This post turned out to be quite relivant for me.

I am presently flying blind on a bid that simply refuses to show up on my Ebay summary page. Ebay can confirm that I have a bid but the only way for me to track it is to go to the sellers page and see what the status is on that item. Ebay help has turned the problem over to their "engineers"

I assume that an email will arrive tomorrow informing me if I have won or not. If not, I have done business with the seller before so I think we will be able to resolve any issue.

However many auctions end with no one bidding the minimum bid. I've seen unaccepted "winning" bids that were only a fraction of the value of the object. For example, a guy was selling a 6 month old Gunnar Roadie complete bike, worth at least $1500 used, in near perfect condition a couple of months ago and the highest anyone bid was $700.

Of course it was below reserve and he didn't accept it. I've seen this happen many times.

So sometimes even though you bid more than anyone else bid, it can be true that your bid is still a great deal, or can even be a ridiculously low bid. I joined eBay in 1996 and have gotten some incredible deals over the years.

Here's an example of one of my favorite eBay auctions

A person is selling their used bibs.

The "positives" cited in the write-up include:
No Tears
No Odor!!! (odor would definitely be a downer!)

The downside - they have a "very minor abrasion on the butt area"

So far six bids have been made ... still not too late to get in on this one!


http://cgi.ebay.com/Verge-bib-shorts...QQcmdZViewItem

Stains would be a real downer:eek:

For some reason the idea of buying used cycling shorts doesn't appeal to me.

Yes, buying used pants is one thing, buying used underwear is another. As cycling shorts are both, I can't quite get away from the used underwear negative aspects.

Don't often look on E-Bay but a few years ago I wanted a particular Front lamp for the bike as it was cheap. Saw it on E-Bay being sold by the shop where I could buy it. Normal retail was about £35 and you could buy it now for £29.99 The Auction had got it up to over £40. I bought it now.

I've heard there's a certain group of people that pay big money for used underwear....

Even dogs get hooked on used underwear:rolleyes:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_do_dog...ners_underwear

Thanks. I'm going to lose my breakfast now.....

Yes! I once heard a story of a woman who found several pair of underwear while gardening. Seems the dog had stole them from guests!

Ew, ew, ew!!! Just the thought of buying something that could smell badly and have anything to do with someone's butt is a turn off in this case. :p

Since we're going down this rather off-color path...

Associative memory running amock: What was that 70's underground comic that featured a boll weavil character who was fond of women's bicycle seats? Do people ever buy used saddles? I know a guy who replaces the toilets in every house he's ever bought because the thought of using someone else's toilet grossed him out. Not just the seat, the entire toilet!

I have no qualms in buying a used saddle. Well, if it were in good condition.

That guy who replaced his toilets, how did he ever go anywhere? Perhaps he purchased a box of those paper toilet covers to take with him everywhere.

I cited this eBay auction because there are always several people on there selling used cycling shorts & bibs. And there are always people buying them.

I've never checked to see if people are buying used underwear on eBay. Same difference to me.

When I was taking a spinning class years ago, a cycling friend gave me an old pair of padded biking shorts. That didn't bother me for some reason. Of course, I didn't know that one doesn't normally wear underwear between the padding and the bod. We're probably being kind of silly. A good wash, and used undies are probably cleaner than any door knobs we touch throughout the day!

Is this the point in the conversation where I bring up that exposé where they brought in a black light to a high end hotel room and found interesting things? That show brought me *this* close to buying a sleep sack for traveling, and would make washed bike shorts a thing of cleanliness.

(I never knew that hotels don't wash the bedspreads* after each guest!)

Hey, I have twice observed hotel cleaning staff, when tidying up a room, take glass cups and just rinse them out in the sink with no soap, then put those paper caps on them. These were higher end hotels --- a cheap motel just gives you a plastic cup in a plastic bag (which are likely to be cleaner!).

I'm sure a good washing cleans cycling shorts quite well.

But I'm at the stage in my life where I just don't feel I need to wear someone else's used underwear.

Those expose's come along every couple of years.

The question is - what are the alternatives?

It does me no good to know this info (in fact, it does me bad) if they can't propose a solution - which they never do.

My sister has this solved. When they travel (always by car) they bring their own entire bedding - sheets, blankets and all. Then they pull the Motel's stuff of and put theirs on.

Hampton Inn uses a washable type of filled blanket, which they claim to wash after every guest. I tried it once - I sleep very warm, and I sweated all night long, and I didn't have just a light blanket, only their very, very warm one.

See, now someone* thought about the hotel problem, and instead of worrying about created a product and earned a little money! It's a sleep sack, and it's a lightweight sleeping bag type thing that's easy to stash in the car. I did the Scarlett O'hara thing and decided not to think about it, but I think the product idea is a good one.

This one is made of silk:

http://images.allergybuyersclub.com/...ep-sack-lg.jpg

I don't know if this is true. Just today I was bidding on an ebay item which had slowly creeped up from $100 to $175 over the last 2 hours. (typical). It was obvious that bidders had put in max bids of $125, $150 and $175. About 58 seconds before end, I clicked to bid $200 (which I indeed thought it was worth) and after a little hesitation (probably due to my connection speed) was told I needed to bid $202.50 minimum. Gave it 2 seconds thought and typed in 202.50, but was given a message bidding had ended at $200. In retrospect, I should have done what I usually do, and bid a couple bucks more than my "limit" (meaning, still the same limit, but avoiding ties).

But my point is, why did't the bidding stay open for a few moments since it was obvious I was trying to bid?

I feel a little bad about losing it because it went for my personal limit, which I thought was a really good price. On the other hand, there will be more opportunities ... but at some point the time wasted looking to save $50 isn't worth that time, if you know what I mean.

I use ebay not necessarily to get a "steal" but rather a fair pice for used (and therefore discounted) equipment I just can't get locally. For instance I bought a bike last year. It was not a real bargain, but was a fair price and there is no way to find 2-3 year old mid-high end bikes in my size locally (54 cm Cannondale w/ ultegra+dura ace). I'm happy, but some locals think I over paid by $1-200. I say: show me a bike for that price, similar quality, that was sold locally last spring. They can't. They can show me new bikes selling for $500-700 more though!