Online auction buys

A local auction house appears to now do only online auctions.  There were a few items I was interested in and I bid.  This was a first for me.  The nice part I was at home on my computer and could do other stuff too while waiting for my item to come up for final bidding.  The closing of the items started at 5 pm.

Each item 'closed' for bidding every 30 seconds so there was an accurate time when each item would be closed for bidding.  If someone bid in the last minute the item's bidding window would be extended one minute.  This could go on as long as someone bid in the last minute.

First up for me were irrigation connectors and sprinklers.  They were 3 inch connectors and they matched the irrigation pipes I bought from Donna's mother's estate last year.  Her mother had the 3 inch connectors but they were stolen between the time I looked at the pipes and the time Donna and I got the pipes.

After I picked up Donna from the airport after her vacation we drove out to the auction barn to look at the connectors.  No, they were not the connectors stolen from her mother.

One can bid anytime before the final countdown.  The bid at 5 pm was $7.  I bid $8.  Another person was also interested in the connectors and by the time the item got to the final window at 7 pm we had traded quite a few bids.  I believe one or maybe both of us bid in the final minute and extended the clock.  I won the bid, and with the extra 15% auction commission, paid $138.   More than I hoped to pay but much cheaper than if I bought new.

While new connectors have good seals, unlike the dried ones in these used connectors, new connectors cost around $39 each.  I bought 22 connectors, two "t" connectors, and a two or three end plugs.  And the same number of sprinkler heads (though the sprinkler heads looked to be very worn and I may only get a few of them be any good).   So... much less than buying new.

Then three hours after I bought the connectors my other item of interest came up: an electric cattle prod.   New, the cheapest one I found was about $60.   Again I had traded a few bids before final window at 10 pm, though not near as many as for the connectors.   The other bidder quit bidding before the final window so all I had to do was sit and wait in case he bid at the last minute.  He or she didn't.  I paid a little over $25 for the cattle prod.  Now to get some C batteries and see if it works.