Ebay Hats: Victories, Defeats, Gripes & Items of Interest

[MississippiLong]

Spellflower...you ***

AAAAHAHAAHAHA!!

I actually laughed out loud for a good 5 minutes(No smiley needed...you could probably hear me)!


:rage: :eusa_doh:

 

[Marcus Brody]

I saw that second one of yours Stoney. It's a nice hat and I almost bid for it (there's not a lot of us 6 7/8 folks these days it seems). The brim was a little short for my taste. I'm interested in the story bout that hat. I've never seen its brand before.

 

[Stoney]

I'm surprised you didn't snag it yourself Marcus. I think it would have looked great one you. You should try a shorter brim sometime. It's a different look all right, but variety is the spice of life.

I'll be sure to post back after it arrives.

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

Hey Spell, you are correct about the 7 1/8 size without a doubt. The Vogue is an incredible hat. If you ever have the opportunity for one in your size, grab it, you will not be disappointed. I have been blessed with mine and hope the same for you.

Bud, as per your avatar, you must have been disappointed more than I!

In other words, thanks for enlightening me with your greater experience. I didn't realize how special the Vogue was, and was merely referring to Stetsons in 7 1/8 when I remarked about their lack of rarity. Now I know.

 

[bolthead]

I'm surprised you didn't snag it yourself Marcus. I think it would have looked great one you. You should try a shorter brim sometime. It's a different look all right, but variety is the spice of life.

I'll be sure to post back after it arrives.

Stoney, great snag.....it'll look great on you....I was looking at it myself.

 

[AlanC]

A Tale of Two Stratoliners...

I'm sure many of you were watching one or both of these, but I found the price disparity interesting. Both are handsome hats in very nice condition.

A size 7 with a curious wide ribbon went for $57.05. Any thoughts on the wide ribbon?

Then there is the 7 3/8 LO that ended at a whopping $305.

 

[GI Joe]

I was watching them, too. I put in a token bid on the grey Strat but I'm not quite ready to spend that much . . . . yet! And a 7 3/8 LO, too! Just my size.

Stratoliner question, did they come in different colors or were they all grey?

 

[Feraud]

Any thoughts on the wide ribbon?

This is a great looking hat. Bought for a pittance too.

 

[kowalskt63]

Shady biz on ebay???

OK, let me first say that I'm relatively new to this whole ebay business. I've already purchased 2 hats with minimal pain that turned out to be pretty nice "finds". Yesterday, however, I experienced a strange phenomenon during a particular auction that leaves me perplexed. I set my max bid at $50 on the particular hat that I liked. The auction lasted a few days with me as the "leader". Last night as the thing came close to being over, I had my laptop in hand, and kept refreshing to make sure I was winning. I took it all the way to the 1 minute left mark, and I was told that my $43 bid was still on top. Then from out of the blue with time running out, literally seconds left, I got several alerts aying I was outbid. Then bam, it was all over, and the winning bid was some odd number like $57.89. How the heck did that one get by me? Was the seller up to some tricks? Did he have his friends outbid on purpose? Was there some automated or "loophole" trickery going on? Like I said, I was certain I was going to win that one, and even prepared to up my max bid, but literally in a few seconds, that all fell apart. Has anyone ever experienced such a phenomenon? Is this commonplace? Please advise. Thanks.....

 

[jimmy the lid]

Stratoliner question, did they come in different colors or were they all grey?

Strats came in a variety of colors. Looks to me like the Strat in the auction is that beautiful blue/gray color.

Cheers,
JtL

 

[Feraud]

OK, let me first say that I'm relatively new to this whole ebay business. I've already purchased 2 hats with minimal pain that turned out to be pretty nice "finds". Yesterday, however, I experienced a strange phenomenon during a particular auction that leaves me perplexed. I set my max bid at $50 on the particular hat that I liked. The auction lasted a few days with me as the "leader". Last night as the thing came close to being over, I had my laptop in hand, and kept refreshing to make sure I was winning. I took it all the way to the 1 minute left mark, and I was told that my $43 bid was still on top. Then from out of the blue with time running out, literally seconds left, I got several alerts aying I was outbid. Then bam, it was all over, and the winning bid was some odd number like $57.89. How the heck did that one get by me? Was the seller up to some tricks? Did he have his friends outbid on purpose? Was there some automated or "loophole" trickery going on? Like I said, I was certain I was going to win that one, and even prepared to up my max bid, but literally in a few seconds, that all fell apart. Has anyone ever experienced such a phenomenon? Is this commonplace? Please advise. Thanks.....

You were outbid.

 

[Lon Goval]

Sniped!!!

Was there some automated or "loophole" trickery going on? .....

Sounds like you've been "Sniped". Usually the last 4 - 6 seconds is when this happens. You didn't bid high enough.

"Been there, done that". (Both sides!)

Ralph

 

[GI Joe]

OK, let me first say that I'm relatively new to this whole ebay business. I've already purchased 2 hats with minimal pain that turned out to be pretty nice "finds". Yesterday, however, I experienced a strange phenomenon during a particular auction that leaves me perplexed. I set my max bid at $50 on the particular hat that I liked. The auction lasted a few days with me as the "leader". Last night as the thing came close to being over, I had my laptop in hand, and kept refreshing to make sure I was winning. I took it all the way to the 1 minute left mark, and I was told that my $43 bid was still on top. Then from out of the blue with time running out, literally seconds left, I got several alerts saying I was outbid. Then bam, it was all over, and the winning bid was some odd number like $57.89. How the heck did that one get by me? Was the seller up to some tricks? Did he have his friends outbid on purpose? Was there some automated or "loophole" trickery going on? Like I said, I was certain I was going to win that one, and even prepared to up my max bid, but literally in a few seconds, that all fell apart. Has anyone ever experienced such a phenomenon? Is this commonplace? Please advise. Thanks.....

I do believe you got sniped. Someone watching as you were and he then put in a max bid (maybe an absurd amount like $500) to ensure a win. Welcome to the Majors, kid!

If you look at the bid history on this one
http://tinyurl.com/6csqbd
you'll see that the auction ended at 12:33:23 and the winning bid came in 7 seconds before the end, by someone who had not bid at all up until then.

I don't think there is anything shady going on, just the way auctions run. I admit, I have done it once or twice meself

I think the moral of the story is decide the maximum you will pay for the item then make that your max bid. If it sells for more than that, well, you didn't want to spend that much, anyway. You said you were willing to up your bid but if you get sniped, there is no time to re-bid.

Better luck next time!

 

[Feraud]

I think the moral of the story is decide the maximum you will pay for the item then make that your max bid. If it sells for more than that, well, you didn't want to spend that much, anyway.

Exactly. Decide what an item is worth to you and bid on it.

 

[GI Joe]

You can also bid an odd amount. If the max you want to spend is $125, bid $126.99

You watch, Kowalskt63 will become the Carlos Hathcock of eBay and none of us will ever score a hat again! lol

 

[AlanC]

Try esnipe.com. It costs a little bit (not much), but I think it's worth it. The way ebay is set up those are simply the rules you play by. I've been sniped myself. What sniping does is remove the possibility of an emotion driven bidding war, which can sometimes inflate the value of an item beyond what anyone would rationally think it was worth. Like basketball, it doesn't matter who was ahead the longest but who was ahead at the end.

 

[Stan]

Sniping

Hi,

Yes, this is the key to what happened there: an off-eBay snipe engine was utilized in all liklihood.

Many people use them instead of the eBay proxy bidding system. This is to allow them to place their maximum bid eraly in the auction without anyone else seeing that they are a player until the very end.

Of course, this does have a downside: if eBay is slow or down when the last few seconds come up, then the off-site snipe engine can't log in and bid for you. This is why some sellers place policy statements where they won't honor the auction if eBay goes down in the last hour or so. They know they'll lose money if that happens because the snipe engine bids can't make it in.....

How they work is that you give the snipe engine your login information, and the auction number and ending time. It just sits there until the last few seconds, then logs in and places your maximum bid amount into the eBay proxy as if you were sitting there watching the end of the auction.

As far as the odd amounts go, that's just a way to hold onto the lead should some one place a bid for the same whole dollar amount. I usually use an odd dollar amount with 83 cents change with the eBay proxy myself. Say I decided that $50 was my max for a hat, I'd bid $51.83, or an extra $1.83, so that if someone else max bid $50.00 or even $51.00 I'd still wind up the winner.

Of course, at some point I must lose, and if someone bid $52.00, then I'd have a good laugh as I was beaten at my own game!

All that said, I don't use off eBay snipe engines as I don't want others out there with my eBay login information. You know the old story that the liklihood of an information leak is equal to the square of the number of people (or in this case, sites) that know it.

Anyway, eBay can be a lot of fun *and* a lot of frustration! lol

Later!

Stan

 

[PhilS]

My Long Oval Stratoliner

I way overpaid for this hat but I was not alone in bidding for it. It is quite nice, but it also appears to be something of a rehab job: the Long Oval 7 3/8 label is old, but it is completely unworn (and made out of paper) while the sweatband, which is made of leather, has a lot of wear, and the lining coat of arms is water stained. So, unless there is a way for the leather and lining to wear while keeping a paper label intact, the label appears to be a more recent addition. That’s not to say it isn’t a long oval, nor that it isn’t a great hat. It's just that the wear doesn't appear uniform around the hat.

Plus, and this is really upsetting, it is still too damn tight.

 

[Feraud]

PhilS, it reads like the label was folded under the sweatband and that is why it is unworn. I would guess the label is original to the hat.
Wearing the hat might loosen it up a bit.

 

[AlanC]

Treat the sweatband with some leather conditioner (Lexol, etc). After a few treatments I've found that hats will loosen up some. A light stretching might help, too (after the leather is thoroughly treated).