Then I bid on the item and when the little box comes up asking me for my top bid I simply put the number in the box, click it and forget about it until my email gives me the results.
For example, if I think an item is worth $100 to me and shipping for the item is $10 I simply post a max bid of $90.
If I get it, fine. If not, that's OK because I didn't overpay. Sooner or later another one will come up and I can try again.
I get a hoot out of people that get carried away at an auction and pay well over New in Box price for something that is pretty beat up and used.
My favorite one was a guy that paid well over 100 times what something was worth. If I recall it was a used rifle sling and the damned things were going for about $4 in a shooting supply magazine somewhere.
Something like that makes no sense to me at all and I wonder what people are thinking when they do stupid stuff like that.
As I type this I have a bid on a microphone and we'll see what happens. Truth is I am not likely to win and I really don't care if I do or not. If I don't, another one is likely to come along.
One of the deals I got a while ago on eBay came because I intentionally mistyped the name of what I wanted in the search box.
I wanted a power supply and there were literally thousands to choose from and I narrowed it down to a few and saw they were actually a pretty hot item.
So I went back to the search box and typed in 'power suppy' and a handful of items appeared and I found one I wanted. I got it for $20 delivered. His mistaken spelling saved me about $75 which was a pretty good deal.
Anyway, as I type, this microphone is sitting there and may or may not being bid on. Most liikely it is.
I figured it to be worth $100 to me and shipping is $7.93 so I bid $92.07 on it. I doubt I'll get it, though but I might.
One of the things I get accused of is being a lowball bidder and I suppose there is some truth to that when you look at things. While I have nothing against paying a fair price for something, there are things that fall under the 'nice to have' category.
The 'nice to haves' are things I really don't need but would be nice to have. Yes, it really is that simple. Some things are just nice to have but to me are not worth spending a whole lot of money for.
Once someone offered me a pretty good rifle but I already had one like it so I told him I'd give him $50 for it and he got upset. I explained to him that $50 was what it was worth to me and he could certainly find someone else to buy it for a lot more than that. I even made a couple of calls for him and helped him sell it.
The rifle was only worth $50 to me, I explained to him while I was helping him get a better deal somewhere else.
He thought about what I said and said he understood.
About a year later he called ma and asked me what a set of wheels for the Miata was worth, and I gave him a price close to market value and we closed the deal. I wanted the wheels more than I wanted the rifle he had tried to sell me.
As for the microphone that I won't likely get, it's worth $100 to me. I doubt I'll get it because it's likely worth more to someone else than it is to me. Still, it would be nice to have and I've put a cap on what I will pay for it.
Update: Missed it by $14.
No problem. There are a couple more there I can bid on. Things like this travel sort of cyclic. Demand is likely to go down and I will snag one at a good price.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html
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