The pieces that I have gotten on E-bay have been in Dutch Auctions. I have found that I have a better chance of predicting and getting a good winning price that way.

This approach developed from getting into one or two bidding wars which became infuriating to the point that I deliberately and carefully DROVE the price up just to get "even" with my competitor. I now stay away from regular bidding and just do the Dutch auctions (which are usually dealers). FYI, after that little episode that I described above, I kept track of the bidders which had graciously bowed out early and as a "gesture" of acknowledgement for their civil behavior, I did not bid against them in future auctions and waited until they got their piece, before I pursued that item again. It was the least that I could do to make it up to them.

I bring this up because as stated above, you need to know your Max price and STOP. After that point, E-bay stops being a bargain hunt and becomes a behavioral jungle.





[This message has been edited by JULB (edited 03-24-2000).]