Spitting chips!!!

I just have to vent! Not only that, I have to vent in a place where I guess people might have an inkling of why I'm so peeved. It's a long story. Sorry. I'm a long-winded sort of person, but I will try and keep it as short as possible.

Background:

Many years ago, I had reached a crisis in my life. Things were not looking good and I had lost all my circle of friends. I had to start again and find friends somewhere, somehow. So, I joined a Birdwatching club! I was all of nineteen years of age and the average age of the members (before my arrival) was something like 59. Well, it was a happy decision for me and got me started on a lifelong hobby and some lifelong friendships.

A few years after joining the group, we went on a 'migration' to a place called Gosford. There, we spent the early morning enjoying the local birds. After a pleasant lunch, we moved on to the home of a lovely man by the name of Bill Cooper. Bill Cooper was/is an illustrator. On the day we met him, he had recently been celebrated for his stunning illustrations in a book called 'Birds of Paradise and Bower Birds'. He was currently painting the illustrations for a new book (written by Joseph Forshaw, a distinguished Australian ornithologist) called 'Parrots of the World'. In fact, the painting we watched him working on was the Amazons for the front cover of the book. The way that man made simple brushstrokes turn into feathers was truly amazing! We were all mesmerised and had a marvellous time talking to Bill about his birdwatching and illustrating experiences. When we all expressed interest in purchasing the new book, Bill explained that the first edition would be a limited one and that copies would cost around $1000 apiece. Wow! Of course, it never occurred to me that I could ever own a copy of this stunningly gorgeous book.

The story:

A second edition, ex-library copy in 'great' order went on ebay the other day. I bid as much as I could justify and was outbid by *one measly dollar*. One dollar. I missed out on owning the Bill Cooper illustrations by one steenking feelthy dollar! How sad am I?

Oh Trish....I'm SO sorry!!!

One lousy dollar? Gosh!

HUGS!!!!

Don't beat yourself up so bad.....while you may think you only got beat out by $1.00, the reality is that probably was not the case.....

In many online auctions, you are able to set a bid limit, where the seller may have established a bid increment of $2.50, so every bid has to be increased by at least $2.50 over the previous highest bid.....

In Ebay bidding, unless it specifies differently, you can set a maximum bid amount and Ebay's computer will increase your bid automatically, by $2.50 increments, until your bid maximum is reached, at which time you have the opportunity to increase your bid limit or pass on the item.....you are allowed to increase your limit as long as bidding is active and has not been closed.

While I was not involved in this bidding, it sounds like someone set a bid limit higher than yours and won the bid automatically.....in cases where you are really interested in an item, it is often wise to test the bidding by entering several bids of the minimum bid amount...and if you are trumped on each of these bids by the same bidder, by the minimum bid amount, chances are pretty good that they have designated a bid amount considerably higher than yours.....that leaves you with the option of increasing your bid maximum or backing out of the bidding.....

Good luck on future bids.....

Oh weco, I know! That's what's burning my posterior! I really should have bid a lot higher, but I was trying to be clever and get a bargain. Well, I outsmarted myself and that's why I'm so mad. There's nothing worse than beating yourself at your own game, eh?

Betrisher said:

. One dollar. I missed out on owning the Bill Cooper illustrations by one steenking feelthy dollar! How sad am I?

Click to expand...

The limit-bid feature will do that. You put in your top bid and it registers a bid that just beats the current, and will repeat until it exceeds your limit. Someone had a limit higher than your bid, so it automatically entered a bid (just) $1 greater.

That truly sucks...

Trish, Keep looking around for the book. Even though they are far and few between, another one is bound to turn up some time.