One of the things I do sometimes is throw out a fire it and forget it bid on something.
Now I could find a pretty good use for a frammis right about now but a frammis runs about $175 and I don't want a frammis that badly.
I suppose if one came along for , say, $75 I'd take it.
So when I see one at an on-line auction I just throw out a $75 bid on it and forget about it. If by some odd chance I win the bid the auction house will send me an email. If not, oh, well.
The other thing I do sometimes is misspell something in my search if there are a bunch of items I am looking for. For example search '12 volt power supply' and you'll get a jillion hits.
On the other hand, I searched '12 volt power suppy' and got about a half dozen, one of which looked like exactly what I wanted. It also had free shipping.
I imagine I could have gotten it for a buck but I don't like beating people up. I at least wanted to cover the poor guy's shipping so I bid $20 and forgot about it. One other thing, too. I didn't want him to realize his mistake and pull his item from the auction.
A few days later I got it for $20 delivered. A couple days after that it landed at my doorstep.
One thing is that you have to figure out what an item is worth to you and not necessarily someone else.
Years ago I wanted a certain rifle sling. I recally I could have just went out and bought one, used for $7 and new for $10. (plus shipping, about $5)
I saw one new on eBay and figured it was worth $15 on my doorstep. The sling listed free shipping and I figured the easiest thing to do was throw out a $15 bid and call it good.
Surprise! Two guys got into a bidding war and the damned thing sold for damned near $1000!
Of course I simply bought a new one for $10+$5 shipping and called it good. I really didn't think I'd win the auction but it didn't cost me anything to try.
When I got the 'You've been outbid' email I checked and the damned thing was already up to $75. That drew my curiosity so I did follow the auction. I never did figure out why those two got into such a wild bidding war for a crummy web sling. Still, it was interesting to watch.
As I sit here I've got a couple of bids out on items and when I get my 'You've been outbid' email which I probably will I will delete it and forget about it. It means little to me. They're just 'nice to have' items and that's about it.
Of course I'll sometimes find something I can truly use that is readily available and toss out a bid knowing I can get it someplace else for a reasonable price if the auction goes south. I'll put out a lowball but with a maximum of about what it would cost me out of auction.
I seldom win but when I do I generally save a few bucks here and there.
Right now I have a lowball bid out on a . If I win I'll just tinker with the damned thing for a while and probably sell it and get my money back. I doubt I'll win and really don't care either way.
One thing I will NEVER do is accept a second chance offer. That's when the guy that outbid you bails out and the seller offers it to you at your bid. As often as not, the guy that outbid you is a shill designed to drive the price up.
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