Re: ebay (was '69 martin 69k !)

[Daryl Shawn <highhorse@mhorse.com>]

My technique almost always is, I admit, to do that evil swoop in at the 
last minute, or last ten seconds, having not shown interest in it 
before. I suppose it makes it less of an auction, but unlike a real 
auction (which I attended many times in Pennsylvania as a kid), you 
don't get an additional minute to think about your next bid each time 
another bid comes up. Here it's a game of trying to snag it at the best 
price by a certain time, and bidding early just sends the message that 
things might get competitive and makes the other bidders possibly up 
their max bids. It is definitely a very intelligent thing to set a price 
and stick with it, in my first couple of auctions (I've bought 25 things 
or so) I realized that I could get caught up in the game and exceed my 
limit, so I actually do better coming in at the end without time to 
raise my max, too.

I realize I may be a bastard.

just my 2 cents...no, wait, 3 cents...

Daryl Shawn
www.swanwelder.com

>>> The best way is to just put in your max and forget about it, don't 
>watch it till the end - you either got it or not, both is good...<<
>>>       
>
> agreed. bidding wars are of limited appeal as a sport. have you noticed 
>how everything is "rare" aswell?
>
> basically, if you start low on something relatively obscure, & no-one 
>else bids, & you lose out at the last minute by 50 cents, it was the 
>seller. the seller outbid you so he could relist it when the market's 
>ready to pay more for whatever it was. he was just testing the water, so 
>to speak.