EBAY - OY VEH!

 Marion Pellicano Ambrose

I recently decided to have a “Roaring 20’s Casino Night”. I’m in the planning stage so I started looking for places to get a roulette wheel, blackjack table, craps table and slot machines. I figured it wouldn’t be too expensive to rent these few things. WRONG!  The lowest quote I got was around $400! OK, time to check out ebay!

I had no real experience bidding for things on ebay.  I’ve purchased things with the “buy now” feature, but never bid. My husband does it all the time for car parts for his ’29 Model A, so I figured I’d give it a try. I looked up “Casino Night” and found really cheap themed paper goods – yay! Then I started looking for slot machines. OMG! There are about a million of them ranging from 4 inches to 4 feet. The ones that looked good to me were around $600-$1000. No way Jose! Finally I found some that were 18 inches and listed for only $6! I bid right away and poof: “YOU HAVE BEEN OUTBID.” No way! My bid hardly hit the waves and I was outbid already?  So I increased my bid and poof: “YOU HAVE BEEN OUTBID.”  Now it’s personal so I up my bid again. Finally, I’m winning! But now my $6 is up to $23. How did that happen?

At the bottom of the screen all sorts of things start coming up and I see an amazing Civil War Era Ball Gown for $22. I’ve been looking at them since my Women’s Club is talking about dressing in Era costume for our next parade. They usually run $200 –over $1000 for a nice gown. This one is beautiful, right out of Gone With The Wind! Again I go through the bidding war with someone named 399*.   (Obviously 399* is the same size as I am and wants this dress just as badly.) Right now I’m up to $90 for the bid and am winning with 11 hours left!  But I’ve learned that some people are sneaky and wait until 30 seconds before the bidding ends and click in a quick bid. I lost a Mickey Mouse Pocket watch that way.

Speaking of pocket watches, in 7 hours I find out if I won a set of 4 Disney Park Pocket watches! Yes, I bid on them too! And a 5 hoop Civil War Era petticoat (in case I win the dress) and a flapper costume (for the Roaring 20’s party) Oh, and I found 2 more slot machines!  Did I mention the Jim Shore Wicked Witch/Evil Queen statue?  (Thank God I was outbid for that one!)

By the time I stopped to look at what I’d done, I’d bid on 16 items ranging from $2 - $120! Here’s the problem – I DON’T HAVE ANY EXTRA MONEY!  My husband is going to kill me if I win all these bids! Of course, family members will get some awesome Christmas Gifts, but we won’t be eating for the next several months!

My point?  Ebay is addictive! I can’t help bidding on some of these amazing items that start out at such ridiculously low prices. If I do get these items, I’ve gotten unbelievable deals and saved hundreds, but of course if I hadn’t bid I wouldn’t be spending anything at all! As I said, “Oy veh!”