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Elvis -- The One That Got Away...

Several months back on eBay an Elvis autograph appeared that I had my eye on. It seemed to be attracting very little attention but it sure had my attention and I was determined to do my best to bid and win.

I followed the auction for 5 or 6 days. I was in contact with the seller. Everything was going as planned. I had my last second bid ready and I was going to swoop in and hit the send button with mere moments left in the auction.

Here comes the countdown and I hit the button with about 8 seconds left to bid and relaxed. But instead of telling me that I was high bidder (or not) eBay wanted me to CONFIRM MY BID!!! I wasn't really paying attention...sure that I had won the item. And by the time I looked and saw I had to hit the button AGAIN.....it was too late.

Oh woe is me....

The Elvis autograph sold for a mere 560 dollars. It was signed March 8, 1961. Elvis was at the Tennessee legislature that day. He was made an honorary Colonel by the state governor.

The one that got away here below...on the day Elvis became a Colonel...

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Permalink Reply by Joe W. on May 7, 2017 at 7:21pm

Two words. Auction sniper! Place your bid in advance and take a nap if you want to.

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Permalink Reply by Gregory S on May 7, 2017 at 7:38pm

Major UGH... I about lost one myself that ended at 5:30 am last week. (not due to the time, but to the UK site functioning slower on my system) I can only imagine how you were feeling after that! Tell yourself the other bidder had an insane proxy bid that you never would have bested... they might have.

In my case, I still had a few minutes and entered the item number in on the US site and I was fine.

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Permalink Reply by Don Webster on May 7, 2017 at 7:43pm

Well not much else to do Gregory...I was some mad for a while but I'm over it.

Like you say...just smile and believe I wouldn't have won it anyway...

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on May 7, 2017 at 10:10pm

I know all too well how you must have felt. Something similar has happened to me a few times.

On one occasion my last minute bid wasn't accepted because I was not in the right country - the bidder had blocked bids from outside the UK.

It was a great Jim Clark (Formula 1 driver) item (autographed photo and a whole album of other great photographs). I had tried to bid £1,500 and it went for about £550.

I was really devastated and immediately contacted the seller. He was too honourable to cancel the sale and didn't want to bother the buyer on my behalf so I left it there.

I then saw the autographed photo and just a few of the photographs being offered individually by an eBay "flipper" I had bought from before. He was asking over £1,500 just for the items listed (Buy-It-Now or Best Offer). I was so desperate to have the album and keep it together that I offered him £1,500. Luckily he accepted - possibly because I had already spent thousands with him.

Who knows what the original auction price would have been had my bid been accepted. Not over £800 I suspect. Although it was galling to have paid considerably more than I might otherwise have done I have never regretted buying the album - especially as the price was not over what I had tried to bid.