First PHB ever sold is up for sale on ebay

[Estlor]

The thing that gets me on this is that there is still 5 days left in the auction....
As an experienced Ebay sniper, I can attest that it is useless to place a bid on an item that you want before the 5 minute mark on an auction. Most times even that is far too much of a window.

Indeed. Never get in a bidding war with someone with more than 30 seconds left to go on the auction. There are no points for having the winning bid the longest, only having the winning bid last.

Heh, people probably hate me, but 99.9% of the items I buy off of Ebay are obtained through sniping. It's the only way to bid with confidence!

 

[MerakSpielman]

Of course, you could just bid up front the maximum amount you'd be willing to pay for the item, and have the discipline not to increase your bid if you get outbid.

 

[Turjan]

Of course, you could just bid up front the maximum amount you'd be willing to pay for the item, and have the discipline not to increase your bid if you get outbid.

However, this still leaves us with the problem that early bidding wars drive up prices.

 

[diaglo]

Of course, you could just bid up front the maximum amount you'd be willing to pay for the item, and have the discipline not to increase your bid if you get outbid.

that is my usual policy... but even i can't help it sometimes.

 

[DaveMage]

E-bay is a weird animal.

I recently placed a maximum $8 bid (which was all I was willing to pay for it) on a $35 book with 6 days left on the bid. At the time, the price was $6. I then kind of forgot about it, thinking the snipers would end up with it. I didn't check e-bay again until the day after the auction ended and was quite surprised to have won the item for $8. So you never know.

I usually bid my max price on an item whenever I see it, regardless of time left, and if someone wants it so bad as to pay more than I think it's worth, I say let 'em have it. However, for items I *really* want, regardless of price, I'm a nasty sniper (though this is very rare).

 

[tarchon]

However, this still leaves us with the problem that early bidding wars drive up prices.

I almost never buy anything that somebody else bids on, since I've never seen anything go at auction for less than what I would have had to pay a dealer. Too many people get caught up in the competitive mentality and bid up just to "win" the auction. I made an exception when I was bidding on the Sutherland auction, since that was kind of for charity, but if you're looking to get a deal, it's not the way to do it.

 

[Ghostwind]

Diaglo's got the current high bid. Go buddy!!

 

[Mark]

Seems to be stuck. Better check back when there are a couple of hours left and watch the carnage...

 

[Xath]

Diaglo's fallen behind. He's got you at $280. You're not going to let him do that, are you?

 

[reanjr]

Of course, you could just bid up front the maximum amount you'd be willing to pay for the item, and have the discipline not to increase your bid if you get outbid.

Don't try to throw reason into the online auction industry. You will be soundly beaten by emotion and overall illogical behavior of human beings trying to attain happiness or at least "a pretty good deal" through rampant consumerism.

If I had it, I'd be willing to bid about $1000 on this.