Its all about greed, hormones and competition in auctions. I Wanted to find out what the high bid on those were so I went from the $70.00 price that was on the auction and entered 74.99, then 79.99, then 84.99 and so on till I found out that the highest bid was $100.00. Then I wanted them because it seemed like everyone else did, the was a posting on this site making a big deal about them. And these, yes, were new in box. So I bid 151.01 not knowing what they really were worth (after all I am a Newbie) and hoping that if someone tried to snipe at the last min with a 150.00 bid that I would get them. To see they went that high was no surprise to me, and I dont even know what they are worth.
A lot of that price has to do with the fact that it is an auction. I see it happen all the time. It could be a item that you can walk into Wal-mart and but for 3 bucks but if someone else is bidding against you at an auction guys will pay 20 bucks for it. I watched this go on at a local live gun auction about three months ago, every gun in the place was going from 100% more than it was worth to about 200% or more. When I made a deal about how dumb people are for paying that much the auctioneer (who overheard me) said so everyone around me could hear well that may be the price that the books tell you there worth but try to find one for that price. I can tell you from being a gun collector that there was nothing special about the guns being auctioned off, the price was all about PRIDE! On one could stand to be out bid.
And awhile back in another posting someone talked about the Ebay guys that will ok for names and then bid against them just to get them to bid higher. I can tell you that yes, that happens, yes the other guy ALWAYS bids higher (it dose work, pride is a fault) and it is fun as hell. Yes I have done it, when Im board, when someone else has sniped me in the past, or when I just dont have nothing else to do.
That may be the reason for the high prices on the cuffs, not just the cuffs but any item, no one can stand to be out bid, I tell you the key to ebay, if you want to pay nothing for an item, DO NOT BID TILL THE LAST SECOND. If you are the guy that will bid on the first day, you will pay.
But in the case of these and many other cuffs, I actually did want them, this was not one of those times when Im out to have fun. But, I had to leave for awhile, so I had to go against my own rule and bid early, which is why someone else had to bid higher than me.
Anyway, yes auctions bring high prices,
James
