Tuesday, March 11, 2014

An eBay Lesson Learned

First, thanks to PATP and Bru, there are only TWO spots left in the 2014 GQ Half-Case Break! Sign up now!

Now on to the important part of my post. As you may have noticed, I've updated the right-side toolbar on my page. At the very top is an image titled "The Nelson Cruz Project." If you click on it, it leads you to my page showing my attempt to collect the 2013 Triple Threads Nelson Cruz rainbow (a daunting task, I might add).

So, I set a new watch term on eBay. Soon after, this pops up:


That is the sapphire version of the Beltre/Cruz/Anrus card, numbered 2 of 3, with the Cruz swatch having three beautiful colors. Seeing as I would need a copy of this card, I decided to bid.

The final bidding stopped at about $26, with me being proclaimed the winner.

My celebration was short lived. The seller decided to set a reserve price. What the reserve price was, I don't know, but it was more than I agreed to pay via auction.

I was devastated. The card was beautiful...I mean, look at it and tell me it isn't the cardboard equivalent of Kate Upton.

Go ahead, I'll wait.

I pouted for a couple of days. Then I got another alert: the card had been re-listed, this time with no reserve. the opening bid, however, was set at $19.99. For six days, I watched the card as no one made a bid. Then, just as the auction was about to end Saturday, I put in a max bid upwards of $37 - I didn't want to lose it - and prayed I would be victorious.

The auction ended with me being the only bidder, I picked the card up for $20, six dollars less than what I bid the first time.

So here's the lesson:

DON'T BE A JERK AND PUT RESERVES ON YOUR AUCTIONS.

You may end up having to settle for less.

On a side note, Happy 311 Day! (I don't know if that's a real thing. we're going to go with it.)


7 comments:

  1. That is cool you got a better deal. I can understand a reserve for really high end vintage or autos, but for a card like that it makes no sense. You just alienate bidders with the reserve. Who know what goes through the minds of sellers sometimes. My guess is he was trying to get back some of the money from the box.

    311 day is a real thing. They have a concert every year on this day pretty much playing the entire catalog.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Reserves are almost as annoying as people who bid and then wait and wait to pay. Not that I have any current experience with that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good to see you got a better deal for it.
    Cool song by the way, hated it though when it first came out. It grew on me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hate to tell you it, but Kate Upton is way hotter than any of those three guys combined.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just saw the SI cover the other day... um, yeah, I agree with Superduperman99.

      Delete
    2. I agree...I was just trying to show my love for that card.

      But n the real, I would invade North Korea by myself for a date with her.

      Delete
  5. Can seller set reserves after an auction starts? If so... that's totally shady. Glad things worked out for you, because that's one amazing card.

    ReplyDelete