Patience Is A Virtue

Skulldigger

Member
Aug 23, 2015
1,739
Georgia / USA
Don't you hate it when something comes up on Ebay, you just have to have and it's an 8 day auction? I have been looking for a base for a Sireno R5R for about 2 years with little hope of ever finding one, when suddenly last week one popped up. Starting bid was $29.99 and the auction was for 8 days. I contacted the seller and tried to get him to BIN for me and made a starting offer of $50 plus shipping. I expected a counter but instead he said there were 4 other watchers already so he expected a lot of bidding, so he declined my offer with no counter. RATS ! Now I now it 's going to cost me big in an auction.

So today was day 8 and at 14:30 it was to end. I started with a bid of $51. I was in hopes that any last minute bidders would get 52 or so and stop and i would jump in at the last 0.0001 second with a winning high bid. At the 10 minute mark I am still the only bidder. 5 minutes no other bidders. I still wasn't going to take a chance so at 30 seconds, with still no other bidders I raised my bid to my max in hopes nobody else would bid, but just in case. Then at 10 seconds it jumps to $37,.....9,,,,8,,,,7,,,,6,,,,5,,,,4,,,3,,,2,,,1,,,, I won the auction for $37.

Whew.... it had been a long wait, 8 freaking days and I got it for less than the BIN offer i had made. So patience was surely a virtue. I know the seller is probably not as happy as I as I now he was hoping for more and it probably doesn't help that he turned down my $50. Only a loss of $13 but still, its' the game.

That's always the risk with auctions, you can pay high, get a great deal or as a seller you can make big or lose big. I am always afraid to put things on Ebay to sell as I fear the 1 person bid and I know I would be very upset if I had to give something away due to a bad auction.

What are your Auction experiences? As a seller or a buyer, what was your best and worst?

By the way, if the seller of this item is on this site, I think you made the right gamble in the begginning, when I told you good luck with the auction I really meant it and was not being a wise crack.Sireno Base.JPG
 
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FiremanSketch

Member
Dec 17, 2014
212
Lake Arrowhead
I'll add to the "PIAV" theme.

A few months ago I was looking for a vehicle-specific part (mirror beams, so a generic fit wouldn't apply). I have an older vehicle, and posted a Hail Mary wanted ad on here in hopes someone might have a set. Ended up finding them on eBay shortly after. Only option was BIN. Tried talking seller into a lower price minus leds (wide-angle 500s... Pretty useless now) & they wouldn't really come off it much. Knowing how scarce the parts are now, I went against my better judgement & did the BIN.

Lo & behold.... A week later on my wanted ad... A wonderful member here found them online NOS, for less than half what I paid on eBay.

So yes, patience is indeed a virtue! I still curse at myself every time I see them on the truck!
 
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