Obviously, I am a doujinshi addict ... I mean, well, DUH! I am SOOO addicted to doujinshi, it's not even funny. I have over 100 dj's, and I lust after so many more! I've spent thousands of dollars on this stuff, which sucks since I don't even have a job!! ^^;
Anywho, the point of this blog is ... well ... I don't really know! I just want to post stuff about doujinshi and manga and anime and online auctions and stuff, and I guess my comments or whatever on it. *shrug*
Anywho, tonight I'm bidding on a Kuri doujinshi entitled "Hanky Panky" on ebay ... my technique is that I almost always sniper bid, because, guess what--that's how you win!! At least, that's how you win with a reasonable price. Unfortunately, I have a crappy dial-up connection at the moment (my mom won't get broadband until she gets a new computer, which she NEEDS to do since hers is just kinda dying), so it's pretty hard to snipe! A few times because of my slow connection I've waited too long and missed the end of the auction. That's REALLY not fun, ESPECIALLY if no one else even bid on it!!!
Why would you snipe on something if no one else bid? You ask. Well, because a lot of times, there might be OTHER people out there watching the item who are planning to snipe! So of course, I want to do it before they do, right? RIGHT! So if I just go out bumbling and lay my bid an hour beforehand, that'll give them a heads up and let them rethink their plan of attack. But if I do it at 30 seconds, they don't have enough time to totally redo it.
So basically, online auctions are all about STRATEGY. Sure, sometimes the price goes up too high and you say "Whoa, I'm not paying that much!" but then again, that's good. Earlier today, for example, I wanted to bid on a lot of 3 fushigi yuugi english manga (the official ones, since now that it's licensed, you can't find translations anywhere, and it costs $16 per volume if you buy it straight from Viz!) But anywho, I was prepared to bid a total of $24 (including shipping), which would make it $8 per volume, or half the original price, which I figure is reasonable. But then the price alone went up to $31!! With shipping, the cost was over $11 per volume! you hardly save anything that way--it would have been cheaper to bid on individual volumes! So now I just have to wait for more FY manga to come along. In the meantime, though, I'm lying in wait for Hanky Panky!
Unfortunately, I just acted rash, as I always do, and went ahead and placed a bid for $9.99, the minimum bid price. I figured, "what if my computer messes up, and I can't snipe or miss it or something?" Then, if no one else bids on it, I'll be able to get it very cheap! Although I'm sure, for a dj by Kuri (who is very popular and collectible!), there will be plenty of snipers! I'm just surprised that no one placed a bid on it already - usually there's a bidding war early on for popular doujinshi, although the last day and even the last hour or minute the prices tend to shoot up. My max bid is only $30, since it's only a 20-something page dj.
Yes, this is the life of a doujinshi addict. Lying in wait at the computer for 20-30 minutes before the auction's closed, just waiting to snipe. And usually about 4-5 minutes before the auction ends, I close out everything else and stop whatever else I'm doing, refreshing the page until it gets below a minute (I used to do below 30 seconds, but after several recent fiascos due to my dial-up program, I decided to stop that), and then placing the bid.
The key to sniper bidding is to have two windows open. One that you keep refreshing until the time comes to place the bid, and the other already prepared with your bid amount in place, so that all you have to do is press "submit," and your bid is submitted. I didn't use to know about this trick, and lost several auctions due to my lack of sniping prowess. I soon discovered this cool double-window advantage, and have been using it to my own advantage ever since! As you can see, I know a whole lot about the strategy of auction bidding and sniping, althogh by no means do I *always* win - unlike some other bidders, I have a budget.
But when you're addicted to doujinshi, and will do almost anything to get it ... well, that's another story. I have only about 5 minutes left, so I'd better go watch my auction now. It feels really good to see my name there as the high bidder, but I know very well that my lofty position could change at any moment, and probably will in fact! So I'll go for now, and come back after the auction's over to let you know what happened.
I WON IT!!!!!!!!!!!! ^_^
Oh wow ... I SO did not see that coming! NO ONE ELSE bid on it! At all!! No other snipers or anything! Honestly, I was shocked ... although it *IS* Friday night, so maybe all those people have something else they'd rather be doing. *grin*
Yes, that is the life of a doujinshi addict! Staying home on Friday and Saturday nights (not that I have anywhere else to go ~_~) in order to nab that dream doujinshi at the last second. But I can't believe it! I got Kuri's Hanky Panky for only $9.99 + $5 shipping! That's AMAZING!! Even on Yahoo Japan, Kuri DJ's usually go for crazily large amounts of money (although I've seen some go as crazily cheap deals, too! ... not to me unfortunately! >_<)
But anywho, I am so happy right now! My collection of Kuri doujinshi will be increasing very shortly! That's just so awesome!
I'll talk more about my 'doujinshi journey' later (LOL, it's pretty sad, I just LOVE talking about dj's, they're all I ever want to talk about! ^_^) ... you know, the various things along the route of my journey as a doujinshi collector that stand out in my mind and had an impact not only on my collection, but also on me as a person.
Well, that's all for now!