eBay--what not to do

Chad and I love eBay. We sell stuff and occasionally we purchase items. Tuesday morning was no exception.

Jackson really likes Donald Duck and for his birthday party, I am making him a DD cake, and Chad had a great idea to fill the kiddie pool with rubber ducks.

I searched on eBay and found 100 ducks up for bidding. Perfect, I thought. Only problem, it closed at 5:15am. UGH. I am so not a morning person, but a party's a party! The alarm went off, and I handed the computer to Chad to have him check the status......

The bid for these ducks was at $34 and I didn't want to go above $40. With 3 min. left, Chad placed a bid, only to be outbid by someone else. I stressed the importance of waiting to bid until the last 15 seconds. He kept hitting the "refresh" button and the price kept going up. Wierd, I thought, that rubber ducks would be going for $55, no, $60, no $65! What the heck? You can buy them online for $40.

Right when it skyrocketed, I told Chad not even to think about bidding.
Well, the auction ended, and the bid was $75! Who in the world would pay $75 for little rubber ducks?! Someone who desperately needed them. As I was contemplating this, Chad made a nonchalant comment like "good thing we got them for his party". Being 5:20am it took me a couple of seconds for this information to register.

Wide eyed I looked at him and said "WHAT?!?! You paid $75 for RUBBER DUCKS?????"(no I was not yelling, just shocked). He was so proud of himself, I was not. After kindly letting him know how ridiculous that was (and thinking how much gas that would've bought for my car), there was nothing left to do than ask him to "email the seller and fix this mess because there is no way I'm paying that much for stupid rubber ducks" we just laid in bed, laughing.

When I asked Chad what possessed him to bid that much, he said he doesn't like to lose-he has to win. Better not go to casinos, I commented. Casinos are fine, he said, auctions (live and silent) are not. He just gets a rush out of being in a bidding war and feels the need to win. Great, I thought. I volunteered to host a table at Antioch Adoptions Auction this October. Chad will be banned from all bidding! haha

I am thankful Paypal doesn't immediately withdraw the funds, and the seller compeltely sympathized with me, and isn't holding us to the auction.

So, no ducks for the party this weekend. The kids won't even notice. It would have just been some cute pictures for Jackson's scrapbook.

On that note, I need to head out and get last minute stuff for his party.