Greed.

[Colin]

Hi,

In spite of our dire climate I decided to quit moaning and wandered into the workshop this morning. I did quite a bit of tidying and running machines; from under a bench I pulled out my boxed "Sprayit" paint spray outfit (American Thomas Industries sold here in the UK under Burgess) to plug it in and run it for a while because it's not been run for a long time.

Before marrying Bron I used to be chums with my cousin's husband Tony and we spent many hours repairing/restoring our motorcycles. At that time Green Shield Stamps were collected and then traded in against goods. Tony wanted a spray outfit and was keen to get his hands on one of these Sprayit's; the owner of our local Fish & Chip shop used to sell these stamps and I believe Tony bought a few thousand stamps to make up the quantity required and now he finally had his Sprayit.

Over the years I used to borrow the Sprayit which actually was a very nice spray outfit; not powerful but with patience a superb spray job could be done; I even sprayed my classic split screen VW camper and I very much enjoyed using the Sprayit to spray cellulose. I then met Bron and we married settling down to our first home together and I packed the bikes in and now with a huge mortgage work took precedence and it's over 40 years since I used one of these lovely Sprayits.

A couple of years ago out of curiosity I browsed eBay wondering if these Sprayit's were still available and sure enough one was up for auction described as little used and still in its original box with an auction starting price of £30. Not wishing to mess around I emailed the seller offering £100 cash if he would post it to me included in the price?

I received a prompt reply declining my generous offer the owner stating a lot of people were watching this auction so I walked away not wishing to place a bid. I then bought a modern Apollo spray outfit costing quite a bit of money. With the Apollo home I then received an email from the Sprayit seller saying he had reconsidered and yes I could have the Sprayit for £100? My reply was polite stating I was now the owner of the apollo sprayer and thanked him once again letting the Sprayit go.

The Sprayit hadn't attracted a starting bid of £30 and it appeared once again on eBay with a starting bid of £30 so I put it on watch and waited until the last 30 minutes of its auction and once again it hadn't attracted a single bid; I waited until the final 10 seconds and slapped a bid of £40 on the Sprayit; the auction ended and the Sprayit was mine for £30 mine being the only bid.

The seller lived in Cheshire so I decided to take Bron for a nice run out to collect the Sprayit; the seller was a miserable soul as I handed over the £30 in cash; had I known I would have paid by PayPal reducing the £30 further to him but I was playin fair. Back home I was and still am delighted to own this Sprayit and the miserably seller didn't leave feedback on eBay.

I think this is called comeuppance and served this seller right for being so greedy; I offered way over the top in cash just because of sentimental reasons and possibly this Sprayit would only have ever been worth £100 to me being of little value to anyone else?

Playing with the Sprayit this morning brought back so many memories; I hope my story is of interest.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Funny how an object can bring back memories. In my travels, I buy little or no "dumb" souvenirs , but I do buy a pair of earrings from every place I go, and can tell you which ones came from where at any given time, that then triggers memories.

 

[alp]

I wouldn't say he's the greediest. The greediest are those who start the bid with 99p and by the time the 7 days are over, the item mysteriously go up to the price normally asked for. Once I was outbidded and after a while, the seller asked me if I would still have the item and I said no. Somehow, I could see these sellers sitting next to their other laptops and bid furiously just to push the price up. Sometimes, they might be too fast and became the winners. Then they would email you to ask you if you still wanted the item. How can an item starting with 99p and ended up £35 in 7 days? Unless you use the same laptop to join in the bid, you won't be penalised. You can see from the history of bidding that the same bidder help push the price up.

I haven't bidded for anything for a long time. Never fast enough.

 

[Silentrunning]

When I see something I want on eBay I make my best bid and walk away. If I win I will be notified. If I loose, at least I won't have gotten caught up in the bidding fever. I truly dislike eBay because it seems to attract so many crooked people.

 

[alp]

When I see something I want on eBay I make my best bid and walk away. If I win I will be notified. If I loose, at least I won't have gotten caught up in the bidding fever. I truly dislike eBay because it seems to attract so many crooked people.

Very sensible!

 

[Ian]

Sounds like it worked out well in the end though, as you saved yourself £70 - I can only imagine what the seller must have thought . Looks like a solid bit of kit too.

I do use ebay very occasionally and I've had a couple of e-mails asking to end the auction early - but I've always declined as it means that the transaction happens outside of ebay (at least, on their auction-only listings) and means that the protection and recourse isn't available if things go wrong. However, they do have a "best offer" facility, I just haven't explored that feature yet.

I tend to either list something cheap and then see where it ends up, or if I'm bidding, I'll place my best bid and then walk away. It's probably not the "optimal" method, but I don't want to get caught up in a bidding war as I know I'll spend too much time watching and then over-bid .

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Ebay can be interesting, usually I don't get into bidding wars. I did discover that for fringe can find real cheap and good ones. Also, few years ago I bid on a box of ladies dress scarfs, got the whole thing for like $5.00, lots of them. Probably some clean out from a expired person, anyway, some colors not for me, gave them to my co-workers who wore those colors, some I kept, nice ones. silk too. For $5.00. was a deal.

 

[marlingardener]

I've never bought nor sold on Ebay, nor used Craig's list. Friends have, and have generally been pleased with the results.
I used to frequent antique auctions in upstate New York. I always did the bidding because I'm "frugal" and wouldn't go over my estimate of the item's value. My husband figured if we wanted it, we'd buy it. Not the guy to take to an auction!

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Yes a £70 saving to a Yorkshireman is heaven Ian.

I like to buy through eBay and the postman has just delivered the latest items; 35 sheets of crafting paper for Bron and also 10 pr of stainless steel scissors in fact I'm so delighted with these scissors I've just ordered another 10 pr for a friend. What a bargain at £6.35 delivered.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-x-Office-Household-Metal-6-High-Grade-Stainless-Steel-B-Sharp-Scissors/282569993225?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

I've bought items through eBay where I've contacted the seller with an offer and if accepted then the seller can still do the transaction through eBay without breaking eBay rules.

I seldom sell through eBay and for low priced items it's easier to dump them at the local tip; I find giving things away to be nothing but hassle unless to our closest friends.

I use Gumtree first when selling and I've sold big industrial machines at £1,200 through Gumtree without it costing a penny in fees unlike eBay and PayPal combined being a huge rip off. On Gumtree there isn't the protection but I've never had a problem and once contact is made it's a case of striking up a personal deal usually via email but done through Gumtree; I've saved hundreds of pounds selling through Gumtree and can highly recommend it but with the warning to be sensible before parting with money; collect the goods and inspect then pay; it works for me.

https://www.gumtree.com/

When I buy through eBay I put the item I'm interested in on "watch" then I get an email reminder near auction end saving lots of time; I look at each item and think what is this worth to me then stick to it not becoming caught up in a bidding war; usually if the item goes for more than I want to pay similar items will pop up again. I once gave a metal clad ugly box shaped vintage radio to a friend I had bought for £10; my friend sold it on eBay for £200 so good luck to him; a week later the same model radio in another eBay auction made £800; it didn't bother me in the least because I hadn't lost anything other than £10.

Years ago I posted on a vintage radio forum a vintage office dictaphone offering this free of charge but it must be collected from my home address. A member contacted me and after a number of emails I finally relented to post it. I hadn't a suitable cardboard box so I spent a couple of workshop hours making a bespoke wooden box packing it securely screwing the lid down. It cost over £11 to post and I also paid for this so now I had time and money invested. I didn't hear anything from this member for over a week so I emailed him; he was annoyed that when he opened up the instrument the drive belts had gone mushy; I felt so ashamed I hadn't agreed to a lifetimes guarantee. Now I'd rather run such items to the tip to save being messed around.

The radio forum also had a collection/delivery service for moving items around the country free of charge. I was silly enough to offer to deliver a vintage radio to the next Golborne meeting that I was attending on the condition this radio would be brought to our home; of course Bron and I ended up driving the other side of Huddersfield to collect this radio thinking perhaps it was an old boy who couldn't drive that owned it. we found the street and both sides of this street were crammed solid with parked cars whereas most driveways were empty so were all these neighbours being stupid. We finally parked and I rang the doorbell to be greeted by a young guy dressed in cycling racing clothes; what a bone idle guy this was; the radio was still up in the loft and he let his lady partner struggle to bring it down to the kitchen whilst he talked to me; there was a car on his driveway and cars parked on the street outside his address; he told me he worked in Dewsbury so he must pass the end of our street in his car to reach work; at Golborne I wasn't even thanked for my good deed; I'm now keeping my head below the parapet in future.

When I cleared my electronics workshop I sold the items of value but low value items I ran up to the tip in eight full car loads saving me a great deal of hassle.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[alp]

Perhaps the man was miserable because he was not experienced and had no idea that there would be no bidders .. He should have started with a higher price, or perhaps he's desperate to give it away.

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Thanks alp.

I've now bought 423 items through eBay over the years without problems but as I say I now usually only buy through eBay but sell through Gumtree. Being a tight Yorkshireman I can't stand crying whilst paying eBay and PayPal fees and don't have to pay these fees through Gumtree so I can put my hankies away.

Using Gumtree a fixed price is to be added on the advert but once contact is made then any deal can be made between seller and buyer; Gumtree is easy to join.

Kind regards, Colin.