That was special

I tried selling something on ebay this week. The motivation for the sale is a story unto itself, but once I made the decision to place an ad, I did my homework. I had researched past sales of the same item and figured to get about $350US for it. Everything I had read about ebay said you should set a low starting price, and no reserved bid. Things like reserved bids tend to piss off people who would otherwise bid low, but continue to raise their bids as more interest developed.

It was a gamble. I set my initial price to half of what the average selling price should have been. I got an opening bid within a few hours. That meant I knew the sale was a done deal from the very earliest moments of the auction. During the course of the week, some serious bidders joined the fray, and by yesterday, bidding had surpassed $350US. Entering the last minutes of bidding, the high bid was over $400US. With under a minute, things seemed like they'd end at that number. All of a sudden, during the last 30 seconds, there was a great flurry of bidding; with the winning bid coming in a shade over $600US.

I think my wife has finally found a way to get me to clean out the garage!