The little shop of eBay
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Yesterday, I had my first eBay experience. And yes - you read that right, my FIRST eBay experience. No one I talk to believes that...
Anyways, there's this little rhinestone tiara that I've been eyeing. For some reason, I'm just totally against having pearls anywhere near my wedding. Maybe it's my way to be different. No pearls. And I want a very specific length and height. Up until the eBay listing, I've only seen one tiara that matched all my credentials - sale price $198. Ahhh! For something that I'm only going to be wearing for like 6 hours, I'm just not willing to spend that kind of money on it. This eBay one had a starting bid of $4.98 - much more reasonable.
I set a little appointment in my Outlook calendar for 20 minutes before the bidding ends. That afternoon, I got a friendly little Microsoft reminder. I logged into my eBay account and saw that the bid was up to a few cents over $6. All's still looking good. About 5 minutes before the bidding ends, I put in my bid. Then comes the refreshing of the window...
*refresh* *refresh* *refresh* *refresh* *refresh*
... about 20 second before the bidding ends, I'm still the highest bidder. Each time I hit "refresh", my heart goes a pitter-patter and my stomach gets all queasy from the anticipation and the fear of being outbid.
One of my co-worker stopped by my desk to ask me a question. Luckily, I stalled him... and turned around only to discover that there was 2 seconds left in the auction, I've been outbid, and I didn't have enough time to enter another maximum bid. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! The agony of defeat.
Oooo, such a horrible and terrifying experience. Gosh, I'm suprise the number of ulcer cases hasn't dramatically increased since the launching of eBay.
But this story has a happy ending. The seller has one of those eBay stores. Shortly after discovering that I've lost and still simmering in my defeat, I got an email from eBay. Since I was the second highest bidder, I can buy the beautiful rhinestone tiara for my losing bidding cost. To prevent a repeat of this experience, I quickly logged into my eBay account and snatched it up.
Task - buy Tiara. Status - complete.
Anyways, there's this little rhinestone tiara that I've been eyeing. For some reason, I'm just totally against having pearls anywhere near my wedding. Maybe it's my way to be different. No pearls. And I want a very specific length and height. Up until the eBay listing, I've only seen one tiara that matched all my credentials - sale price $198. Ahhh! For something that I'm only going to be wearing for like 6 hours, I'm just not willing to spend that kind of money on it. This eBay one had a starting bid of $4.98 - much more reasonable.
I set a little appointment in my Outlook calendar for 20 minutes before the bidding ends. That afternoon, I got a friendly little Microsoft reminder. I logged into my eBay account and saw that the bid was up to a few cents over $6. All's still looking good. About 5 minutes before the bidding ends, I put in my bid. Then comes the refreshing of the window...
*refresh* *refresh* *refresh* *refresh* *refresh*
... about 20 second before the bidding ends, I'm still the highest bidder. Each time I hit "refresh", my heart goes a pitter-patter and my stomach gets all queasy from the anticipation and the fear of being outbid.
One of my co-worker stopped by my desk to ask me a question. Luckily, I stalled him... and turned around only to discover that there was 2 seconds left in the auction, I've been outbid, and I didn't have enough time to enter another maximum bid. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! The agony of defeat.
Oooo, such a horrible and terrifying experience. Gosh, I'm suprise the number of ulcer cases hasn't dramatically increased since the launching of eBay.
But this story has a happy ending. The seller has one of those eBay stores. Shortly after discovering that I've lost and still simmering in my defeat, I got an email from eBay. Since I was the second highest bidder, I can buy the beautiful rhinestone tiara for my losing bidding cost. To prevent a repeat of this experience, I quickly logged into my eBay account and snatched it up.
Task - buy Tiara. Status - complete.
