First Ebay expierence

I know Ebay has been out for awhile. There is this side of me that refuses to do the "in" or "cool" thing. (I have never texted, don't even really know how, probably never will. Quite frankly, I don't understand why people text at all......you are still using your minutes, just CALL the person! This could be it's own entry) I think that it stems from high school and my parents always telling me that the "cool" thing is rarely the "right" thing. That message has sunk deep and is affecting me even today.

Lexi loves Russian nesting dolls. My mom bought her one on a trip to Alaska and she loves playing with it. I thought that I could buy her one for Christmas. I did some research on the Internet, found some stores that sold them and saw how expensive they are. I know that I could buy a cheap one but the problem is that the cheap ones only have 3-5 nesting dolls. She already has one of those, I want one that has 10 in it. I couldn't find one where I could justify spending that much money on a toy that could be ultimately broken (she IS only 5).

My next thought was "EBAY". Somebody out there has to be selling some Russian Nesting Dolls. I was right, there were pages and pages of them. JACKPOT! Some expensive, others $0.99 (now THAT is in my price range). So I looked and looked and found one that was Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. It was one that was up for auction. I think that when I placed my first bid it was only $1.50. It only had 11 hours left. After I placed my bid a message came up that said "You are in the lead. Hope you win." All of a sudden this felt like a contest, I was in the lead, I wanted to win, I hate losing (just ask my husband). I was so excited. The best part was it was night and I went to bed knowing that I was in the lead! I was going to win! I couldn't wait.

Next morning I woke up and checked on my bid. I was STILL in the lead. I was so excited, what a deal, some cute Disney Russian Dolls for under $5.00. I was awesome, the most frugal mom ever. I called Kris at work and told him that he needed to watch it for me, I have to go to the store, he then informs me that I am no longer in the lead. WHAT! I quickly go and increase my bid. I want to WIN. So I leave for the store knowing that I am once again in the lead with only about 1 hour left. I get home and call Kris, he is in a bidding war with somebody. He asks me how much I am willing to pay. "Whatever it costs, it's no longer about the dolls, it is about the contest." We are up to $20.00 and there is about 1 minute left. Kris increases the bid and we think that we are in the lead again. There is about 15 seconds left, somebody has outbid us again, I tell Kris to put in another bid and to hurry because we are on the countdown. I keep asking him "are we winning, we only have 10 seconds left, 6 seconds, 3 seconds."........ We lost. Kris informs me that somebody new had come entered the bidding war and won. This person had never even bid before. The person won the prize for $23.50. I am totally upset, angry, and swore that I will never shop on ebay again.

I looked at Lexi and remembered what the real reason for shopping on ebay was. I start looking at other nesting dolls and found a 10 pc set for a reasonable price. This was not up for auction, you could just buy it for that price. I did. The sun reappeared and I felt good about myself again.