DANG BLAMMIT! I Lost ANOTHER Banjolele Auction!!!!

I KNEW I shouldn't have gone out to dinner just at the time the eBay auction was closing! This time, somebody (perhaps one of YOU!) beat me by $1.50 and got the Rally DUB-2 for $123.50 + $60 shipping.

OK...so should I just buy one of these damned things for $150 (+ $60 shipping)? My Amazon gift card stockpile totaled $225, so I'd still be within my budget. It's just that I'd have to figure out what to buy with the actual Amazon gift cards then.

Man...this is frustratin'.

UPDATE (Five minutes later): Hmmm...eBay just sent me an e-mail advising that I had a "second chance" to buy the instrument for my top bid, which was $121 (not $122, as I thought). I bit the bullet and took the offer. Now I hope the Rally is more worth $181 than the Gold Tone was worth $328!

CooL... sounds like the issue resolved itself for ya. But $60 for shipping? Ouch...

Anyway best wishes with your new banjolele...

Congrats on the purchase...Let us know how it works out for you....Happy Strummings....Have fun and enjoy!! MM Stan...

You might want to consider trying a "sniping" service if you're going to bid on ebay auctions very often. The service lets you put in your max bid then it "snipes" the auction at the last second. If you're losing auctions regularly then it's probably to people using a snipe. The good things about them are that your bid is concealed until the last second (whereas ebay automated bidding runs up the bid right away), and you don't have to be online to complete the auction. The bad thing is that you have to pay to use the services. They usually have a month free trial though so you may want to give it a whirl.

Anyway, hope you enjoy your new banjo-uke!

Sniping Service? I had no idea. Between that and exclusive paypal payments, I give up. I'll just stick with Craigs list and flea markets, etc.

www.auctionsniper.com. 25 cents per winning snipe. First 3 free or used to be. I can't leave home without it. Set it for five seconds before end of auction, put in what you are willing to pay, it only goes up to the next increment above the highest bid. If the bidding goes up higher than your amount, it doesn't bid at all.

Teek said:

www.auctionsniper.com. 25 cents per winning snipe. First 3 free or used to be. I can't leave home without it. Set it for five seconds before end of auction, put in what you are willing to pay, it only goes up to the next increment above the highest bid. If the bidding goes up higher than your amount, it doesn't bid at all.

Click to expand...

Yep - I hardly ever buy via an auction, I usually use Buy It Now but on the occasions that I am actually bidding I try to use a sniper service. I'll check out auctionsniper since I don't want to pay for a subscription service. Thanks!

if you're only bidding on one item at a time you can use vrane.com's sniping service for free.

Howlin Hobbit said:

if you're only bidding on one item at a time you can use vrane.com's sniping service for free.

Click to expand...

Ooo - great to know. I'm rarely bidding on more than one thing - thanks!

Hello,

Tom, received the new Banjolele yet? Been watching threads for an update from you. Not sure of expected delivery date. Keep us advised!

I was advised last evening that mine arrived at the dealer yeterday afternoon. After a couple of emails, realized that the one ordered/shipped was not the one I thought was ordered. I'm going to head down to the store today and see what's really there and what I want to do. As you know, I was really wanting the GT Standard (open back) "Banjolele". The one that can be upgraded with the addition of resonator assembly to the "Deluxe Banjolele" later (just in case).

Anyway, looking forward to your posting and possibly video? By what I have seen, you'll have or will have, more like what you wanted to begin with. Fingers crossed!

Uncle Tom (the other Tom)

If you are an eBay'er and you don't use AuctionSniper.com or some other sniping tool to place your bids, you are really missing out. My three favorite features are...

1. If I see something, I can schedule a snipe today and cancel it 1 minute before the auction ends if I change my mind.
2. Because you bid isn't placed until the last minute, there isn't a bidding war that drives up the price.
3. If there are several of the same item up for auction, you can create a bid group that contains all the items. Then you name your bid for each item. The cool part is, as soon as you win one (or as many as you specify), all other pending snipes are cancelled.

There are only two times when I don't snipe.
1. Buy it now auctions (obviously)
2. No other bidders with just a few minutes remaining.

We just lost an auction at the last minute for a "RARE tiny UKULELE guitar 10" long Czecho-Slovakia made". We didn't know about snipe services. Thanks for the links.

>>>Tom, received the new Banjolele yet?<<<<

No. The last I saw, it had arrived at US Customs in New York today (January 20). I suppose that means there's a chance it will be delivered tomorrow, during the snowstorm, while I'm at work and nobody is home to bring it inside. I'm in no rush to get it right now, as all of my fingers are dried out and split around the tips and nails. I picked up my uke last night and couldn't get a single chord in without screaming out in pain.

Anyway, when I do get it, I'm going to mess around with it a bit before I publish any sort of review. The anticipation is just too overwhelming this time to make a fair assessment right off the bat - plus, the Rally cost me $100 less than the Gold Tone BUS, so I want to take everything into consideration before blurting anything that might not be fair to the manufacturer or the seller.

My fingers are crossed. Thanks for the follow-up, and good luck straightening out the problems with YOUR banjo uke. There must be a reason for all of this!

I just missed on Craig's list a "mint" Kamaka soprano white label with case, for $200!