quod patientia sit virtus (or: an eBay success story)

Gentlemen:

I had been on the hunt for two years for my favorite jump R&B 78 from the early Atlantic Records period: Wow b/w Weasel Walk by Joe Morris. There is a 1950s Atlantic LP compilation that has these tunes, and "Wow" is so infectious that I just had to have it for my 78 Wurly juke (looks to be either unobtainium or never even released on 45). When this was released in 1948, Atlantic hadn't had a hit yet and "Omelet" couldn't have imagined what a giant his fledgling jazz/R&B label would become. With this storyteller in my possession and spinning hereafter into the wee hours of the night, my 1400 jukebox will be complete. The problem: No history on collectorsfrenzy or popsike, and my many attempts to scour the internet for this record were met with a negative attempt.

After over a year of waiting, I was alerted that a copy popped up on eBay at a modest $8 or $10 opening bid. Through one of the sniping services, I entered in a "blow-away" bid of $67 for this particular 78 that certainly no one else--or at least very few--were interested in. I was kicking rocks, so to speak, when I found that someone out-sniped my snipe. After a year and a half of waiting for one of these to appear, I finally had my chance but yet I let it slip away. WHY didn't I bid higher?

Then just a short month later, another copy appeared in even cleaner condition--far cleaner than was necessary for my juking purposes. At any rate, I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice: I entered an insane $133 into the sniping service.

Outbid again.

Forget it. No matter how obsessed or determined I'd become, no record is worth that kind of money; it simply isn't.

Or so I kept telling myself...

Fast forward to last week, when a third copy in my @2 years of monitoring eBay for it appeared. Condition was a purported VG++ with no signs of ugly spindle wear/damage from what appears to be a steady 78 dealer with perfect feedback. I was thinking of staying out of the bidding altogether until it got closer & closer to the end with 0 bids...and I was sucked in once again. Insanity prevailed, and I entered a mind-boggling, wife-will-leave-me-if-she-knew bid of $203.

A funny thing happened on the way to eternal enlightenment: Nobody else bid! Coming home to papa for $14.99 plus shipping! Now if it gets broken in in the mail...perish the thought!

Anyone else have a similar experience of having been willing to own at any cost, but you ended up getting it for much less than you had resigned yourself to?

 

Good story. Hope it arrives in one piece and as described in terms of condition.

More generally, to your question: Yes...For obscure stuff for which there probably aren't a huge number of dedicated collectors, patience often pays off. As does being good with the search field and finding poorly described auctions.

In the old old days, before most everyone had easy access to reliable sniping, you could also get lucky if an auction ended at a bad time (e.g. in the middle of the day or the middle of the night), especially if you did happen to have access to a sniping tool. But those days are mostly past...

 

Clearly, the only other two people on the planet who coveted the object of your desire got theirs which left you with sloppy thirds at a fraction of the price. I'd say well done...

But I wouldn't have written about it until it was in hand!!!

 

The thought had actually crossed my mind. I noted that the seller hadn't marked it as shipped yet this morning, and naturally fear began to creep in that he's a Steve Hoffman purveyor who chanced upon this thread and said to himself, "Aha--so you were willing to cough up $200 for this $14.99 record, were you...?" He did confirm earlier that it shipped out Tuesday, however.

Yeah, as referenced above, eBay is slightly less fun in recent years with the advent of sniping services and the fact that they have done away with the so-called boolean searches, which made it easier to turn up mis-spelled or poorly-listed nuggets. It can be quite addictive--for me, at least--and I often find that I get caught up in the thrill of winning and having the "new toy" arrive in my mailbox; quite often I will re-flip the record or cartridge or whatever tshatshke it happens to be after the initial intrigue has worn off.

 

I was on the opposite end of a similar deal.

I've been looking for a while for an LP copy of Good Old War's first recording, Only Way To Be Alone. I missed one on Discogs for $60. Then I missed a second one for $100. When a third copy, also for $100, popped up, I grabbed it within an hour. A few weeks ago a fourth one sold on Ebay for $14.99. D'oh!

You weren't the buyer, were you, @ROFLnaked?

 

Hi Gregg:

Sorry to hear about that; I guess we win some and we lose some. I've been there too.

Until I just looked them up now, I'd never even heard of Good Old War!

Hope all is well in the great state of Minnesota. If you are a Mpls person, have a bowl of chicken soup at Convention Grill for me.

 

Just a heads up for those of you who get a good price on something on an auction site.
USPS offers a service that will intercept a package that's been sent but not delivered.
I've just seen a situation where someone got a good deal on an auction site and I think the package had made its way all the way to the buyers post office.
The seller had the package intercepted and probably sold it to someone else who offered him more money after the auction ended.
Of course he refunded the original buyers money but that's not the issue.
Don't talk about anything until you have the item in hand and be aware this can happen.

 

Excellent point. I purchased this particular 78 from a Canadian gentleman, however, and the intercept service is available on domestic shipping only.

 

My "white whale" has arrived in a condition of excellence! No longer will I have any troubles (at least very few)!