# My First eBay bidding *ANXIETY* what do I do?



## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

22 minutes left of the auction and I think I just became the highest bidder.
I have my PayPal linked up, so what do I do if I actually win?! :lol

Is there like a button I push or something? I have never bid, or even won an eBay auction before!!!! :afr

Yes, I am 40, fabulous, and eBay-inept, don't judge me! :mum :bat :lol


----------



## harrison (Apr 14, 2012)

Ebay's great! If you really want to win get some sniping software - later of course. Too late now.

Edit: also John, it will show up in your "Myebay" thing as auctions won - then just click on Pay Now and go from there. They make it very easy as they want their commission.


----------



## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Thanks, @*don*

I did win. It was the same model clock that I would always watch in kindergarten 35 years ago - my teacher passed away back in June at 93 years of age. She wrote a letter to my mom way back then about how I was fascinated by this clock. It's an impulse clock that jumps per minute and does not move at all the rest of the minute. There were a string of clocks throughout the school that were on exactly the same time.










The magic was at 58 minutes after - the clock would "go nuts" especially if one of the clocks was off, and would all synchronize to 58 after, like is demonstrated in the YouTube clip.

That loud "pop" was freaky. Every hour!






Electromagnets power the clock - and trying to plug it into an electrical outlet will blow it up - WAY too many volts.

I have to buy a power pack that would use batteries because this clock cannot function on its own.


----------



## harrison (Apr 14, 2012)

millenniumman75 said:


> Thanks, @*don*
> 
> *I did win.* It was the same model clock that I would always watch in kindergarten 35 years ago - my teacher passed away back in June at 93 years of age. She wrote a letter to my mom way back then about how I was fascinated by this clock. It's an impulse clock that jumps per minute and does not move at all the rest of the minute. There were a string of clocks throughout the school that were on exactly the same time.


Good for you John - that's great! Ebay is a lot of fun. There was a time a number of years ago when I sold a lot of books on ebay. I would ship first editions all over the world - haven't done it for a while though. You can actually build up quite a following but it takes a bit of work and you need to keep getting slightly unusual stuff.

I always look through the Uk site to find great old books and handbills etc. It really is amazing what turns up.


----------



## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

don said:


> Good for you John - that's great! Ebay is a lot of fun. There was a time a number of years ago when I sold a lot of books on ebay. I would ship first editions all over the world - haven't done it for a while though. You can actually build up quite a following but it takes a bit of work and you need to keep getting slightly unusual stuff.
> 
> I always look through the Uk site to find great old books and handbills etc. It really is amazing what turns up.


Thanks!

I had been looking for the square version for years. It would pop up like every 6 to 12 months, but I would always be afraid to bid. They always say "it's a contract - you win it, you pay for it" - and I always found that threatening even though I know I would pay for something I wanted without an issue.

This clock appeared two other times without a bid, and I still couldn't get myself to bid on it......until somebody bid on it the third time around. I had to step in this time. I feel bad for the person I beat, but I would bet that I had more of a story behind it than the other person.

The order has already been placed - it says I should get it by the 28th.


----------



## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

I just put items I like on the watch list and bid only in the last 30 seconds of any bid. If someone is challenging me, I raise my bid by $6 in the last 10 seconds, which most people will only raise by multiples of $5, this usually wins bids. I don't bother bidding before that or it will just end up jacking the price up unnecessarily. I just have ebay on my phone and it gives me notifications when auctions are ending.


----------



## TheLonelyGlobeTrotter (Mar 2, 2015)

That is exactly the same strategy that I use and I haven't had much luck with that. I guess everyone else is also have the same strategy :/


----------



## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Noca said:


> I just put items I like on the watch list and bid only in the last 30 seconds of any bid. If someone is challenging me, I raise my bid by $6 in the last 10 seconds, which most people will only raise by multiples of $5, this usually wins bids. I don't bother bidding before that or it will just end up jacking the price up unnecessarily. I just have ebay on my phone and it gives me notifications when auctions are ending.


I have a flip phone, though :lol.

I noticed that the auto-incrementer worked. I didn't use it, so I had to manually increase my bid hoping it would outdo the other bidder. I beat him by 37 cents :lol.



TheLonelyGlobeTrotter said:


> That is exactly the same strategy that I use and I haven't had much luck with that. I guess everyone else is also have the same strategy :/


It probably would have been a whole different story if multiple people had bid. That clock appeared two other times and did not have a bid at all. Somebody just happened to pass through and found it interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if the other bidder had turned around and sold it himself. I plan to keep it.


----------



## Smallfry (Oct 11, 2004)

congrats on winning the clock  I remember my first eBay purchase, it was in 2005 and I won a bag from US. I remember gasping at the shipping costs and wanted to back out but of course once you've put in a bid there's no going back unless the seller agrees. I really liked the bag so I paid up. I also sold a clock once it was a Karlsson one which was an unwanted birthday gift. EBay is still really good to find those rare and forgotten items.


----------



## LetMeThinkAboutThat (Aug 24, 2013)

don said:


> Ebay's great! If you really want to win get some sniping software - later of course. Too late now.
> 
> Edit: also John, it will show up in your "Myebay" thing as auctions won - then just click on Pay Now and go from there. They make it very easy as they want their commission.


I don't understand the point behind sniping software. I bid what I want and that's it. A few times I've bid on stuff that I decided I didn't want but thankfully snipers grabbed it anyway. since then I found bid retraction is not really difficult.


----------



## Sdistant (Mar 25, 2015)

The website will guide you through it. There's a button to pay with paypal.


----------



## Just Lurking (Feb 8, 2007)

I think it's been about nine years since I last 'bid' on something. I've long only looked at Buy-It-Now auctions because I'm an impatient motherf***er with stuff like that.

Though, I suppose if you're into vintage or one-of-a-kind type stuff, there's not much choice.

Hopefully, you didn't get nailed too badly on shipping. I've looked at some box DVD sets and thought _"oooh, nice low price... what a deal"_ and then _"oooh, the shipping is more than the actual DVDs..."_ Umm, next?

Good luck with your new (old?) clock.


----------



## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Just Lurking said:


> I think it's been about nine years since I last 'bid' on something. I've long only looked at Buy-It-Now auctions because I'm an impatient motherf***er with stuff like that.
> 
> Though, I suppose if you're into vintage or one-of-a-kind type stuff, there's not much choice.
> 
> ...


:lol - It cost $14.73 for shipping. I have heard that they are heavy, so I am not sure if that has something to do with the price. Anyway, I won it Monday 8pm EDT......as of 7:30pm Wednesday, it's gone from northeastern New Jersey to Cincinnati via UPS. I wouldn't be surprised to see it tomorrow - which would be four days early.

It was manufactured in July, 1967. I didn't start kindergarten until 1980 and the clocks were still being used through high school in 1993 and beyond.


----------



## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Sdistant said:


> The website will guide you through it. There's a button to pay with paypal.





Just Lurking said:


> I think it's been about nine years since I last 'bid' on something. I've long only looked at Buy-It-Now auctions because I'm an impatient motherf***er with stuff like that.
> 
> Though, I suppose if you're into vintage or one-of-a-kind type stuff, there's not much choice.
> 
> ...


Thanks! I got it yesterday - four days early!

@*don* - I looked into the mechanism - pretty well engineered with the gears.
I found out that when clock resets - a second coil activates and the gear has a little metal weight on it that swings the gear into the "58" position before the second electromagnetic shuts off holding it in place. The first/main coil kicks in and advances after that.

I still have to buy the battery pack that contains the miniature motherboard timer that times the electromagnetic pulses. That'll be more expensive, but there is a model that can "run for months" with 4 AA batteries.


----------



## harrison (Apr 14, 2012)

millenniumman75 said:


> Thanks! I got it yesterday - four days early!
> 
> @*don* - I looked into the mechanism - pretty well engineered with the gears.
> I found out that when clock resets - a second coil activates and the gear has a little metal weight on it that swings the gear into the "58" position before the second electromagnetic shuts off holding it in place. The first/main coil kicks in and advances after that.
> ...


That's great John - it's always fun to get something that means a lot to you. It really is amazing what turns up on ebay. Have fun mate.


----------

