[ithacaartist]

Right on, Ed. This my first time ever selling a pistol--now that I think of it, I've never sold any gun. But Ive certainly watched my share over the last several years, and actually have had some strategies when I've bid.

For buying on eBay, I've found auctionsniper.com a handy tool. In case you don't know about it, it's a max-bid proxy setup that submits your max bid to eBay in the last seconds. I'm still outbid plenty, by higher max bids already in the eBay proxy system, but I find it really handy in sticking to a set budget. In setting things up ahead of time, it's way less likely to become embroiled in the last minute frenzy. And operating on the notion that refraining from early automatic bidding can help keep the hammer price down, I don't need to remember to go online near the end of each auction--particularly when the ol' lady has dragged me off somewhere--to do it myself.