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I
have earned a purple star on eBay, which |
RECENT EBAY SCORES
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How many angry, bitter e-mails I've received! I've had people even call me the "RMS Mean Mary" for employing this tactic (gotta give 'em props for at least being clever!), and others have wished me ill-will such as "I hope you and your treasures are happy where you belong -- at the bottom of the sea," as if parking a bid early somehow entitles a bidder to win the auction. I respond to all these emails and explain as nicely as possible why I bid the way I do, which typically elicits some form of apology and in a few cases some ongoing correspondence with other collectors. The bottom line is, it just doesn't make sense to me to bid any other way! On the flip side, eBay has also been a wonderful community for meeting all kinds of people with similar interests, and I generally turn them on to our Yahoo Ocean Liner Collectibles group. One bidder and I crossed paths over some rare Normandie items, and ending up exchanging and sharing! I welcome your feedback about my bidding strategy! As much fun as eBay can be, there is, of course, a downside: the empty boxes and those pesky packing peanuts that seem to multiply like bunnies -- or worse -- coat hangers. I have almost drowned in these clingy, lightweight nuisances that stick to your clothes and spill everywhere when you try to dump them into garbage bags. On some purchases, I've even pleaded with the sellers to avoid using them. Many sellers are overzealous packers, and on more than one occasion, I've damaged items trying to free them from the cardboard and the multiple layers of packing tape! But all in all, in over 1000 transactions on eBay, I have met nothing but the nicest people. I accrued one negative feedback comment in my seller profile from a winning bidder who backed out and decided to retaliate for the negative feedback I posted. Speaking of: if you're ever really bored, some people's eBay feedback profiles make for very entertaining reading! Even as I admit that, I also admit how pathetic that sounds. File that under "extreme procrastination." Still, eBay has proven to be a treasure-trove of liner collectibles, especially some of my favorite kinds -- the ephemera people have saved from their voyages aboard the grand liners of the golden era of transatlantic travel. I love sifting through these brochures, booklets, menus and baggage tags, scanning the graphics for use in various projects, and just imagining what those trips were like: the food, the cocktails, the salt air, the vibration of the ship, the music... It speaks to the heart of why I love ships -- it isn't so much about the machinery as it is about the experience and the aesthetics of grand luxe. So happy hunting to you all, and watch out, there are snipers out there. But rest assured, it's friendly fire!  |
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 ©2004 Nelson Art |
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All contents of this site © 2005 & 2006 Mark Perry & Perry Pictures, Inc. Please be a good netizen and do not copy! |
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sounds like I've been into battle. In some cases that isn't far from the
truth! I have to confess that I am, according to the few angry emails I've
received from other bidders, that dreaded scourge of eBay known as a "sniper" --
a bidder who slams in during the last five seconds of an auction and winning
said auction nine times out of ten. How did I become such a horrible
person? Here's my sad story. It starts with, "Hi. My name is
Mark, and I'm an e-Bay-aholic." Go ahead, say it all together: "Hi, Mark."
My eBay addiction began on February 28, 1998, shortly after the internet arrived
in my home and brought the world quite literally to my fingertip. It was a
blessing and a curse. On the one hand, having America's searchable yard
sale a few clicks of the mouse away has opened up new opportunities for
collecting of all kinds. On the other, I'm not sure it has helped the
relative value of such collectibles. A dealer may offer an item at a fair
and reasonable price, but on eBay, that same item could go for substantially
more or less, depending on who's out there and how badly they want it.
When I first started out, I fell into the typical "newbie" trap of parking a bid
early, only to be maddened when I'd get those pesky "outbid notices." So
I'd dutifully go back and up the bid again, often in small increments until I
had the high bid (not realizing that I was merely advertising to other bidders
essentially where the current gavel price was sitting!). Then I'd get
outbid again, and I'd go and up the bid again, and so forth and so on.
Ultimately, after being "sniped" enough times, I realized that all I was doing
was essentially bidding against myself! By bidding several times before
the close of an auction, I was merely raising the final gavel price for whomever
ultimately won, including myself. My next phase was to figure out how
these snipers did their thing. I got really good at synchronizing my
desktop clock with the official eBay time, then counting down to the last few
seconds of an auction before bidding. This was a cumbersome system that required
being at a computer when the auctions closed, but as I was working at home at
the time, I became quite the maestro. Just when I had this
perfected, that pesky thing called reality stepped in and ruined all my fun.
Jobs started getting in the way of my eBay strategy. There
are only so many times you can excuse yourself from a meeting to go bid on that
must-have Liberté brochure. That's when I discovered the rather
unfortunately but appropriately named
