

When that occurs, I have the 'price is no object' attitude and I get what I want without paying ridiculous prices. But, that doesn't happen often, usually only because the item that I want is long since retired and hard to impossible to find. If I want it bad enough, I make sure that I win it, no matter the winning bid. Let's face it, it is totally stupid to pay more as the winning bidder than what you could buy it for retail. When I do participate in an eBay auction, it is usually when I am after something New, not Used, because that way, I can put an accurate price on it. That's why I usually stick to Buy It Now listings. Tony's Train Exchange in Essex Jct occasionally has something at a good price too.ĮBay auctions are not for the timid. I have found things on sale and if you sign up for their emails, they notify you when there are items on sale. You can also keep checking Modeltrinstuff, Trainworld and other discounted dealers to see what they have. The whole auction thing is sort of a crap shoot, for buyer and seller. From the sellers standpoint, they see an item going for a high price, the hungry bidders have bought and either your item doesn't sell or sells at a disappointing price. It will bounce back up if there are two bidders that really want something at the same time. The people that really wanted them got theirs (for a high price) and the price dropped back to reasonable for the rest of the bidders that follow. I've seen some items go unreasonably high priced for one or two of them, then suddenly one goes for a modest price. Set up a saved search for "HO, D&H" then you will be notified daily of all D&H items that come on ebay locos, rolling stock and any other D&H items that should come along. I don't bother with setting up a sniping account, just figure my limit and go with it. Oh yes, ebay will tell you when you are outbid too.

I have held out for quite a long time looking for specific items in my price range, but was eventually successful. On more than one occasion it looked like I was going to get the bid and when I check later I see there was a sniper set up and I lost. There is usually about a week before the auction ends (unless there is a But It Now option) and I think about it over the next few days. Sometimes when I submit what I feel is the maximum I want to pay, it will tell me that someone already wants it more. I look over the items and decide if i want to bid or not. I have several items on Saved Searches, so I get a daily notice of items within the search. I have used ebay for quite awhile and have won and lost.
