Occasionally
 

I drop off to the dark side, not a lot of traffic on this one is it? Everyone else comes out of the closet these days, where's the boo & glass folks:confused:

Grumpy

Well reading this new forum has peeked my interest in the bamboo rods. I've got one I'm bidding on on ebay right now. Hope I win it. I'm anxious to try out a bamboo.

Ebay
 

What rod are you bidding on FishNlady?

It was a Southbend. I didn't get it. Got outbid by $1.00! Oh well there's plenty more on there. I'll keep trying.

One question to always ask a seller, are all sections the CORRECT length, not the same length, the CORRECT length. I've seen many a folk thinking they had a treasure & all they had was a fixed/broken rod, that's not a totally bad thing in a way though.

Grumpy

It sounds like you were "sniped". It has happened to me several times on some glass rods and a couple of vintage reels. You think you've won and in the last 2 seconds an auto "snipe" bid takes it for $1 more.

Yeah, I think you're right. It happened again last night. Got outbid on another one by $1. Guess I'll have to start using the Auction sniper program myself and maybe then I can get the last bid in and win one!
;)

sniping
 

Sniping is about the only way to do EBay auctions any more. 2 big reasons:

1) When everyone else is doing it, it's the only way to still be competitive.
2) Shill bidding - and this is a bad, bad thing. It is possible, because of the way that EBay automatically stairsteps the bids, for a seller to discover what a person's highest bid is, by using a fake account to bid the price up until the seller discovers the maximal amount that a potential buyer will bid. The only way to prevent this is to snipe. It is nearly impossible for EBay to do anything about it. It happened to me once. I snipe now. I hate doing it, but you'll get ripped off by many of savvy sellers if you don't.

Having said that, I have never used sniping software. Sniping manually is pretty easy with a good Internet connection.

I have to admit I've started heading to the dark side.

I currently own 2 diamondglass rods as well as a rebuild cane rod. I'm also having Mike McFarland build a custom fiberglass rod as a tribute to a family member that passed away last year.

I find myself suited to the slower casting stroke. Suits my personality. I'd love to have a classic bamboo rod or even one from a newer builder. I just cant justify the cost.