Am I the only one that gets mixed emotions as an auction is about to end?

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Doyle

New member
You've bid on a Gunbroker auction and your bid is winning. You've made your bid just a bit above your comfort level (I'm talking <$20 more than what you would have liked to have been your max). As the auction is winding down, do you find yourself partially hoping that someone outbids you and partially hoping that you win?

I seem to get in that position almost every time. I can't remember the last auction I won where it was a REALLY good deal. Lately, all my winning auctions have been right at the top of what I thought was a fair price. I just won another one. This time for a Ruger Security Six SS 4". I've already got a 2"+- and he needed a brother.
 
You suffer from Bidder's Remorse. Cheer up, it could be worse, if you were to bid above your maximum, think how much sillier you would feel.

The only cure is to disdain emotional attachment to the items, and only bid on items you really want or need.
 
I have had that feeling a few times, but it usually comes to me with a pretty good deal. This is due to the fact that I have a habit of bidding on guns at a good price that I otherwise would not want. By the end of the auction I then find myself hoping to get outbid, since I don't actually want the gun. I can usually resell the guns and make a few dollars on them, but don't want to deal with the hassle. I ended up with a $225 Kahr CW40 and $315 Springfield XD9 this way. Both were brand new and I made money reselling both, but I still regretted bidding just about as soon as I made the bid.
 
Well, this is my latest Gunbroker win. 4" Ruger Security Six stainless. With shipping and FFL transfer I'll be out $440.
 

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I seem to get in that position almost every time. I can't remember the last auction I won where it was a REALLY good deal.
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Then you're overbidding. ;)

If you regret the bid, then it was too much.

I had a few 'bidder's remorse' incidents on eBay (way back when PayPal was still a separate company), and learned my lesson a long time ago:
Set a price. Don't blow it. If there aren't a bunch of different auctions that you'll be watching, just set your max bid and wait for the email ("You won!" or "Sorry...").

But....
I got myself into a little bit of trouble a couple of weeks ago. I tried to "stick it to" a jerk bidder that was running everyone up on their auctions (online local community/estate auctions), particularly some old Winchester and Colt rifles, and some tools that I was hoping to snag. He was bidding on an ATV, had been the very first bidder, kept bidding to win as soon as he was out-bid, and it looked as though the sky was the limit, based on the ferocity with which the bids were being placed.
So, I placed a bid for the minimum increment, with 12 minutes left.
And no more bids came.

No more bids.

NO MORE BIDS!!! :eek:
I was counting down the milliseconds - my blood pressure increasing, palms getting sweaty, and the heart racing....
10
9
8
7
6

5

4

3

2

1

!

And I was the unfortunate owner of a used, $1,600 ATV that I had never seen in person and was listed as, "has been sitting for a few years". :(

It turned out to be half decent, and I'm planning to keep it. ...But it was a very expensive reminder that it's best to walk away when an idiot tries to ruin the fun for everyone else. :rolleyes:
Don't play their games. Just let them get stuck with the item. It seems like they don't even want it, 90% of the time, anyway... At least for the guy that causes all of the trouble for these local auctions.

(I wasn't going to try to talk my way out of paying. I've done enough business with that particular auction house that the owner throws in freebies for me when I pick up my lots. And it was my fault... I figured I'd take my licks and deal with it. It wasn't the auction house's fault.)
 
+1 with FrankenMauser. Why are you adding to the price? Going outside your comfort zone is foolish IMHO. Don't play with the deep pocket idiots, what is it worth to you? That is what you pay and not a penny more. I loose a lot more than I win. But I normally get what I want in time. Unless you are buying something really rare, there will be another one in a few days or weeks. I'm just not willing to pay through the nose for it. Put your wallet away, if you can't do that tell the better half before bidding and I'll bet the wallet will disappear! LOL :D
 
I had that same thing, I saw a Mossberg 715t with no reserve brand new, so I just put in a bid of about 120, and nobody else bid on it. The whole time I was thinking "what am I going to do with this, maybe someone else will bid". Didn't happen, but with about $30 in shipping and ffl, it was a steal, and after some modifications to fix jamming issues and converting it to the adjustable stock with a drill and 5 minutes of time, the thing has been fun.
 
A few years ago I cleaned out and moved to a smaller place. I had THREE good sized gun auctions and a major collector bow auction. I was amazed at what some of the stuff brought. One usually figures that the newer stuff you will take a hit on. Not really so. A lot of the rifles I bought new brought more than I paid for them originally. Live auctions are always more frantic than on line auctions, but if someone seems aggressive about a certain item, sometimes it is best to let it go. I remember an auction where a dealer was dumping some guns. There were .25 and .380 autos going for $150 and you could have gone to any gun shop and paid $85 NIB for the same guns.
 
The secret of bidding is to decide what your real maximum bid is. This is the most you'll pay and feel good about afterwards. If somebody else bids a nickel more your reaction should be "Thank God I didn't get suckered into paying that much.".

You need to make not overpaying a higher priority than winning the auction.

Best of luck.
 
Guilty as charged

As the auction is winding down, do you find yourself partially hoping that someone outbids you and partially hoping that you win?
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I guess it must be human nature as I have these feelings, all the time. I have finally progressed to a point of D.I.L.L.I.G.A.S. There are times when I'm bidding late in the evening and place the high bid and sign off. I then look forward to a surprise, the next day. My old Division officer once say that; "No one really likes surprises, good or bad". ..... :eek:

Be Safe !!!
 
It's called "AUCTION FEVER"...

It's called "AUCTION FEVER".

It's literally tied to your mind trying to deal with the 5 impending stages of grief.

There's even some academic research and psychological experiments on it.
 
I just went through that,,,

I just went through that,,,
The rifle sat at the opening bid of $75.00
I had set my maximum bid a bit over the starting bid.

Then some scoundrel did a $5.00 raise four dang times,,,
Each of his "raises" were in the final two minutes,,,
So each reset the 15 minute auction clock.

The .22 rifle ended up costing me $96.00 instead of $75.00,,,
Well under the $130.00 Maximum I would have paid,,,
But the suspense was driving me a bit crazy. :o

It's nerve racking for certain,,,
But that "maximum bid" tool is a good thing.

Aarond

.
 
I bid on a walnut stock for a 10/22 and lost it but then noticed that the shipping on it was totally stupid, like 80.00. I was glad I didn't get it. Read the fine print before bidding.
 
I'm kinda with the OP, Doyle. In any bidding I set a "good buy" limit (after checking shipping costs!), but when the item gets there - if it is close to closing in particular- I'll add $5 to $20 which makes it a "fair price" to me. For an item I really want, I would regret losing it for the price of a meal more than I mind eating cheaply a few times the next week to make up the difference.

And on gunbroker, I agree that it seems like bargains are becoming harder to find and there is more interest & activity on the site. Which is good, it reflects a growing firearms community.

To try and keep "auction fever" under control, I remind myself that there will be another good deal within the next few days or weeks. Gunbroker usually has about 150,000 active firearms auctions running at any time.

One more tip: never bid (or even look) late at night when you're sleepy. Don't ask me how I know this!!
 
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"Sometimes I bid just to be a jerk". Yeah, I was at an auction and a bolt action .410 with no stock and missing parts came up. A Dealer I could not stand bid on it and I went after it. Soon the whole crowd knew something was going on. That guy was red faced -CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED- off, but I ran it up to a little over $40 and got it. About $36 dollars more than it was worth, but it was worth it to me. Quite a few people in the crowd knew the dealer, so I was a hero for 15 minutes. I guess there went my "Fifteen minutes of fame" that everyone is supposed to get.
 
Sometimes I bid just to be a jerk
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I'll admit that I have bid on items just to be a jerk a few times as well. If someone outbids me on an item and it is now higher than I am willing to go, but I have reason to believe that their max bid is more than $5 above the current bid, i.e. the two most recent bids listed are the person currently winning, I'll wait until there is less than a minute left and bid them up the $5. I get to at least cost them $5 plus I get to make them wait an extra 15 minutes wondering if they are going to win.
 
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