What pen(s) are you waiting for in the mail?

[kazoolaw]

As you wish.

[Skydiver]

I feel dirty. I won a Pilot Myu on eBay by raising my bid in the last 2 minutes... Not totally sniping, just call it a Hail Mary throw to the end zone. Or it's possible the other guy didn't feel it was worth the price with an obvious blemish on the 14K finish of the nib/body, and the tarnished barrel and cap. But for me it's worth it since this pen has been occupying my brain like a grail pen although I wouldn't technically call it my grail pen.

 

 

 

[Claes]

>I feel dirty.

 

Why do you feel dirty?

Hasn't "sniping" more or less become "normal behaviour"?

 

Re tarnish: you ought to be able to minimize the tarnish using proper polishes; most often, however, the treated area becomes too shiny --- so either stop in time or make all of the pen shiny.

 

Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden

 

 

 

 

[SLinkster]

44 minutes ago, Skydiver said:

I won a Pilot Myu on eBay by raising my bid in the last 2 minutes... Not totally sniping, just call it a Hail Mary throw to the end zone.

Nothing wrong with a little sniping. I use a service occasionally (but rarely win even so) because most auctions I'm interested in finish while I'm in bed or at work and unable to snipe by hand.

 

That Myu is a good-looking pen. The cosmetic blemish wouldn't bother me a bit since it has no effect on the pen's functionality. It's a tool, meant to be used. Bet that pen could tell a good story about how it came to have that mark... 

Edited January 10 by SLinkster
Corrections to autocorrect

[inkstainedruth]

I got irritated when I got sniped with seconds to go on a pen on eBay where I'd ask the seller questions and the seller would check back with the person who had owned it and get me the answer -- and I had a good rapport going.  And then I got sniped....

OTOH, there was a pen that I saw a while back where I was trying to figure out how much to put for a maximum bid, and then realized that I was the ONLY person looking at it....  And the previous one like it?  Not as interesting a nib and I dropped out when it went for more than I could afford (and then went HIGHER -- I was curious so watched the end of the auction).  So the one that nobody else was looking at?  I got it for the minimum bid, plus tax and shipping, with maybe an hour to go at most -- go figure....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Penguincollector]

  I’m waiting for this Sheaffer’s celluloid model with a “33” nib. The seller is back home in better health and said he would be shipping shortly. I have an idea of what it could be, but would love to hear your thoughts.

 

  I’m also waiting on an Esterbrook, but that should arrive today so I will spare you the screenshots.

[Penguincollector]

1 hour ago, Skydiver said:

I feel dirty. I won a Pilot Myu on eBay by raising my bid in the last 2 minutes... Not totally sniping, just call it a Hail Mary throw to the end zone. Or it's possible the other guy didn't feel it was worth the price with an obvious blemish on the 14K finish of the nib/body, and the tarnished barrel and cap. But for me it's worth it since this pen has been occupying my brain like a grail pen although I wouldn't technically call it my grail pen.

 

 

 

  Oh that’s lovely! Don’t feel bad, that’s how auctions work- you bid until the time is up. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  Sometimes you win, sometimes you get outbid.  If I really have to have something, I just buy it outright and spare myself the agony.

[Skydiver]

2 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

So the one that nobody else was looking at?  I got it for the minimum bid, plus tax and shipping, with maybe an hour to go at most -- go figure....

That's how I got my Pilot Custom 74. It got lost in the crowd of other 74's on auction and nobody was bidding on this one. I love it when that happens.

 

 

[Skydiver]

2 hours ago, Claes said:

>I feel dirty.

 

Why do you feel dirty?

Hasn't "sniping" more or less become "normal behaviour"?

I guess it's leftover from my early days on eBay when people were complaining about all the sniping that was happening. I should just accept that it's common practice now, and just put in absolute max bid and let it ride. If it wins it wins. It's just annoying at times to lose out on an auction for a few dollars less than the closing price. 

[Bo Bo Olson]

If I had wanted to miss the adrenaline rush of seeing if I won after making my one and only bid at 15 seconds to go...or had I been the least bit clever, I'd learned to snipe.

[Penguincollector]

42 minutes ago, Skydiver said:

I guess it's leftover from my early days on eBay when people were complaining about all the sniping that was happening. I should just accept that it's common practice now, and just put in absolute max bid and let it ride. If it wins it wins. It's just annoying at times to lose out on an auction for a few dollars less than the closing price. 

  I remember when that was A Thing. Shortly after, scripts were written specifically for sniping, bots are doing it now, today’s online auctions are a free for all. 

[lascosas]

I've used esnipe for every auction I've ever bid on ebay, hundreds.  Why bother putting in a bid more than 3 seconds before the auction ends?

[DilettanteG]

4 hours ago, lascosas said:

I've used esnipe for every auction I've ever bid on ebay, hundreds.  Why bother putting in a bid more than 3 seconds before the auction ends?

That explains why so much of what I'm watching on eBay is strictly "buy it now." May have to try that snipe program for my more traditional bidding. Thanks for the tip.

[inkstainedruth]

Sometimes I've gotten good deals on BiN listings (especially on the "X price -- or make an offer" listings).  Sometimes, though, I don't.  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[I-am-not-really-here]

8 hours ago, lascosas said:

I've used esnipe for every auction I've ever bid on ebay, hundreds.  Why bother putting in a bid more than 3 seconds before the auction ends?

It's a game.

[AmandaW]

Thought I better catch up on my Waiting List. Nothing terribly expensive , but satisfying cos I'm  filling little gaps in my collection. Three pens... a purple No Nonsense with a fine nib coming from India, a Wing Sung 601 Transparent EF from China and a Lamy Nexx Anthracite F from the other side of Australia.

 

[Skydiver]

On 1/12/2024 at 5:21 AM, AmandaW said:

Wing Sung 601 Transparent

Such an interesting nib/section design... Hmmm... Tempting...

[Skydiver]

Is it bad that I'm watching the mail truck come down the street? 🙂

[inkstainedruth]

Nope.  I do it all the time.  Except of course by the time the mail gets delivered around here, it's usually dark.  Over Christmas week we must have had a utility route carrier because the mail came around mid morning all that week.  Wondering now, of course, if there were complaints from people who usually got THEIR mail delivered much earlier in the day.  

I do miss our old carrier, though -- Dave was like clockwork.  I could always tell when it was his day off, because the mail would either come at 10:30 AM or after 6 PM (whereas Dave was always arriving at our house between 3:20 PM and 3:40 PM...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[DilettanteG]

19 minutes ago, Skydiver said:

Is it bad that I'm watching the mail truck come down the street? 🙂

Since I neurotically checked my texts to follow each stage of my new pen's delivery, I'm going to say no. Watching the mail truck seems positively mellow, almost indifferent.