My First eBay Experience

About four years ago, Mom had hardwood floors put into the living and dining rooms. In the process of re-hanging the wall decorations, she dropped a collectable plate and it shattered. It was part of a set of 6, I think. Dad came home, took a look at the mess and dropped in the trash. I ended up digging out 3 of the bigger pieces to keep so that I could try and find a replacement at some point. I tried contacting the manufacturer with no luck. So for the past 4 years, I've been hiding those pieces in my dresser just in case.

The other week Mom started asking about her broken plate and I fessed up to having kept a few of the pieces. I can't remember if I had told her before that or not. Anyway, she must have tried searching the web for it tonight only to find a copy on eBay. I don't have an eBay account so I suggested she get one.

One thing led to another and before I knew it was I in a fluster trying to sign-up for an account and bid on an item closing in less than 30 minutes. How do I get myself into these things?

To make a long story short, while I was winning for most of those 30 minutes, in the last 30 seconds it turned into a bidding war between me and another eBayer. They ended up winning because I could not refresh and bid fast enough. Damn laptop touch pads. Oh well, I ended up surpassing Mom's $25 limit anyway. Woops!!! Now that was an adrenaline kick I did not need before going to bed.

There is good news after all is said and done. There are 3 other copies of the same plate on eBay right now, each ending a few days apart so I have some time to work on my bidding strategy if try #2 doesn't work out either.

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