< rant >

Fair warning - this has NOTHING to do with Jacob. Keep surfing if you're looking for a Jacob-fix...

Okay, I'm annoyed and here's my rant:

I HATE EBAY!

There, I said it. What happened to the good old fashioned days of bidding, and making sure to be by your computer when the auction is due to end so you could get into a good bidding war? And the people who couldn't be near their computer at the end of the auction were just out of luck, unless they bid high enough from the beginning?

I recently purchased a Pottery Barn duvet cover that I have loved for 2 years. Of course, by the time I was ready to commit to it, PB no longer sold it - so you guessed it, I had to search for it on Ebay. So I found my lovely pattern and purchased my duvet cover with Buy It Now. By the way, my duvet cover came with ONE euro pillow sham. Have you ever known anyone with ONE EURO SHAM on their bed? Have you ever seen a PB catalog with ONE SHAM? No, b/c ONE SHAM is useless. But, I digress...

So I decide to add to my sold-out-hard-to-get-bedding by bidding on another 'single' euro sham. I plan my day today around the end of the auction. I have the page up and refresh accordingly. With 45 seconds left, I make my move. Yay, I'm the winning bidder so far. Oh wait... 10 seconds left and I'VE BEEN OUTBID? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? I quickly throw in another bid, but it's too late. I've been sniped.

So after a little research, I decide to sign up for a free 'sniping' program and try again for an auction for a PAIR of euro shams in my sold-out-hard-to-get-bedding. If I win these two, I will just sell the single one I have right back on Ebay... because who needs 3 euro shams?? I set my sniper up to come in with 5 seconds left and win my shams. I come back to prop my feet on my desk and watch my victory unfold - b/c I have 'the sniper' on my side. I too can disappoint other bidders by coming in at the last second and swipe their coveted euro shams away. Guess what???

Your bid has been submitted.

You've been outbid by another bidder Another bidder placed a higher maximum bid or placed the same maximum bid before you did.

So, I bid on what could have been the only 3 remaining shams that match my pattern. And I lost them ALL. So I'm not sure how anyone wins an auction on Ebay anymore... if everyone is using this sniping technology/mindset, then how can you get ahead and win your item???

The moral of this story: Don't be such a cheapo when you find something that you truly love. Just buy it from Pottery Barn while it is in stock. =)