Well folks, this just in, lost another one on ebay. A Joe Works 3 truck shay that was surely mine and was hi-jacked at less than one minute. Woe is me. Anyone else out there have a devastating loss on ebay that still haunts them?? I am haunted by an AC-6 and an Overland ditcher that went for a fraction of the regular prices and they slipped through my under-bidding grasp.
But you don't know what the top bidder's REAL top bid was. You could have just ended up making the winner pay more. Also don't forget Sharpshooter's Third Law of eBay "Once you bid, everyone else notices the auction and bids more than you". Sorry to hear about the last loss, but it was just not meant to be.
No stunning losses I put in my highest amount and let the cards fall ,but what about the other side of the coin? What is the biggest steal you got on E-bay
Mine was one I didn't bid on; it was 13 tank cars that I found in its last minutes. I realized too late that they were MTL tankers-I didn't get my bid in in time, and the 13 went for $38.50.
"But you don't know what the top bidder's REAL top bid was." This is actually the only solace I have when I miss a bid on something that seemed to sell for a bargain. Although I don't buy much though eBay anymore, I would say that retired Walthers structures for about 50% of the list price would be the best 'Wins' I've had. Most of the time the items are selling for near MSRP... sometime far above MSRP... If you begin to chase the last bid... you will usually end up paying close to retail (assuming typical e-tailer discounts). It has to be something that is no longer available (retired or discontinued) for me to chase anything anymore. There may have been a few 'DARN I REALLY WANTED THAT' cases over the past year... but I really don't sweat it... It's just more money I have to buy the new stuff coming out within the next few months. "Also don't forget Sharpshooter's Third Law of eBay "Once you bid, everyone else notices the auction and bids more than you". I've never heard of this one... but it makes perfectly good sense to me. I usually wait for the last 10 seconds to make a bid... I am one of those lurking hijackers. No sense in setting a number for someone else to shoot for. It helps to have Ultra-DSL too... I've pulled the trigger a few times and won items with only 1 second left.
SPsteam, I feel your pain. This has happened to me so many times that I'm now numb. Never worry about the losses though another will come around eventually and go for even a cheaper price. verse
I guess I've had a couple of steals on eBay. 1) Several years ago I put a last second bid on a Belmont Shores Club Special-Run KADEE car. Won it for a very low price, less than $25.00. After receiving car in the mail, I stoped and look at the car. Was not the car listed in the auction, close, but not the same car as listed. The car showed as "Very rare" and worth well over 10 times what I paid for it. I checked out the car with some other members of the N-Scale Collectors Association and found that this was a very early released Special-Run KADEE car only given out to Belmont Shores Club members. The car was NOT released to the public. I figured somebody had goofed up, so I emailed the seller. Turned out the seller was a lady selling off her late brother's trains for her sister-in-law. Didn't really know anything about trains, N-Scale or Kadee/MTL PERIOD. I asked how he came to have the Belmont Shores car. She had mentioned in an email that her late-brother was into HO. She checked, emailed me back that a friend of her brother's was from California, that the friend had given her brother the car, that he(the friend) had received in an estate sale and the friend was NOT interested in trains at all! WHEW!! What a story! I offered to send the car back, because I didn't feel right about keeping the high value car for the price that I paid for it. WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES, and was NOT going to rip off this lady! The lady said for me to KEEP THE CAR, because if I hadn't emailed her about the goof-up, she would have NEVER known the difference. 2) This past summer a seller listed 4 cars as "Oregon Railroad Cars". I saw one car that I was certain was a high value car. Sure enough, the car was an "OREGON & NATIONWIDE" reefer worth anywhere from $200---$400+. Never figured I'd get it for my $75.00 bid, but I did, and the car was in perfect condition also! So keep your eyes open on eBay, you never know what will show up!!
For me the most interesting process is when a seller starts an opening price on ebay at .99. Then the bidding wars start. How many of you have seen an item sell for 15 to 25% more than if they bought it from either an online store or from an ebay seller with a "buy it now" option on the same item? I just don't get it. Bernard
I had a really fortunate experience with e-Bay. I lost a last-minute bid on four Bachmann 60' passenger cars which went for $30.50. Then a week or so later, I won four of the same cars at $24.00. BTW, after being so lucky, I quit bidding on e-Bay. :angel:
Adding in all of the time one spends looking for auctions, it is no bargain for me, no matter what the price.
The one that bugs me the most is loosing a Big Boy at $227.50, my high bid was $225. I thought I had found a winner, it was listed in a completely unrelated section of Ebay so I lowballed it. Somebody else had found it too. The wins that are the best: 6 NIB Bachmann 60' passenger cars, BIN $15.00 - turned out to acually be 7, one was duplicated. 6 MT Troop Sleepers - 1-4, kitchen and hospital car $42.00 Key H-8 Allegehny - $650 best offer. The guy listed it 3 times and kept pulling the listing about half way through the auction, I assume because the price didn't get high enough to suit him. The last 3 I had watched went to $1250-1350. HIs was hovering around $700 with 2 days to go. He finally relisted it at $1100 OBO. I was frustrated and decided to shoot a lowball best offer just out of curriosity, and he took it. It had gotten higher than that in bidding before he pulled it each time.
I got an authentic C&O Adlake switchmans lanterns with the original red globe for $50 on a buy it now deal. Still cant believe that. Hanging in the train room as I post. I got a Rivarossi 2-8-8-2 for a buy it now proce of $99 and sold it a couple of weeks later for around $160. Didnt bid on a C&O Model Power 2-8-2 with Vandy tender that went for $70. Im kicking myself on that one
I've been on both sides of the aisle. Lately I set the price I want to pay and if it goes for more, that one wasn't meant to be. However, I followed a custom painted CSX AC44CW from nothing to $130. Near the end I broke my rule and upped my max bid price at least three times. Auction closed and I had fallen $3 short! That one stung a bit, but not for long. I really would have paid beyond what I thought the unit was worth... just the incremental increases tricked me into thinking I really had lost by $3.
I'm glad to say that over time I've forgotten the losses that made me mad. I've had a couple annoying losses recently where I was the second highest bidder, but I just tell myself that a) he wanted it more than me and b) I saved the money I would have spent. Only two bidders on this one...the guy who beat me still got a deal I think. SF locos What's this about Sharpshooter's Laws? I don't think I understand this Third Law. What are the first and second laws anyway?
I ususally go to eBay for musical instruments or car parts but just recently found out how much of a treasure trove it is for model trains. I've only lost a couple times, just last night I lost out on an Atlas UP SD90MAC, the winning bid was $62.01. I could have bid more but eventually it wouldn't be much of a steal, especially when you factor in shipping. I wouldn't say it was haunting at all. I just let it go. I'm sure I'll see these all the time. Besides, I'm more feenin' for a GE loco. My best steal? Two items, both from the same seller: An Intermountain SP tunnel motor new in box ($65) and a set of Athearn Metrolink Bombardier commuter coaches AND a F59PHI loco ($92 together). What made it more of a steal was that the seller just happened to be local to me, so the next day I met up with them and saved all that shipping fee hassle!
I'm still grousing about the marker lamp I missed! It was the last thing I needed to decorate my den. ( Nope it wasn't N Scale ) Oh well, still lookin'. Ernie C
My best win of course was a rare target bow (archery) I had been searching for for quite some time. Unfortunatly, I lost the auction but three days later the seller contacted me and told me it was mine if I wanted it, the winning bidder failed to contact the seller by the terms specified in the auciton. Another lucky buy was an Atlas shay, the seller didn't list it well and I got it for $130.00, this after they were sold out in most retail locations and they were averaging about 200.00 in other auctions.
It was just the same for me...my first eBay purchases were musical instruments. Then I discovered the model train category, and I have to admit, eBay was what got me back into the hobby!
Haha cool. I play keyboards/synthesizers as well as bass. What do you play? Now if only people post more model RR stuff on Craigslist...
