Ebay Lumber rant

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Haynie

Member
Joined
May 20, 2011
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3,515
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Page Arizona
Obviously I want to get a piece of lumber for the best price I can get. I have no where local to get woods like Myrtle, Cocobolo, etc.. SO I wait patiently nose glued to the screen as I am the high bidder with a new high bid waiting in the wings and someone in the family NEEDS ME NOW and I miss the chance to hit send on the new bid. Yes I could use a snipe program but that is extra money I don't have. These people I live with have no sense of priority.:biggrin:
 
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JBidWatcher is a great sniping program and totally free. I've used it for well over 5 years.
It is available for all platforms.
 
After a few times of doing that, I just to where I put the absolute highest price I would pay for an item, and then go away. If I win great, if not I bid on then next like-item.

The reason I do this is that I got caught up in the head of the last-second bidding and found myself paying way too much for things. When you figure out ahead of time what you will spend and leave it at that, you're working with a plan and don't spend too much in the heat of the moment. And you once in a while walk away with a good deal! As and example: It took about 15-20 tries on my Nikon D40 last year, but I finally got one for the price I allocated to spend. It just took some patience and persistence.
 
76winger said:
After a few times of doing that, I just to where I put the absolute highest price I would pay for an item, and then go away. If I win great, if not I bid on then next like-item.

The reason I do this is that I got caught up in the head of the last-second bidding and found myself paying way too much for things. When you figure out ahead of time what you will spend and leave it at that, you're working with a plan and don't spend too much in the heat of the moment. And you once in a while walk away with a good deal! As and example: It took about 15-20 tries on my Nikon D40 last year, but I finally got one for the price I allocated to spend. It just took some patience and persistence.
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I do the same thing. I think we get caught up thinking that "there will never be another one like this" and we just HAVE to get this one. I've often gotten a better item the second or third time around.

I just won a large block of maple I wanted for making several rolling pins. This one is larger, clearer, and was cheaper than the first couple I lost.
 
jeff said:
76winger said:
After a few times of doing that, I just to where I put the absolute highest price I would pay for an item, and then go away. If I win great, if not I bid on then next like-item.

The reason I do this is that I got caught up in the head of the last-second bidding and found myself paying way too much for things. When you figure out ahead of time what you will spend and leave it at that, you're working with a plan and don't spend too much in the heat of the moment. And you once in a while walk away with a good deal! As and example: It took about 15-20 tries on my Nikon D40 last year, but I finally got one for the price I allocated to spend. It just took some patience and persistence.
Click to expand...

I do the same thing. I think we get caught up thinking that "there will never be another one like this" and we just HAVE to get this one. I've often gotten a better item the second or third time around.

I just won a large block of maple I wanted for making several rolling pins. This one is larger, clearer, and was cheaper than the first couple I lost.
Click to expand...

Ditto. It becomes a game. Like a friggin slot machine. Just set it and forget it!
 
I snipe bid, however I set the limit and dont go over it. The advantage is I dont have other people picking away at my bid raising it just because they can. You can get a newbie bidder that tries to outbid you by 50 cents just running the price up.. I love the auction clock when bidding, I wait until the last 6 seconds or less to bid. IF I get it fine if someone else wants it for more, well more power to them.
 
Please note the big smiley face at the end of the post. Yes I think waiting on auctions to end and trying to send in the last bid to beat the snipes can be fun sometimes.

I don't know what the wood is worth to begin with, so setting a fair price is not possible.

As for buying from IAP vendors I have not seen any that sell slabs or quarter sawn lumber which is what I am looking for.
 
Haynie, Please ignore my question, I looked right over your description saying "Lumber". My new meds make be not read so clearly. I just do to want my comment to be misread and cause ay issues. Take care.
 
I have recently purchased blocks of wood from ForgottenWoods.com and been very happy. Decent prices and great service.

Tomas:smile:
 
When I purchase on ebay I also snipe bid at the last second but I only bid the most that I would be willing to pay. That way I can't get caught up in a bidding war as I only allow myself enough time to place one bid.
 
On competitive items I use a bid watcher/snipe program. It allows me to enter the highest price I am willing to pay - as a previous post mentioned - but doesn't put that bid out there until the last seconds of the bid.
Placing the top bid right off the bat compels others to outbid that price and a price war ensues early in the game. Also, if bid reaches a maximum bid early on - then the compulsive buyers get in there and pay too much for it in the end. Withholding bids to the end results in the lowest competitive bid most of the time.
There are a few bid watchers that work well and are free. Also look for bids that end at odd times of the day or NOT in the evening. Those usually go for less.

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner
 
I buy wood from Cook woods and you can contact them and they will let you know if they have it available. Their prices are good and they sell really nice wood.
 
When I started, I used to buy all the buckeye burl I could get on Ebay. Overspent many times and stopped buying there.

I had to have the "Incredible" "One-of-a-kind" and "Rare" stuff. One day it dawned on me, HEY, this wood DOES grow on trees!:smile:
 
nava1uni said:
I buy wood from Cook woods and you can contact them and they will let you know if they have it available. Their prices are good and they sell really nice wood.
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Cook woods does sell some really nice stuff, westpennhardwoods is another that has delivered very nice stuff at fair prices (if you can buy volume, very good prices).
 
According to my wife I buy way too much on eBay, I don't.... really. I always bid what it is worth to me, if I get it for less than the bid GREAT. If I don't get it, than it was more than I wanted to pay anyway.
 
Something I noted on Ebay when I got tired of "auctions", etc. was that most of the time, the bidding wars were either newbies with more money than responsibility, or there were bidders purposely bidding up items. Now, many years later there are only a couple of vendors I will buy from on Ebay as I can usually get better merchandise from the vendors special to IAP.
 
The only way to go

76winger said:
After a few times of doing that, I just to where I put the absolute highest price I would pay for an item, and then go away. If I win great, if not I bid on then next like-item.

The reason I do this is that I got caught up in the head of the last-second bidding and found myself paying way too much for things. When you figure out ahead of time what you will spend and leave it at that, you're working with a plan and don't spend too much in the heat of the moment. And you once in a while walk away with a good deal! As and example: It took about 15-20 tries on my Nikon D40 last year, but I finally got one for the price I allocated to spend. It just took some patience and persistence.
Click to expand...
That is he only way to go as far as I'm concerned, I've been buying on eBay for a dozen years and I'm still amazed when I see people bidding more than retail prices for items.
 
It is funny that I started a tongue in cheek thread about my family interrupting my ebay lumber buying experiences and it goes for 3 pages. I am not complaining. This has been very informative. I would have never found the lumber porn that people have suggested. Thanks.
 
Just my two cents, but if you are buying lumber without knowing the price per board foot, then you are just shy of the middle of writing a blank check and gambling...
there are lot's of reputable lumber sellers on the I'net, and for current lumber prices try Googling "current price per board foot of lumber"...or even call any Woodcraft store and ask them...before you bid blind on a piece of lumber because the ad plainly states it is the best there is and rare and hard to find never to be seen again...so hurry bid now..!!!!
 
Ebay will

MartinPens said:
On competitive items I use a bid watcher/snipe program. It allows me to enter the highest price I am willing to pay - as a previous post mentioned - but doesn't put that bid out there until the last seconds of the bid.
Placing the top bid right off the bat compels others to outbid that price and a price war ensues early in the game. Also, if bid reaches a maximum bid early on - then the compulsive buyers get in there and pay too much for it in the end. Withholding bids to the end results in the lowest competitive bid most of the time.
There are a few bid watchers that work well and are free. Also look for bids that end at odd times of the day or NOT in the evening. Those usually go for less.

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner
Click to expand...
It seems to me that eBay will do that for you....and stop at your maximum bid. Or am I missing something.
 
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