I know the 1964-65 stuff is hard to find... but $777 for a power antenna setup is hard to believe. For the sellers sake I hope the buyer actually follows through and buys it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=280661020032

 

Am I reading the bid history correct?

It looks as if the winner of the auction,on April 21 drove the price from $175 to $576 without bidding against anyone.

 

He was bidding against the guy below him w/ a feedback of 765. Hard to believe there were 3 bidders willing to pay $575.

Don

 

No, that's not how it works. Bidder 1 gets outbid, but he doesn't know what the high bidder (bidder 2) has put in as his maximum bid. So bidder 1 bids a few dollars higher than the current high bid. That's not enough to beat bidder two's maximum, so bidder 2's earlier bid takes precedence, so bidder 2 is still the high bidder, but at a higher amount.

So bidder 1 tries again and bids another few dollars higher and keeps doing so until he finally beats bidder 2's maximum bid. Each of those bids by bidder 1 as he attempts to outbid bidder 2 a little at a time counts as a separate bid, so it looks like he purposely bid the price higher. But that's not what really happened.

This is what ebay calls "proxy" bidding. When you bid on something, you put in presumably your maximum bid, even though that might be more than is actually needed to be the high bidder at the moment. If someone comes along and bids more than the current high bid, ebay will bid for you using your earlier, maximum bid as the maximum, and it will try to outbid the second bidder until either he stops bidding or until your maximum is reached.

Of course, almost $800 for an antenna is nuts.

 

I've seen this before too. I'm not really sure but I think what happens is that when you increase your max, nothing happens until another higher bidder enters something. Then, all the hidden higher bids you entered show up. Maybe someone else knows, because I'm just guessing.

 

Thanks for all the explanations guys. I really don't use ebay much anymore and they are constantly changing things.
I much prefer buying items from another hobbyist with a set and agreed to price.

 

I wouldn't dismiss ebay too quickly. It is quirky, sellers can be annoying, and I agree that I would rather buy directly from another car person, but sometimes stuff comes up for sale on ebay that I wouldn't find in 100 years of searching for parts at swap meets.

Over the years, I have gotten some very good, hard-to-find parts for my cars at very good prices from some very good people. I have experienced annoyance for sure, but more often the experience is a good one. That's why I continue to use ebay, and I sell stuff there from time to time as well.

 

I paid close to $300 about a decade ago for a correct power antenna for my old '66 442...it came with the correct quarter panel bezel and basically bolted / plugged right in and functioned properly and looked correct. I was happy as could be, considering the hideous short black rubber aftermarket antenna the car came with when I got it.

I recently paid over $200 for the correct fixed mast antenna for my '67 442, also a vast improvement over $12 aftermarket antenna the car came with.

I bet that EBay setup, with the correct switch and wiring harness is a rare find, and the fact that at least 2 people were willing to go to war over it and bid it that high is not that suprising to me. They may have been looking a long time for it.

When something really bothers you about your car and all you gotta do to "make things right" is to write a check, sometimes no price is too high. I for one HATED that cheap, stupid antenna my '67 came with when I got it. Shortly after I installed the correct one, an Olds guy at a local cruise specifically complimented my car as being "correct from the antenna on down". Best money I ever spent, haw haw! (even if the car still has plenty wrong with it)

Money is only dirty filthy green paper.