Hot Dog!!!!!!!!

[LoyalTubist]

This is eBay. Anyone has business looking at it, although one not interested in it should probably keep his comments to himself, as I did.

[WakinAZ]

This is eBay. Anyone has business looking at it, although one not interested in it should probably keep his comments to himself, as I did.

And this is a public forum for discussion. So I will say what I please. I was interested enough to look at the listing. Just an offhand remark anyway - settle down.

Eric "not liking the schoolmarmish atmosphere in the eBay forum of all places" L.

[Chuck(G)]

Let's be blunt--this tuba's open to the person with the most bucks, whether they want to nail it to the wall of their den with 20-penny spikes or fill it with concrete and use it as a mailbox post or garden decoration--as much as many of us would hate the thought.

[WakinAZ]

No doubt, money talks. However, chances are better than even that this horn ends up belonging to a TubeNetter.

Eric "hoping it stays in BBb" L.

[The Big Ben]

Sold!

$6,726.21

I guessed $4,500- off by $2,226.21

Good luck to the happy buyer!

[WakinAZ]

Dang, it was $5000 just a few hrs ago, last minute swoop. Will the new owner please step forward?

BTW, does anyone know why I can still see who the bidders are on some auctions? I thought these were all "masked" these days.

Eric "sidelines" L.

[WakinAZ]

Interesting that it hovered at $5K for what seemed like a couple of days, then the last-minute strategists (most likey those who realized the true value of this horn) moved in at the final hour. an effective eBay strategy for buyers, especially for rare and unique items with thin markets.

Don't forget there is one for sale on this site, for about $1K less than this one went for

Eric "agreeing the seller could have gotten more" L.

[Chuck(G)]

Automated "sniping" is how a lot of categories are run on eBay. Almost no one submits a bid manually.

So, what the auctions boil down to is snipe-bidding what yoiu're willing to pay--if you get a "bargain", that's fine, but it's more likely that you'll just get a fairly good deal.

Basically, eBay in many areas has turned into a conventional blind auction. Submit your sealed-envelope bids and wait till the end when the envelopes are opened.

Nothing wrong with it, but it helps to be aware of what's going on.

[Chuck(G)]

I think that this is called "Proxy Bidding" on eBay. It is the only way I bid, and I do not enter my first bid until about three minutes until the end; later is I can. It is risky and you lose a lot, but you never get caught up in the moment and overbid.

Not exactly, Wade. "Proxy bidding" is the default on eBay. If you submit a bid that's higher than the next bid increment, eBay bids only to that next increment unless someone subsequently bids higher than that.

Snipe uses proxy bidding, but you use a program or service that doesn't submit the bid until the last couple (and I do mean couple) of seconds of the auction. If there are other bids in force, the proxy amount gets resolved then--but otherwise, no one even knows that you were interested until after the auction is over.

That way, no malicious eBayers who know that you routinely buy this kind of stuff are tempted to jack the price up unnecessarily on you.

Some of the other auction sites extend the auction end by a fixed amount after every bid close to the end, which is a whole different kettle of fish.

[Donn]

Two bids in the last 20 minutes were mine. Mostly because I realized that the auction was ending and 5K for a real 345 was a steal.

Did I do it to purchase the horn or to drive the price up?

You'd have to answer that, but you know well enough what would happen.