eBay and me

I have been really good about not overbidding on items on eBay. Granted, I do not use eBay much, but still there have been some things that I wanted from eBay that I refused to overpay for. Until now.

I was able to hold off getting a Nintendo Wii from eBay because the damned things were just way too expensive. When I saw some of them going for $500, I laughed at those who paid double the price. And I eventually tracked one down at a store and paid the retail price for it. But then a funny thing happened. For some stupid reason, I did not have the foresight to pre-order Wii Fit. I knew it was coming, knew I would want it and yet it never dawned on me that it would be so difficult to find once it was released. And after seeing it in action over the weekend, I really wanted one.

So I hopped on eBay where, lo and behold, I was greeted by a message that I would receive $20 off of any purchase over $100, as long as I used Paypal. Well, that sounded good. So I started looking at Wiis in which their auction was about to expire. I saw a couple for $160. Too high, I thought, even with the $20 off coupon. I saw one at $140 and I bid on it. Of course, as soon as I did I was notified that I was no longer the high bidder. So I went up to $150. With just minutes left, I was in the lead. But with about 30 seconds remaining, I was outbid again and time ran out. Damn! That was close.

I looked around again and saw an auction that was at $145 with 2 minutes left. I put in a bid for $150. The bid was increased twice by others, up to $156. With about 30 seconds left, I thought "What the hell" and put in a bid for $160. I knew it would be beat. People sit at home and wait for the auctions to get down to the last seconds before entering their bid and swiping the item out from under you. I hit the page refresh button; 11 seconds left and I was still the high bidder. There's no way I was actually going to end up with the highest bid, was there? I refreshed again and this time it took a few more seconds for the page to reload. When it did, it said "Congratulations! You won the item." Uh-oh.

I was immediately hit with buyer's remorse. What a stupid thing to do! I was so sure I was going to be outbid at the very last second by some pimply-faced kid sitting at home, who was now high- fiving his buddy and screaming "In your FACE!" to me through his monitor. But no. I had just committed $160 ($140 after the coupon, mind you) on a video game that I should have waited for. Well, I thought, at least my daughter Jess will love it. But how was I going to explain this to my wife, to whom I have been preaching fiscal responsibility as we deal with a new baby (our 4th child!) and are looking to buy a new minivan to seat us all?

In the end, I just plopped down next to her on the couch and told her. And as you have probably surmised, I'm still here amongst the living. Maybe it was because her parents are staying with us and she can't actually kill me in front of them; her mom is squeamish and would insist on helping Barb get the blood out of the carpet. Or maybe it was because she is still over the moon because we just had a baby and he's beautiful. Or maybe she knows I am a knucklehead and a gaming addict but she still loves me anyway. That's the one I am hoping for. If you don't hear from me again soon, you'll know I was wrong.