier this year, I was bidding on something, I wanted 3 items…the auctioner had dozens of them, the auctions for them were spread out to end 6-24 hours from each other.
The first two I got for the bidding start price. It was the third one…I kept getting outbid. Not once, but 4 times. I’d bid, come home, and find out, I’d been outbid. The weirdest thing - was that in the time between when the auction ended, and when I found out I was outbid, another of the absolutely identical items would expire with no bid on it. So, the idiot outbidding me could have had what they wanted, cheaper and I could have gotten what I wanted. Instead, they overpaid, and I had to wait another 24 hours.
But, that’s the way it works.
Sniping doesn’t really interest me. I LOVE proxy bidding. I think very carefully about my max bid. I also check to see if someone else has it with a lower winning bid. I’ve found that if something shows up on eBay ONCE, it’s very likely to show up again, sometimes in just a couple of days, usually within a couple of months. Obviously, I’m not shopping for very rare articles here, but I’ve learned to just let things go if the bidding gets too high for my taste. There WILL be another item, just as good if not better, that I can bid on soon.
I’ve bought some stuff that I really enjoy from eBay. I paid too much for a few items, until I learned how to work within my limits. Just don’t EVER fall in love with something that’s up for auction. That way lies bankruptcy, if you keep it up.
There’s $10 in my wallet? Hooray, it must be payday!
And by the way, re. the OP: I am easily swept up in the enthusiasm of the moment when browsing eBay, and I usually heave a big sigh of relief when I’m outbid for the 1930s Martin ukelele (or whatever) that I somehow convinced myself I “needed.” I’ve bought many items via eBay, but my digital camera is the only one I’m still glad to have.
That and my wallet.
Uhmm, Jackelope, about your wallet . . . is that really a stub for a Milli Vanilli concert in there? 
CJ
or the other forgery?, take a look in the sausage!
My word. Harlow, do you always use words like ‘bitch’ and ‘twat’ to refer to people whom you don’t know and who have done you no intentional harm? I get a bit annoyed when I lose an auction I’m interested in, but I don’t get so nasty about it. Anyway, because of proxy bidding, that doesn’t happen much – I bid what I’m willing to pay (taking shipping costs into consideration) and if someone outbids me, I figure they’re just willing to pay more. There’s nobody to blame. The only time I’ve really lost an auction at a price I would have been willing to pay is when I put something in my ‘watch’ list meaning to come back and bid closer to the end of the auction and then I forget to do so. And, under that scenario I have nobody to blame but myself. Maybe you’re too… high-strung for eBay?
Is this it? Auction ends in 2 hours! It’s still at $24! Bid bid bid! Come on! You know you want it! Whats $25? Think about that Madonna painting hanging on your wall for all times! Buy it! It’s original! You’ll be the only one! If the seller dies, it will appreciate! Be the envy of all your friends! Do it! 20 20 20 20 20 24, 25? 24 24 24 24 24 25? 24. 25 25 25 25 25 25