Errr...Ummm...Am I missing something here?

[sablebrush52]

Yep! Here it is again.

Yes indeed! I'm following it to see what it goes for this time. I'm thinking something closer to $200 plus or minus.

 

[mso489]

You gotta shop if you care at all about price. And why shouldn't you, even if you're a .com millionaire, why throw it away? ebay bidders can so easily look at the other online retail sites for pipes and get a range. I think the game of bidding and "winning" completely eclipses the matter of buying a good pipe at an appropriate price. It's like a casino, the sport devalues the money completely. So you dropped a few thousand over the weekend? Ho-hum, such is life.

 

[sablebrush52]

I think the game of bidding and "winning" completely eclipses the matter of buying a good pipe at an appropriate price. It's like a casino, the sport devalues the money completely. So you dropped a few thousand over the weekend? Ho-hum, such is life.

That's a very accurate assessment. Typically auctions exist to obtain the highest possible price for items by pitting competing bidders against each other. People get caught up in bidding wars where their egos override their judgement. I've done that myself, once or twice, which is part of the learning process. An auction is a competition, a game. We all like to win at games. And sometimes "winning" becomes the only thing that matters, regardless of cost.
For me, "winning" quickly became finding something I wanted for significantly less than others were paying for similar items. That took hours scouring the dark corners of the eBay marketplace, "reading" poor photographs for hidden gems, asking a lot of questions of the sellers, and occasional pure dumb luck. But I think that it's really difficult to do that now. Prices are still good for more common items, but rarities are really hard, though not impossible, to find at a good price.
Unfortunately, the common practice of sniping is really pushing prices through the roof. People hold on to the myth that they're the only one smart enough to think of doing this and I see these "shoot outs" at the end wherein the price suddenly triples, or even goes up by a factor of ten because there's a mob of snipers. And because some snipers are now thinking that they will win by firing off a super high bid to outbid the other snipers I see many collisions in the monetary ionosphere. It's "winning" at any price.

 

[gloucesterman]

Well Ebay certainly isn't the place to find that pipe you were looking for at a decent price it once was, but the entertainment is outstanding!!! I'm with you Jesse. There is no shortage of uneducated bidders and what they do is often the best show in town, but of course, that's not unique to the pipe world.

 

[sablebrush52]

And we have a WINNER!!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-UNSMOKED-KEVIN-ARTHUR-LARGE-CALABASH-FREEHAND-AMERICAN-Estate-Pipe-MINT-/201907103558?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=T78%252B9KpJudwrY%252BG3OygVilRgrvw%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
Without the dumb bunnies bidding (one of whom spent a lot on the George Sidney pipes and got into a bidding war with the other trust fund baby on a Barling from another seller) the final result is a tad more realistic.