To love or to hate?

This is about eBay. Don't worry, it's not an advertisement nor a 'consumer rights' kind of blog... just about my experience.

I have been shopping at eBay since year 2004. I have had very good experience dealing with sellers on eBay so far with one exception (another story, ask me if you are interested). I do not particularly enjoy the bidding system, it takes time to track the bids, but where else can one find that kind of low prices?

So, while shopping for a baby carrier, I turned to eBay once again. Sure enough, most of the items listed there were cheaper than other websites, and definitely cheaper than what it would cost in Malaysia. As most of the sellers on eBay.com are from the US, many of the bids close in the middle of the night (our Malaysian time), which is day time in the the US. Based on my limited experience in bidding, making a bid at the last few minutes is a good strategy, it keeps the price low and gives a good success rate.

So, one night last week, I had my eyes (and my heart) on an item that was suppose to close at 2.00am. I thought 'never mind, sacrifice a little sleep to gain big discount!!' I set my alarm and woke up at 1.50am to Bid. Bleary-eyed, I started bidding and with ~20secs left on the eBay clock, I was the highest bidder. Sitting back, I relaxed a little thinking I's win it. 15secs before bidding ended, I refreshed my screen and saw that someone just outbid me! While hesitating to bid again thinking whether I could afford the higher price, the bidding closed :( I went back to bed unsatisfied.
The next morning, I woke up slightly earlier to work on Plan B, the other item I had eyes on (if Plan A failed that is). Again, I was the highest bidder, up till <10secs before bidding closed, someone outbid me again! Argh...! Lost sleep over nothing...

Finally, I gave up bidding on that item. Seems like there are many more efficient eBayers out there. I ended up using a Buy it Now option and getting the item I wanted. The funny thing was that with Buy it Now, I got a lower price from that particular seller than I would have paid for the Plan B bid item :) So it turned out to be a blessing.

The best thing is I got the baby carrier at ~RM210 plus shipment, compared to the other websites selling at ~RM280 and shops in Malaysia selling it for RM469. Not a bad deal eh? So I remain a faithful eBayer.

~Audrey