I got Whaled!

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Posted By: Tim

Not a big deal but a first for me.

A card that would fit perfectly into my collection came up for auction and I decided I would gladly over pay for it. I took what I thought was a more than reasonable target sale price and added 50% and set my snipe. I was a little surprised when I was the under bidder as the next highest bid was at the target price I had calculated.

But a gentleman who was perplexed with what he had just witnessed got me!

You can just never be too sure.

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

What was the card, which auction??

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Posted By: MVSNYC

was it Shamu, Moby Dick, or Fudgie the Whale?

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Posted By: Tim

It was a PSA 5 Fred Beck Cycle 350 Back.

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Posted By: T206Collector

Deleted because of the subsequent explanation.

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Posted By: Sean

http://cgi.ebay.com/1909-T-206-FRED-BECK-PSA-5-CYCLE-BACK_W0QQitemZ170264671629QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item 170264671629&_trkparms=39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A13|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

He (the Whale) has been buying PSA 5's with tougher backs (EPDG, Tolstoi and Cycle) for a while.

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Posted By: Tim

I figured the card would sell for $150-$170.

So I set my snipe for $253 thinking that should be more than enough.

The last bid before mine was $166 (in my expected range)

Then me ($253), then the winner (who's top bid price I will never know.)

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Posted By: peter ullman

You DID get whaled...but also beware of the Sharks...they are greater in # than the whales...and are quite tenacious!

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Posted By: Mark

What's the average life expectancy for an ebay whale?

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Posted By: Paul

That "whale" was the first person I thought of when I read the initial post. I've been outbid more than a few times by him or her. Certainly has saved me a few thousand bucks.

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Posted By: Ted Sherman

I have a nifty little phrase everyt ime that happens to me


"IcantbelievewhathejustBID"

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Posted By: David Poses

on this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180292737783&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT&ih=008

i don't snipe, so i just put down a high bid earlier in the evening figuring i'd get the card at a reasonable price. i must admit, however, that getting beat was the best thing that could have happened, as just the next day (yesterday), the same card in an SGC 60 holder was listed with a BIN for a lot less (slightly more than half). I snapped it up within seconds of the card being listed. (the buyer who beat me the day before wasn't the seller at the bargain basement price)

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Posted By: Dave

I got whaled a few weeks ago but I was doing the selling and not the bidding.

Let me tell you it's a magnificent thing.

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Posted By: Bob

Trying to skip around the sets and finding one the whales are not currently interested in seems to be a key. The problem is, once you get going in a set, here they come!

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Posted By: Cat

I've sold a few items to that whale lately.

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Posted By: dennis

what would be really sad is, if you actually outbid that whale!!!

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Posted By: Steve Dawson

The same whale surfaced on me in August and harpooned a PSA 5 T207 Ed Reulbach that I had my sights on (I ended up as the under-bidder.


Steve

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Posted By: Bruce Dorskind

Over the past three months, we have beaten this Whale on
12 of 30 items where we competed.

We have developed an elaborate formula to determine his
snipe strategy and studied his bidding patterns.

We developed an attack plan which is complex. We have figured out how to circumvent
his E Bay Snipe strategy.

Each time this battered whale loses to us, we hope that he screams

"I don't believe what I just saw"


Bruce Dorskind
America's Toughest Want

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Posted By: barrysloate

Bruce- General Petraeus should put you in charge of the Iraq War with those strategic powers.

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Posted By: Jason L

I am the first to admit my shortsightedness and frequent ingorance, however, the first thought that came to me after reading your post was that you are crowing about overpaying on 12 of 30 auctions in which you went up against the same person, one who himself has a documented history of paying exorbitant prices.

Congratulations?

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Posted By: T206Collector

...over the past month, as far as I can tell -- except, based on Leon's victory in a post later in this thread, which does not show up on an ebay search of past bids by this whale, I guess ebay doesn't show that info any more -- none of his losses are here (apparently that happens when the bids get too high for ebay's comfort):

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBidItems&userid=idontbelievewhatijustsaw&sort=9&page=1&rows=25&completed=1&all=1

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Posted By: John

"We have developed an elaborate formula" "We developed an attack plan which is complex." LMAO

Whale Killer...yawn...funny stuff.

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Posted By: Sean

Leon beat him here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1911-D310-PACIFIC-COAST-BISCUIT-STINSON-SGC-80-6-1-1_W0QQitemZ190254399277QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item190 254399277&_trkparms=39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A3|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14>

And in case you want to beat him here is the elaborate formula:

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

Battered Whale..............must be the special at Captain D's............

So...........post a link to an auction where you beat the whale cause there isn't anything in the last 30 days that comes up where he was beaten..........

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Sean, Barry, funny stuff. I've beaten the whales as well at times; my formula: bid 2x what the same card sold for as per VCP and you have a shot. If you're not willing to buck up -- no shot.

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Posted By: John

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Posted By: Paul

Those Bruces are amazing. I thought the only formula was to outbid the others. It must be group brainstorming that makes them smarter. I always enjoy Bruce's posts, & the inevitable responses. It's great entertainment

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Posted By: barrysloate

If a whale bids $500 and you bid $510, you win the lot for $510.

In that same scenario if you bid a million dollars, you still win the lot for $510.

That's my strategy.

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Posted By: leon

I set snipes at $933 on each of the SGC80's. I walked away with one of them.....at $909.00 (and a few others that were a little lower).....I worked 3 yrs on that formula!!!

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Posted By: Misunderestimated (Brian H)

Whenever I have outbid this collector over the years (I'll preserve his/her privacy). I always wonder if I'm overpaying/"collecting beyond my means."

Generally (but not always) "whale attacks" can be anticipated by simply knowing who needs what on the PSA Registry. In this case the question would be who wanted a nice looking PSA 5 of this card.... OTOH, if you were interested in this card because of the relatively difficult back that is generally not a concern for the whales.

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Posted By: Cat

Some time ago, this whale was an underbidder on one of my cards (don't ask me which one since I can't remember) but his snipes are not always extremely high. I would guess that he collects within his means, but his means are just greater than some of the rest of us. I'm sure the level of his snipe over what some believe is market price is dependant on his personal desire to own the card. Time takes care of "overpaying" for cards.

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Posted By: Rob D.

Not-so-great scenario:

You sell a card via eBay to the collector in question, but unfortunately you do not have that underbidder who drives the winning bid into the stratosphere, and you're left with thoughts of what might have been.

(Speaking from experience here.)

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Posted By: Anthony S.

This topic is ridic-louchios.

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Posted By: MVSNYC

i've sold & traded with him before, pleasure to deal with...but, very tuff to outbid...i outbid him once a few years ago on a PSA 9 T206 card...

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

"Nobody's beaten him...over the past month, as far as I can tell"


Ebay searches will only show you auctions that an ebayer has won...they do not show you auctions were the ebayer was an underbidder. They changed that at least 6 months ago.

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Posted By: Alan

Here's a strategy that will work every time: Just bid more than him.

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Posted By: Bob

A few years ago he contacted me out of the blue and said he had a few of the remaining cards I needed in the M116 set and sent them to me and told me to send him whatever amount I thought was fair. A very nice gesture which was greatly appreciated. He is extremely hard to outbid though.