Pet Peave of the Day!

[Harvey A. Kader]

Thanks George for the info. I use a similar technique to yours. Instead of a watch
with a second hand, I use my Geundig Satellit 650 shortwave radio which has a
clock which shows each second of the minute. A few minutes before the auction ends
I calibrate this clock with WWV. Then I bid in the last 10-15 seconds of the
auction. Works most of the time.

I agree with you 100%. I do not believe in paying outrageous amounts of money for
anything - I am too practicle for that. In fact, I search for bargains, or as I
call them bargooons! ebay in 1998-99 was a great place to be for bargains. This
was before most people knew about ebay. I bought great merchandide on ebay at
great prices back then. But now, ever since investors and serious collectors have
discovered ebay, prices of EVERYTHING I bought one to two years ago has DOUBLED or
TRIPLED! If I tried to resell everything I bought I would make BIG money. This is
great for the sellers, but bad for the buyers. So now I don't buy that much
because most if the bargains are gone. I have to find another venue that no one
knows about.

It is too bad that ebay is not good for buyers anymore - too much competition.
However, the new Buy It Now feature I really like because if the price is right,
and you really want the item, AND you are the FIRST to discover it, then you  can
buy it before it gets bid up in price. I had that opportunity recently with a
sealed unbuilt Heathkit GD-49 Informer Alarm Kit. Bought it through Buy It Now
feature for $90.00. To show you how this feature gives bargains, a few weeks later
another unbuilt GD-49 came up for auction. Not even a sealed version, it was bid
up to $125.00. That is a 40% increase. So if put my GD-49 back on ebay, I may
realize a profit of 40%. Not a bad yield for just speculating(which by the way, I
am not anyway). Now if I was rich, and bid $1,000.00 for the GD-49, I may end up
paying $400.00 after topping out all bidders maximum. There is no way that I will
ever be able to resell that kit for anything close to that amount. A good investor
and money manager knows the market value of what he is buying, and does not over
pay. I don't care how rich he is. To get rich, and stay rich, one must know the
value of money. People who buy strictly on emotion always pay too much. What did
Barnum and Bailey say about fools...

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