Ebay Miracle
November 30th, 2009Auction Worked
Ebay actually got me a decent deal on an auction product. How often does that happen? Half the time, noobs ruin auctions with pointless bids days before the final moments. And a lot of the stuff has high reserves or high minimum bids. I nailed this one, though. I got a nice new Jacobs chuck, using a sniping program. And I beat another sniper, which is incredibly satisfying!
Before I knew about sniping, I wondered why I never won anything. I marveled at the amazing people who somehow managed to place bids ten seconds before auctions ended. It was frustrating. I’d sit there thinking I had won, and then POW, a snipe would come in and blow me out of the water.
Life is full of cheats. Sometimes you never find out why you lost. It’s nice to have the inside track once in a while.
Long ago, I used to play Duke Nukem 3D on a network, and I got thrashed constantly. I used to shoot other guys over and over, and they didn’t die. Later I found out they were cheating. They had hacked the game so they could take huge numbers of hits without dying. What jerks. You have to wonder how a person can feel satisfaction, playing people who have no chance of winning.
Lots of things in life work that way. Racist hiring policies, for example. Now affirmative action does the same thing, only the victims are white, male, or heterosexual.
I got the chuck because the used one I Ebayed a long time ago is a piece of junk. I tried to fix it, but it was a waste of time. Sometimes trying to save money is a stupid idea. You have to do it right. I trusted a used item, and I got burned. Now I’ll have a decent chuck for my mill. I’ll use the drill press most of the time, but the mill’s higher horsepower may be useful for bigger bits.
I ordered a slide table for the drill press. I’m going to act mature and hold off on a VFD and motor. Those things are luxuries. The slide table is a necessity. I think I’m going to try my old drill press vise before springing for a Grizzly. I’m not sure a cam-action vise is worth the money. It’s not that hard to turn a screw and tighten a vise.
I have fun on the agenda today. More pork sausage. And I have to slice and freeze Costco loin so I’ll have chops.
November 30th, 2009 at 10:12 AM
I have only looked at ebay to buy anything once, years ago. I have never heard of this “sniping” thing. Care to expand to the uninformed?YA7h
November 30th, 2009 at 4:29 PM
I win auctions, and I’ve been known to bid days in advance.
I do it by bidding what I’m willing to pay, and seeing if someone else wants to pay more. If not, I get the product.
Strange, but it works.
November 30th, 2009 at 4:47 PM
That’s strange, all right. It doesn’t work that way for anyone else unless they try to buy things no one wants, or they offer extravagant amounts.
November 30th, 2009 at 7:27 PM
eBay sniping is the act of waiting until the last few seconds of an auction before placing your bid.
The idea behind sniping is to avoid drawing early unwanted attention to an item, and possibly bidding wars.
You can do it manually if you have the time, or you can use a sniping service (hidbid.com, auctionsniper.com, etc.) or software (Jbidwatcher, etc.).
I’d recommend the service over the software as there are more potential problems with the software (forgetting to leave your computer on, power outage, etc.).
Just remember, regardless of when your bid is placed, it still has to be the highest for you to win.
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:06 AM
The govt. auction site (gsa) extends the bid by 15 minutes if there is a late bid and it will keep extending until there are no more bids. This eliminates any sniping.