I spent my high school years going to auctions with my mother, looking for vintage linens and clothing for her shop. Auctions were a lot of fun. I loved to bid on the boxes of odds n’ ends.

LOT #46: pots, pans and assorted items. Minimum bid, $1.

It was a thrill to win that auction; to open the box and find treasure under the dented old pots—a stack of 1970s rock LPs.

Online auctions aren’t quite the same. There’s not much mystery—people don’t sell odd lots. Bids can be made coolly and logically without the influence of other bidders’ body language and tension. I have never looked at an eBay auction and thought “No, I will not bid more than $50 for this lamp. Oh, wait, she just bid $70. Maybe I can stretch to $80”

Yet winning an auction on eBay is great fun. And when it’s on item that is simply not available in Japan, something you wanted to buy but could not, and you get the auction at a really good price, it’s even better. This morning, Tod is the winning bidder on a McCormack pre-amp for our stereo system. Posted by kuri at November 24, 2000 08:03 AM