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Which auction that you missed or lost that hurt you the MOST?

The one that still bugs me is having missed out on a Yamaha KX-690 cassette deck about 8 months ago. I had just started into this hobby and hadn't been looking long and thus didn't know that it was going to be so hard to track one down. I bid too conservatively and was sniped at the last second; I haven't seen a single one available anywhere since. I even contacted the winner and offered to buy it from him/her if ever they wanted to sell it but didn't even get a response. And this unit was mint in every way, too. D'oh.

I must say, though, it's even more painful to read some of the other tales of regret in this thread, especially TRM's missing out on the Yamaha 10000 series. OUCH AND DOUBLE OUCH. Mine really isn't a big deal at all in comparison. I guess it is just part of the hobby and just makes those victories, when they are achieved, all the sweeter.

Hey, I feel better already ;)
 
Last week, I missed out on a SAE 3100. I was looking for one more good one to round-out my system. If I only went a few bucks more.
 
The ones that hurt the most are ones that end with no bids, and then go really high when they are re-listed. At least when someone else bids, you never know what his maximum was, but if no one else bids, I know I could have had it for the opening bid price.
 
I read here on AK,a post from someone who years ago had missed an entire Kenwood 700 Series set(Preamp,Poweramp and Tuner)on eBay,for the BIN price of $90.

Now that's worth kicking yourself over.
 
I missed out on a Thorens TD-295 and that still hurts. Bidding was below $200 in the last hour, so I bid $250 HOPING that it would stand. I've always wanted a Thorens, and got more & more excited at the prospect as I did my research. Just as I measuring my shelf to figure where it would fit, I discovered that I mistimed the auction end...I lost it by a $1. That's when I downloaded Esnipe!
 
Nakamichi DRAGON

Hi,

Little story,

I got a Nakamichi Dragon from a Pawn Shop something like 5 year's ago (Still in my head). I got it for 10$... The machine was mint, but the auto-reverse wasn't working. (As soon as you press reverse, he will reverse forever).. I went to a repair place and they told me that they where not expert in Nakamichi but they said the part is probably around 300$ to fix with installation... I didn't know anything about this deck, but he was beautiful with all the buttons.... ;-)

I accept to trade the deck for a repair on a double deck sony... :nono:

The thing is after I received a call from a person working at Nakamichi and he said that he will give me 500$CA for the deck AS-IS, I explain to him that I already trade the deck. (I called Nakamichi before to know about the auto-reverse problem). :no:

So it means, Do not trust anyone... I learned my lesson!:tears:
 
I've lost out on some stuff I really wanted and it used to bother me quite a bit. Definitely some pieces that I still think back about and kick myself! But now I just simply bid what I'm willing to pay after really giving it some good thought, and then I leave it at that. If I win - great... if I lose - okay, it'll come up again sometime.

Sniping bidders used to drive me nuts, especially those that use the auto systems to place bids with a few seconds left. But, that's all part of the game and so I bid and if I get beat, I just get beat.

My favorite system for an online auction site deals with firearms. The system monitors the bidding, and if a bid is placed it adds 15 minutes to the end of the auction time. Snipers really hate it, but it's kind of cool and it's interesting to watch people bid stuff way, way up since time keeps getting added. Makes the seller and the auction site a little more money too.
 
BPFisch said:
I've lost out on some stuff I really wanted and it used to bother me quite a bit. Definitely some pieces that I still think back about and kick myself! But now I just simply bid what I'm willing to pay after really giving it some good thought, and then I leave it at that. If I win - great... if I lose - okay, it'll come up again sometime.

Sniping bidders used to drive me nuts, especially those that use the auto systems to place bids with a few seconds left. But, that's all part of the game and so I bid and if I get beat, I just get beat.

My favorite system for an online auction site deals with firearms. The system monitors the bidding, and if a bid is placed it adds 15 minutes to the end of the auction time. Snipers really hate it, but it's kind of cool and it's interesting to watch people bid stuff way, way up since time keeps getting added. Makes the seller and the auction site a little more money too.
Click to expand...

Kind of ironic,huh?
A firearm site which discourages sniping. :smoke:
 
I am a HUGE Genesis fan. At a time when I was dead broke, and just after they "officially" called it quits, they were selling all their live concert stuff on ebay. Some of it was going pretty cheap. As a bass player I was really interested in a bass that I would have loved that ended up going for around $600. They even had raw speakers and such.

Man, if that auction was going on now!
 
BobinNJ said:
I missed out on a Thorens TD-295 and that still hurts. Bidding was below $200 in the last hour, so I bid $250 HOPING that it would stand. I've always wanted a Thorens, and got more & more excited at the prospect as I did my research. Just as I measuring my shelf to figure where it would fit, I discovered that I mistimed the auction end...I lost it by a $1. That's when I downloaded Esnipe!
Click to expand...
If you bid $300, you still probably would have lost it by a dollar. :smoke:
 
What I've learned form years bidding...

If you really want something THAT bad, then you have to bid above market value. Most often it doesn't make sense, but it is the way it is. You might get lucky and the auction will end for much less.

I once bid $1200 for a Fisher tube amp and the auction ended at less than $400. I'd say that, if you bid at least 30 or 40% ABOVE market value, you'll likely win the auction... For a price... I would only do that with the keepers. Things you might take it to the grave with...

Sounds crazy? Well, this is not a logical hobby anyway, is it?
 
cchean said:
What I've learned form years bidding...

If you really want something THAT bad, then you have to bid above market value. Most often it doesn't make sense, but it is the way it is. You might get lucky and the auction will end for much less.

I once bid $1200 for a Fisher tube amp and the auction ended at less than $400. I'd say that, if you bid at least 30 or 40% ABOVE market value, you'll likely win the auction... For a price... I would only do that with the keepers. Things you might take it to the grave with...

Sounds crazy? Well, this is not a logical hobby anyway, is it?
Click to expand...

The problem with that strategy is that it falls down when two people adopt the same strategy.One person bids $1100,another using the same strategy bids $1200.The $1200 guy wins,but pays over $1100 for the item.
Too bad if it's only worth $300..... :tears: :thumbsdn:
 
theophile said:
The problem with that strategy is that it falls down when two people adopt the same strategy.One person bids $1100,another using the same strategy bids $1200.The $1200 guy wins,but pays over $1100 for the item.
Too bad if it's only worth $300..... :tears: :thumbsdn:
Click to expand...

Yes, you're right. No matter how many people are watching the auction, it takes ONLY 2 to really make that bid amount skyrocket high...
 
cchean and theophile both make some really good points. In a perfect world you wouldn't have to pay an exorbitant premium just to beat the guys who look at auctions as pissing contests, who are more interested in winning than in the actual items. But unfortunately that's the reality of it. And you know eBay doesn't care. Just more money for them.
 
klipsh hersheys

Had a guy on craigslist selling minty klispsh hersheys for 600 bucks. Just for giggles i emailed him to see if he was looking for anything specific to trade, he replied "computer stuff". I offered him an old computer i didnt use anymore and 100 bucks. He said ok. Loaded up the computer and drove to his house. He didnt answer his phone or door. I sat there for 30 min then finally left. When i got home he finally answered his phone and told me that he changed his mind because i was late. OMG! I was ass kickin mad. He wasted a couple hours of my time. If its too good to be true it probably is. Only one way to find out right? Anyways, if there is a craigslist hell i hope he goes there.
 
Over the last few years, I've lost on several bids on Ebay for vintage gear by snipers that outbid me at the last second.

At the time I was a little disappointed.

But in every case, after a few weeks, I was glad I lost the gear and wondered why I was being impulsive in thinking I needed that gear when I probably would not have used it or I realized I just did not need it.

Cheers, Snade
 
A coouple of weeks ago I saw a Craigslist ad for Vandersteen Model 3, I think the guy wanted 400 or something like that. I saw the ad about two hours after it was first posted. Called the guy immediately, you know the rest of the story. Damn. :D
 
sailbum_2000 said:
A coouple of weeks ago I saw a Craigslist ad for Vandersteen Model 3, I think the guy wanted 400 or something like that. I saw the ad about two hours after it was first posted. Called the guy immediately, you know the rest of the story. Damn. :D
Click to expand...

I saw an ad on CL for an Akai open reel for $75 (can't remember model) which was worth at least 6x more. The ad was posted at 10:30pm, I saw it an hour later, emailed the seller immediately. Next morning, around 9am, got an email from the seller with his phone number. Called him immediately and he said somebody offered him twice the asking price and was on his way to get it. He mentioned I was the 3rd in line. Why he bothered to send me his phone # then? Anyway, another lesson learned: if it's too cheap, it pays to offer more...
 
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