Let's do this backwards and start at the end. I got a Takara Shipwreck in very nice condition! Thank you, thank you. It's a nice addition to my foreign collection. But there were trials and tribulations. And to cover that, we'll have to go to the beginning.
Once upon a dark and stormy Sunday afternoon (okay, I'm lying--it was sunny and nice). I'd found a seller who lives in England with a bunch of carded Takara GI Joes up for auction. Let's call the seller Royal Baron. The auctions were spaced out so each auction ended five minutes after the other. I had all of Royal Baron's Takara stuff on my watch list. I'd planned my day around the auction end times. Got an oil change and a bite to eat and made it home with plenty of time to place a bid.
Ebay does this cool thing with foreign auctions so even if the auction is in the seller's currency (in this case, Pounds), it will tell you what the equivalent is to your money (in my case, US Dollars). I knew this, but got a little distracted. I'm a huge Chicago Cubs fan and the Cub game was on. I was flipping between the live stream of the game and the auctions on Ebay. So yeah, confused and distracted. To steal a baseball saying, some times it is better to be lucky than good.
I won two of Royal Baron's auctions at a price I was comfortable with paying. But I had messed up, forgetting the whole Pound vs. Dollar exchange rate thing. It was pure luck that I got the two Takara Joes at the price I wanted to pay (hey, the game was on and the Cubbies were winning!)
And then it was time for Shipwreck's auction. Cue the dramatic music.
By this time, there was drama during the Cubs game. The other team had loaded the bases so it was tense, nail-biting time. But that's just an excuse since I forgot the whole conversion rate thing. But it definitely added to the distracted confusion. I felt that winning Shipwreck would have been icing on the cake. It wasn't something that would make or break my day so I wasn't willing to break the bank.
40 seconds left on the auction. Flip to the Cubs game. The other team made an out! Flip to the auction. 15 seconds left. It's go time!
I do some quick mental math in my head. I'd spent a decent amount already that day. But it was rare finding a Takara Shipwreck in good condition. I decided I was comfortable bidding a max of $115 in USD. And.......
.....entered 115 Pounds instead. Of course, I didn't realize my mistake. So I was excited when I saw that I was the high bidder.
5 seconds left on the auction. Someone placed a last second bid. But it wasn't high enough. My max bid stood. The auction ended and I was the winner!! Oh yeah, baby! Then I saw the final price. 115 Pounds was $180 USD. And oh...as I got that sinking feeling in my stomach...that was not what I meant to pay.
My savings account took a little beating that day. But it wasn't anything super catastrophic or anything. And the Cubs won their game so that helped. Live and learn, I suppose. I'm still willing to bid on foreign auctions (how else am I going to get my Action Force Quarrel?). But I'm a lot more careful on the whole Pounds vs. Dollars thing.
My haul from Royal Baron pictured below. Detailed posts on the other two figures...coming soon!
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