Ever put in a big bid on an auction…Edit: I didn’t win

[LDO]

I mean, I put in just about the most I would pay for something so rare and so cool, but No one has outbid me yet, which is a huge surprise. I don’t really need to spend that money, but man it would be a coup to win that auction. 

Edited October 7, 2024 by LDO

[peteski]

Don't count your chickens yet Lee . . .  the snipers are coming.  I know, when I used to bid on eBay auctions, I was a sniper.  If you really want the item, place another bid bidding the highest price you are willing to spend.  You original high bid amount will not go up (that's how eBay's proxy bidding works). At least you will now have chance to outbid the snipers when they come at the end of the auction. Many eBay members just don't understand how the proxy bidding works. Lets say, your original bid was $10 and you placed another bid of a $100, if nobody else bids on that auction, you will still get it for your lowest bid ($10).

[Fat Brian]

I only bid in the last 5 seconds of an auction. Otherwise you're just bidding the price up on yourself. I pick the price I'm willing to pay and bid that amount, if I win it for less great and if I lose I'm on to the next one.

[1930fordpickup]

I just put in the price I am willing ro pay. If it is an old item I want. If I win Thats fine. If not oh well. Dont care about sniper's they still have to out bid my top price to win. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

11 hours ago, 1930fordpickup said:

I just put in the price I am willing ro pay. If it is an old item I want. If I win Thats fine. If not oh well. Dont care about sniper's they still have to out bid my top price to win. 

That's the way I've always done it.

I'm not going to get into those stupid bidding war games and end up spending more for an item than I intended to.

Decide what the item is worth to you, bid the highest price that you're willing to pay, and walk away.

Let the guys whose hobby is trying to win every auction fight it out.

I don't need that aggravation.

 

I bid mostly on vintage kits, and I think I have a pretty good handle on what they're worth from a builders stand point.

If I win, I win.

If not, no big deal.

I have no problem letting someone else pay way too much for an item because their goal is to win rather than to get a decent deal.

 

 

 

Steve

[LDO]

I understand the proxy bidding. I once bid $225.00 on an Etzel’s Speed Classics Stutz Blackhawk LSR. Thankfully I got it for about a third of that. Such a cool car. 
 

This current item is so cool, I may bid more. 

[peteski]

3 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

I'm not going to get into those stupid bidding war games and end up spending more for an item than I intended to.

Sniping is not a bidding war.  I only place one bid seconds before auction ends.  Period.  If I win, I win, if not - oh well.  But If I placed the same bit few days before the auction ends, there is a big chances that the nickel-and-dimers will slowly jack up the selling price, even for the sniper.  In my 24 years of buying on eBay I have learned that there are lots of those who do not understand how to try to get the item at the lowest possible price. Does it always work for me? No, but that is the chance I'm willing to take. I have done quite well over those 24 years.

[StevenGuthmiller]

6 hours ago, peteski said:

Sniping is not a bidding war.  I only place one bid seconds before auction ends.  Period.  If I win, I win, if not - oh well.  But If I placed the same bit few days before the auction ends, there is a big chances that the nickel-and-dimers will slowly jack up the selling price, even for the sniper.  In my 24 years of buying on eBay I have learned that there are lots of those who do not understand how to try to get the item at the lowest possible price. Does it always work for me? No, but that is the chance I'm willing to take. I have done quite well over those 24 years.

Yeah, I have no interest in getting that involved.

If I happen across something that interests me, I don’t care if there are 6 days, or 6 minutes left in the auction, I’m only going to bid what it’s worth to me, and I have no interest in sitting around to see what other bidders are doing and then making snap decisions in the last few seconds.

I also don’t care one bit if someone is going to nickel and dime their way through the auction to win.

Knock yourself out.

I’ve already made a decision about how much I’ll pay.

If you get it for 10 cents more, good for you.

I could care less.

I’ve won my fair share of auctions by just using my passive approach, and that’s good enough for me.

 

 

 

Steve

[Ace-Garageguy]

[peteski]

35 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

If I happen across something that interests me, I don’t care if there are 6 days, or 6 minutes left in the auction, I’m only going to bid what it’s worth to me, and I have no interest in sitting around to see what other bidders are doing and then making snap decisions in the last few seconds

But what I do (one bid at the end of the auction) is nothing difficult or involved.  Instead of bidding my maximum amount early on, I just bid at the end to get the item at the lowest possible price.  I'm not making any snap decisions. Remember - one bid (there is no time to make more bids). Nothing complicated.

It is sort of like playing checkers - if you have a strategy, it is easier to do well.

[StevenGuthmiller]

3 hours ago, peteski said:

But what I do (one bid at the end of the auction) is nothing difficult or involved.  Instead of bidding my maximum amount early on, I just bid at the end to get the item at the lowest possible price.  I'm not making any snap decisions. Remember - one bid (there is no time to make more bids). Nothing complicated.

It is sort of like playing checkers - if you have a strategy, it is easier to do well.

Sure, but you still have to follow the auction and know when it ends, etc.

If you happen be involved in a number of auctions that end roughly around the same time, it can be very involved, requiring that you keep track of what’s going on and when.

With my approach, I don’t have to keep track of anything.

If I happen upon 2 or 3 auctions that have several hours to days remaining, I merely calculate how much I’m comfortable spending, place my bids, and go about my day and wait for the notifications of whether I won or not.

I don’t have to return to the site numerous times and sit in front of my computer with my finger poised to mash down on the enter key.

I just continue on with my life as normal and live with the consequences.

Remember, even if you are willing to pay $200.00 for an item, and you bid that amount, if you win the auction, and the next highest bid is only $100.00, the amount you pay is only a little bit more than that bid, so there’s still plenty of opportunity for savings.

I decided a long time ago that I don’t have any interest in “playing the game”.

I’m just looking for the merchandise.

If I win, great.

If not, there will always be next time.

 

 

 

 

Steve

Edited October 3, 2024 by StevenGuthmiller

[Fat Brian]

On 10/2/2024 at 3:54 PM, peteski said:

Sniping is not a bidding war.  I only place one bid seconds before auction ends.  Period.  If I win, I win, if not - oh well.  But If I placed the same bit few days before the auction ends, there is a big chances that the nickel-and-dimers will slowly jack up the selling price, even for the sniper.  In my 24 years of buying on eBay I have learned that there are lots of those who do not understand how to try to get the item at the lowest possible price. Does it always work for me? No, but that is the chance I'm willing to take. I have done quite well over those 24 years.

This is what I do as well for the exact same reason. Early in my ebay career I got in a bidding war for a kit I really wanted and over the course of a couple days bid it up to more than I really wanted to pay then still got sniped at the end of the auction. 

[slusher]

There are always those two guys who get in a bidding war on the first two days that they sometimes get stuck with an item costing way more then it’s worth. If you watch a buy it now most of the time they will knock some off ..

[LDO]

I thought I had deleted this before posting. It seems a bit awkward and rambling. 
 

Anyway- it was a resin model of the “Red Baron” P-51 (“RB-51”) Mustang. The real plane was heavily modified, including a Rolls-Royce Griffon V-12 with a displacement of 2240ci. The model was made by Fisher Model and Pattern Works. The company went out of business when Jerry Fisher’s house burned down a few years ago. 
 

It sold for $778.96, a LOT more than my bid. 
 

 

Edited October 7, 2024 by LDO

[LDO]

…but gosh I sure did want it. 

[peteski]

. . . and looking at the bid history, it  was won by one of the 2 snipers who both bid few seconds before the auction ended. As I expected.

Back in the days where any eBay user could contact another one, I used to get angry messages from the other bidders when I won an item by sniping. I found them amusing.

Edited October 7, 2024 by peteski

[LDO]

24 minutes ago, peteski said:

. . . and looking at the bid history, it  was won by one of the 2 snipers who both bid few seconds before the auction ended. As I expected.

Back in the days where any eBay user could contact another one, I used to get angry messages from the other bidders when I won an item by sniping. I found them amusing.

I had wanted a Tamiya 1/12 Lola T-70 for a long time. I kept bidding, but never won. I got a message from a guy in Australia who offered to sell me one for a good price. It was all legit; he put it in a Buy It Now listing and I finally got a grail kit. 

[peteski]

9 hours ago, LDO said:

I had wanted a Tamiya 1/12 Lola T-70 for a long time. I kept bidding, but never won. I got a message from a guy in Australia who offered to sell me one for a good price. It was all legit; he put it in a Buy It Now listing and I finally got a grail kit. 

Yes, fortunately communications between seller and a bidder on their auction is still allowed on eBay even now.  I had a similar experience where after the auction I missed bidding on (with no buyer). I contacted them to tell them I was interested, and they listed the item again with a BiN  price, and let me know that it was active.  I  then bought the item (like you said, without breaking any rules).

[StevenGuthmiller]

For $800.00, I would have been more than happy to lose.

 

 

 

Steve

[Lunajammer]

There's no financial advantage to bidding early except for convenience. As far as I'm concerned all auctions could last 10-seconds. That said, I don't buy off ebay very often so if it's something I want bad enough and/or cheap enough, I'll make the appointment.

That really paid off when I took the chance and bought my motorcycle there. Saved me many, many hundreds.

[LDO]

3 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

For $800.00, I would have been more than happy to lose.

 

 

 

Steve

The winning bid was hundreds of dollars more than mine. I’m actually glad my bid didn’t win. I bid way too much. 

[ChrisBcritter]

For $800, I'd be sorely tempted to get a 1/32 P-51 and modify it myself.

[LDO]

24 minutes ago, ChrisBcritter said:

For $800, I'd be sorely tempted to get a 1/32 P-51 and modify it myself.

The decals are made by Draw Decals and still available. IIRC. I’m tempted to do it in 1/24 or 1/18

[Ace-Garageguy]

17 hours ago, LDO said:

The decals are made by Draw Decals and still available. IIRC. I’m tempted to do it in 1/24 or 1/18

Yeah, I was going to suggest doing one in 1/24. The Airfix kits aren't too expensive, and I'm pretty sure somebody made a 1/24 resin Griffon.

EDIT:  Nope.   https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/33844-is-there-a-good-r-r-griffon-engine-in-132-or-124/

EDIT 2: The 1/32 scale Matchbox Mk 22/24 Spitfire has a Griffon with contra-rotating props. Either use that as a reference to scratchbash wotcher need in 1/24, or get the right Mk. P-51 in 1/32 and have at it.   

Edited October 8, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy
TYPO

[Matt Bacon]

I was going to suggest the same. The Matchbox kit doesn’t have the contra-prop, though. For that you’ll need a Seafire 46/47 conversion. I did it years ago with a cottage industry set from “Jen’s Brit Bits”, but that’s long gone. Freightdog did a set (they may have taken on Jen’s parts and moulds)  but it’s not on their web site any more. Auction sites may be your best bet. On the other hand, the prop’s not the most complex thing to design for 3D printing or turn on a lathe if you have that skill. The blades can be adapted from the ones in the kit and then copies cast…

EDIT: those flat paddle blades are way different from Spit/Seafire Griffon blades, so you’d have to scratch/print them anyway and the top surface of the cowling/cam covers are as well. You probably wouldn’t get that much usable from the Matchbox kit… maybe just get an inexpensive Revell P-51D and some good drawings of Red Baron and have at it!

http://taichi56jp.g1.xrea.com/
 

(This page takes ages to load, but is worth the wait)

best,

M.

Edited October 8, 2024 by Matt Bacon