bought mine on ebay, was in contact with the seller, reserve was 19900, I was high bid at 15500, he "second chanced" me at 18000, I got it for 16500. It's almost September. Don't worry about his reserve, he may lower his thinking if you are high bidder and there is no else willing to pay his price. (unless he has to pay it off first)

This is exactly right. Never bid on anything you want to win on Ebay before the last 20 seconds of the auction.

I've bought about 400 items on Ebay. Including 2 boats, several cars, several motorcycles, and even tried to buy some houses - but never won.

Bidding in the last 20 seconds does two things: First, it forces you to figure out what the maximum you'll pay for the item and bid only that amount, second - it doesn't allow any other bidders to bid against you. They can still win, but they won't have time to see your bid and go against it.

Anybody that is bidding now is showing they are a rookie - of course sellers love rookies - they drive up prices. Expect the price to go up several thousand dollars in the last five minutes. If you really want the boat, and it doesn't meet reserve, you can always contact the seller for a bottom dollar price after the auction.

Once you win the auction - immediately send the seller an email and tell him you are prepared to close the transaction on xxx day, with cash, subject to the boat being exactly as described in the listing. I always tell them I will be spending money to come and get the boat and I will be inspecting it carefully. On a boat like this, if it says it "runs good" I would request a sea trial.

I then request something very important: Ask them to divulge anything that may derail the transaction before you make the trip, as you will not accept surprises. This often sniffs out the liars.

Then, go to your bank and get a cashiers check - made out to yourself - for 90% of the purchase price, and get cash for the other 10%. Drive over there, conduct your thorough inspection - I often find 1 or two things that are issues - negotiate them out of the 10% cash, and if all is well, and the title is in order (you will want to understand how to properly transfer that states title ahead of time) sign the cashier's check over to the seller saying "pay to the order of: seller" on the back over your signature.

If the boat isn't as described or the title is fishy - walk. Take your cashier's check, and your cash and drive home (I've done this once on Ebay - rented a trailer and drove 400 miles round trip - walked because I didn't like the condition of the car).

I was bidding on this 42' Gibson Houseboat about 2 weeks before we found the Skip...



---it was slipped on Lake Mead...

the last 10 minutes there were 3 of us tweaking the bids. With about 4 minutes to go, one dropped out, just me and some other yokel, bumping the bid in $100 increments. With about 2 minutes to go I stopped... I kept refreshing the page while I let him have the last bid until........

At about 15 seconds to go with about a $2000 higher bid, I press SUBMIT........


























and got-----




















I swear, with Murphy as my witness--- With 15 seconds to go, my wireless modem took a crap, and disconnected me.

I've never gotten into a bid war since.

Fortunately, the high bid didn't hit the reserve...
Fortunately, I was able to contact the seller and arrange to see it...
Fortunately, he didn't show, but we were able to see it and take pics...
Fortunately, we didn't like it, and that led to our Skipperliner...

All's well...

FR - Murphy was on your side that time.

Let us know what happens with this. Inquiring minds want to know.

+1

I see it ended without the reserve being met.

Just buy mine . . .

http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/boa/811894793.html

What are you getting?

Well, other than having my heart in my throat over bidding near-$30K on eBay, it was a non-event.

I wasn't able to take y'alls "don't bid 'til the last possible moment" advice, because not knowing better, I already had done a little early bidding. I did hold off tho, from then on, and put in my offer as late as I could. I had jumped the last bid by a few $K, but got beat electronically by $100.

No one won the bid, as the minimum was not met. His minimum would be a reasonable price for the boat during normal market conditions, but not now, IMO. So, that's where it was left .... I'd have bought the boat, but only for a very good price.

So did it sell via a means other than ebay?

Or can you let the seller sweat out the down market for a while and maybe call him up in October with your new offer?

Not to my knowledge.
Yes. (I talked to him, and do not perceive he's desperate).

I believe it just got relisted...

Yep. He's got a "Buy it now" price this time.

Without researching that particular boat but reading what it says on the listing as far as options, power and drive that $40,500 appears to be a pretty reasonable price.