moral for savvy buyers:? & boxes. Message #17 Posted by glynn on 9 July 2002, 8:35 p.m., in response to message #16 by David Smith
Wait for auctions that end on Christmas morning...
Some months ago I bought a piece of ancient gear on eBay... was the only bidder, but thought that (as usual) more bidders would jump in at the last seconds. Little did I know how cheaply I was to pick up that piece of equipment, the morning of Sept 11, 2001...
I even emailed the seller to say he could relist under the circumstances and I would not mind. He would have none of that: he said I was probably the only one who really wanted it anyway-- and that those who wait, lose. I appreciated that!
Nowadays when you can bid with a "bot" at the last seconds or have outbid alerts sent to your cellphone, I wonder if sellers really have to worry so much about whether to schedule around such things as sporting events and holidays, or maybe the REAL bugaboo is selling an HP65 on the same week as two others are being marketed.
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On occasions, I have seen people interested in one auction transfer their attentions to a later auction when the first item reaches a certain price barrier-- and other times I have seen some things virtually ignored in favor of others, because one says mint IN BOX and mentions no batteries or power adapter, and the other has both but no box.
Collectors are obviously driving the market in those cases-- for users need no box, but collectors know the box is worth more than a power-brick. (If I had a time-machine, I'd go back and ask new buyers just to let me have their packaging!!)
Won't future collectors be the poorer over the introduction of the "blister pack", which you can't open without destroying? ;-)
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