Post by mikkh on Apr 4, 2022 15:09:11 GMT
As a regular on the John Pye auction site, I'm used to seeing some strange things (bidding wise) especially as nothing is guaranteed working unless it's in the warrantied sales auctions.
They are split into three categories :-
1) Public - basically buyer beware as these are often catalogue returns that may or may not work. I once bought a job lot of 6 printers where none of them worked, but luckily they all had manufacturer specific power leads, so I was able to get my money back and a tiny profit by selling those on their own.
2) Retail - Mostly bankrupt stock, so these are a pretty safe bet usually.
3) Warrantied - guaranteed working and some genuine bargains to be had. Although a lot of people get carried away and end up paying almost retail cost and even over retail costs if it's a rare item.
Today's fun and games was a public auction, so I took a chance on two designer watches that retail at around £500 each! I figured if the worst happens, the genuine straps should at least make my money back.
They were going for minimum price (£4) when I spotted them with half an hour to go, so I put a £9 max bid in and hoped for the best. I was outbid within minutes but figured it was worth sticking with them and put a further bid in at £16 then increased my bid to £21 as a backup. I won at £16 but was scratching my head as to how this had happened. Have watches become that unpopular? Did nobody else see the potential of reselling them for a nice profit if they work? Their loss is my gain and even with extortionate auction fees and shipping costs that will double the price, I think I've done pretty well
While I did well, at the other end of the scale someone did very VERY badly and got carried away to the extreme.
A motherboard costing around £220-£250 retail, depending on who is selling it went for £360, that's £500+ with auction fees and shipping! What was he/she thinking?
I know some high end tech is hard to source with the current Worlds problems, but paying that much is just plain silly. Especially as this is in a public auction and might not even work!!
They also do what I call mystery boxes where they'll name one item (of 10 or more) and just take a photo of the other items piled up on top of each other - a real lucky dip that maybe has some nice surprises. I've just bid and won one such mystery box for the minimum price and have no idea what I've actually won! I did want the named item and see two music CD's, some kind of pet product and what I think is miniature artificial plants? An educated guess because they were selling dozens of the same thing in another auction and I think I recognise the box. There's at least half a dozen other items and they could be anything from car parts to handkerchiefs !
Now I have to wait for the bad news (the invoices) the watches are going to be £30+ and my mystery box is definitely going to be over a tenner with shipping.
They are split into three categories :-
1) Public - basically buyer beware as these are often catalogue returns that may or may not work. I once bought a job lot of 6 printers where none of them worked, but luckily they all had manufacturer specific power leads, so I was able to get my money back and a tiny profit by selling those on their own.
2) Retail - Mostly bankrupt stock, so these are a pretty safe bet usually.
3) Warrantied - guaranteed working and some genuine bargains to be had. Although a lot of people get carried away and end up paying almost retail cost and even over retail costs if it's a rare item.
Today's fun and games was a public auction, so I took a chance on two designer watches that retail at around £500 each! I figured if the worst happens, the genuine straps should at least make my money back.
They were going for minimum price (£4) when I spotted them with half an hour to go, so I put a £9 max bid in and hoped for the best. I was outbid within minutes but figured it was worth sticking with them and put a further bid in at £16 then increased my bid to £21 as a backup. I won at £16 but was scratching my head as to how this had happened. Have watches become that unpopular? Did nobody else see the potential of reselling them for a nice profit if they work? Their loss is my gain and even with extortionate auction fees and shipping costs that will double the price, I think I've done pretty well
While I did well, at the other end of the scale someone did very VERY badly and got carried away to the extreme.
A motherboard costing around £220-£250 retail, depending on who is selling it went for £360, that's £500+ with auction fees and shipping! What was he/she thinking?
I know some high end tech is hard to source with the current Worlds problems, but paying that much is just plain silly. Especially as this is in a public auction and might not even work!!
They also do what I call mystery boxes where they'll name one item (of 10 or more) and just take a photo of the other items piled up on top of each other - a real lucky dip that maybe has some nice surprises. I've just bid and won one such mystery box for the minimum price and have no idea what I've actually won! I did want the named item and see two music CD's, some kind of pet product and what I think is miniature artificial plants? An educated guess because they were selling dozens of the same thing in another auction and I think I recognise the box. There's at least half a dozen other items and they could be anything from car parts to handkerchiefs !
Now I have to wait for the bad news (the invoices) the watches are going to be £30+ and my mystery box is definitely going to be over a tenner with shipping.
