How Can I Compete?

Or perhaps this should be titled "Champagne tastes, ginger ale budget"
I went to bed last night confident in my plan to bid this morning on a seldom seen CSA#12 with perfs (I know these can be dubious, but this one looked pretty good, and it seemed to be coming in under the radar).
When last I checked in there were two bids and it was at a mere $2.56. I knew the price would go up some, but I figured I was prepared.
This morning when I looked the price had shot up to $52 in only three more bids, not including automatics.
Crikey! this is supposed to be a fun, relaxing hobby. How can I compete with budgets like that? Maybe I should go back to bed. In my dreams, I was already showing it off to you.

I feel the pain. I probably watch 10-20 items a week and just when you think there is hope you get shot down again. Then of course the ones you don't bid on early end up selling at next to nothing beacause you wern't home to bid.

yup I got the same thing going on as we speak so I feel your grief! started out at .99 now 102. I'm just gonna watch said item until it's completely out of range! sux too.

What you need to do is find a dealer and establish a relationship with them. Then they will be happy to put items on layaway for you, or even give you credit and let you make installment payments. Mine does both.

True, smauggie. And maybe a fatter wallet would help too.

I feel your pain. It just happened to me yesterday! I put out what I thought was a fair bid then someone topped me. I put out a bid that I thought would discourage any additional bidding. I was wrong. So, I made a final bid that I thought was way over the top. While I was driving I got an e-mail notice on my phone and I thought it was notification that I had won the lot. WRONG! In a way, I'm glad he won because I was spending too much on the item but, it was the 1st time I had ever even seen the item, I didn't even know that it existed so perhaps I should have realised that it was even more unique than I thought. It wasn't even that good looking.

I put a $25 snipe in on a cover that sold for $180 yesterday. Humiliating if nothing else.

I have purchased a FEW items for $50 and $100..but I can remember those..growing up in the 50's when money for discretionary items was just not there..its still difficult at times to justify..wish I could be different !!

That's the story of my life ... a minute late and a dollar short :)

It ended at $76 with four bidders. I can take some comfort in knowing it was soooooooo far out of my league that there was never a chance. Maybe someday (sigh)

I don't compete in auctions. If I bid at all, which is rare, I have a set price in mind above which I won't go. If it goes above that, I shrug and go elsewhere. There's nothing I need so badly that I'll worry about it. This is a relaxing hobby, if I'm not relaxing, I'm doing it wrong.

Great attitude Cephus.

Though a little excitement now and then isn't so bad either.

I'm thinking that the worst feeling is when you know that
you would have been happily willing to pay more than the closing bid.....
but you weren't paying attention

I admit, I do enjoy auctions, online or otherwise. But my problem is there are no dealers near me, so buying online has become my main supply of stamps.
I suppose in the grand scheme of things, this is no big deal, but it does get frustrating sometimes.

Truism: Be prepared to pay for quality. While I see some people lamenting the state of the hobby, it seems to be doing just fine, at least judging from the competition. I bid on several revenue items in the McCusker auction at SAN yesterday, and was blown out of the water on the lots I really wanted; I had to settle for a couple of consolation lots.

Ones I lost:

Lot 1546, a gorgeous R106, which catalogs $100, sold for $276 including the buyer's premium.

Lot 1553, a superb R115b (sewing machine perfs) which catalogs $75, sold for $299.


Ones I wasn't bidding on, that made me shake my head:

Lot 1566, an R130 cataloging $950, went for $2,357.50.

Lot 1569, an R131 cataloging $1,000, went for $1,782.50

Revenuecollector, The R106 is a superb copy! Though the $$ are making me scratch my head! The Same Goes for the R130. The R115b is truly bewildering to me! I think it is undervalued but not by that much! R131 I also can't understand. I have a feeling it is a case of "I need these to complete my 2nd Series".