On Tue, 24 Feb 2004 [log in to unmask] wrote:

> Larry,
>
> Yeah, well, if I bought a bunch of boring crap about state legislatures
> of the 1870's like you do, I might get away with bidding early and low
> and avoiding bidding wars, too.

Boring crap, maybe, but it draws millions of visitors to my web site,
generating advertising dollars which I use to buy more books.

One of the ways I avoid getting into bidding wars is by putting that
promise into my About-Me page for everyone to see:

       So you want to bid against me?

       Feel free! If you exceed my maximum bid, you're welcome to the
       item.  I promise I won't come back and bid the price up again.

Publishing those words has kept me out of a lot of trouble.

> But I buy extremely interesting items, like old binoculars, speaking
> tube mouthpieces, broken and incomplete drafting sets, and postcards
> from little dipshit towns my ancestors came from, so I get sucked into
> bidding wars and paying a lot of money.

Speaking of extremely interesting junk, I did once buy a Brannock Device,
which now hangs on the wall of my home office for visitors to gawk at.
It was about ten bucks.

At the time, it was the only Brannock Device available on Ebay, but there
weren't any competing bids.  Right now, I see that there are SEVEN
Brannock Devices for sale, at prices ranging from $5.95 to $15.50, and
three of them have a total of five bids.

                                  Larry

---
Lawrence Kestenbaum, [log in to unmask]
The Political Graveyard, http://politicalgraveyard.com
Polygon, the Dancing Bear, http://potifos.com/polygon
Mailing address: P.O. Box 2563, Ann Arbor MI 48106

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