Quote Originally Posted by Wayne View Post
..... but I still find many bargains, you just have to be determined, ......
Spot ON!!

I'mnot usually a very determined type of 'ebayer' .. that is I'll let the others find and acquire these bargains.

I jsut knwo what I want, I usually know what it's worth and ebay is simply one of the many ways to get all manner of gear(not just photography stuff).

Finding that bargain is a pretty low priority for me.

But determined is something I recently became.
I've been chasing a particular type of item off ebay now for I think over a year. These things are not all that common, and come up about 1-2 per week, maybe a bit more every now and then but as an average this seems to be about right.
So take approximately 52(maybe more) weeks and about 2 items per week.
I believed that these devices had a ceiling price of about US$300, possibly as low as US$250 and that's what I stuck too.

I would mark these devices in my watch list and then make a bid as the last day or two approached.
I reckon at least 80-100 bids all at or below the US$300 level over the last year.
Got zip! missed about 79-99 of them by that last bid amount, whether that was by $5 or $2.50, but I was determined not to get into a biding war with anyone.. especially not the buyer, or their friends!

Set my price and that was that on my part, no ifs or butts.

I believed that the vast majority of these items were dummy bid to inflate the prices, as many of them would eventually return to be listed again at similar prices!
I still bid on them, again sticking to my predetermined prices.
I remember at one point, I actually had I think 5 or 7 bids all at the same price at the same time.. and then the thought occurred to me(no matter how remote this idea was) that I amy end up winning either all or at least a few of them .. and then what? .. where was I going to get the money to proceed? .. but again as expected, I lost all of them by at least the min bid amount, and I think a few b just a touch more.

And bloddy 'ell, you wouldn't believe I finally got one! the other day!
(TBH, I kind'a feel a bit deflated by it now, in that it was becoming kind of fun with this chook chase .. I may now have to go chasing some other cheapo items)
Strange thing is too .. it wasn't a bargain, just what I think is a reasonable price. Reason I think it wasnt' a bargain is because a day or two later another (concurrent) item sold for $80 less than I got mine!

ie. now that I'm out of the market, no else one wants one.
Overnight with my finally having got one, the market has collapsed and the demand is now back to zero.
I'm still watching them to see how much lower they now go in price!