I love eBay. I have bought a LOT of stuff on eBay. I have sold a LOT of stuff on eBay. I love the 'thrill of the hunt' and sniping something away from another poor schmuck in the last 7 seconds of an auction. I've gotten quite good at it.
But I was denied today. DENIED. But it all turned out well. I love when that happens!
I was bidding on a set of Berkshire Hathaway 2008 Shareholder Meeting tickets this afternoon... What's that? You're wondering why in the world would I want these? Well, my friend... Mr. Buffet (as in Warren, not Jimmy) throws quite the party bash for his shareholders. We are talking a weekend of pure capitalist fun in Omaha, including a cocktail reception Friday, a Baja Beach Bash on Saturday night (2007's bash included the other Mr. Buffet - Jimmy!), and exclusive shareholder shopping day on Sunday and a DAY-LONG Q&A period with Mr. B and his crew. I heard from someone who's been there that it's better than an MBA.
...which sounds like a blast to me. I know, I'm a weirdo.
So, if you own at least one share of BRK stock, you get two tickets for free. The problem? The stock is currently trading at $4387 per share. No, I didn't forget a decimal point. Four GRAND and change = Too rich for me.
Luckily, Mr. B is generous and gives away some tickets each year at a nominal fee.
Which leads us back to this afternoon. I had found the tickets on eBay and was bidding. There was not too much action on the auction, so I wasn't worried (first bad sign). I waited until about 30 seconds were left in the auction and jumped in at $20 for two tickets. I was the high bidder for about 3 seconds, then I wasn't. ARG! I showed my hand too early! I tried to quickly re-bid at $26, was denied, and the auction ended. The tickets sold for $30.
Damn! I had really counted on winning the tickets. So I looked at my "Sorry you're a big fat loser" email auto-generated by eBay, and looked for 'similiar auctions'.
Lo and behold, there it was! A link to tickets offered directly from BH. No auction required, just "Buy it Now" for $3. SCORE!
So I lost, but then I won and saved $27 in the process. I love a happy ending! Squee!
5 comments:
Beloved and my dad are going! Beloved has one share.
found 2 more tickets just now: 2 @ $3.00 + $2.00 shipping = priceless.
and I LOVE that he does it in Omaha...
; ' )
Squee?
i had to stay in Lincoln, but it was worth it. managed to sit just on the edge of a room where warren (that's right: we're buds!) was expounding on the idiocy of the tax rebate and then on to the fed and on and on...i had a voice-activted tape recorder and still haven't transcribed everything. absolutely amazing stuff...expecially since it all seems rather 'common sense' like...
did you go?
Most of it is common sense, but it's refreshing to hear, mainly because most the 'financial media' is spouting off some other nonsense. It was nice to hear from someone who knows better.
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