Check out this auction bid history for a white box with 3 days still left...

eBay.com Item Bid History

It's David Van Wie in the lead again even though he's already won four white boxes in the past couple weeks.  In fact, he currently has winning bids on five more white boxes.  Maybe he's planning to start a colony with them.  

Anyway, is anyone familiar with the seller?  
The new "0" feedback bidder, neilflora201, has only been an eBay member since March 9th, and has only bid on this one particular auction for a white box, even though there are four other auctions going on right now on eBay for a white box with lower bids.  The new bidder is pumping up the price and there's still plenty of time left. Does this seem a bit strange...?  

I do not know, I cannot seem to figure DavidVanWie out. He has won original D&D boxes with top bids ranging from $78 to $635. The account was created in September of 2001 but it had 0 feedback responses until the past 3 weeks. In mid-February he seems to have gone toe-to-toe with another buyer, tclayton4sq0. The tclayton account was created in May 2000 and had minimal usage until the past month (starting Feb 16th and only 6 days before DavidVanWie started his bidding run).

Since DavidVanWie has won a boxed set for $77 why would he jump as high as $700...surely knowing that they can be had for much less.

And tclayton is another enigma...$161 for a second print MM?!? $280 for a first print basic set? $760 for an original D&D boxed set...and the absolute killer: $61 on a buy it now for "the History of TSR" booklet TAKEN FROM THE ANNIVERSARY BOXED SET !!!???!!!!

Please someone help explain this to me.

-PD

Maybe David VanWie is an investor?  His plan could be to keep these all nicely kept and untouched and sell them in 30 years. . . granted, he is often paying a lot more than he should for them, but I am sure than 100 White Boxes will turn a nice profit in the year 2040.

Since I was invited to respond...

PurpleDragon wrote:...<snip>...he seems to have gone toe-to-toe with another buyer, tclayton4sq0. The tclayton account was created in May 2000 and had minimal usage until the past month (starting Feb 16th and only 6 days before DavidVanWie started his bidding run).

<snip>

And tclayton is another enigma...$161 for a second print MM?!? $280 for a first print basic set? $760 for an original D&D boxed set...and the absolute killer: $61 on a buy it now for "the History of TSR" booklet TAKEN FROM THE ANNIVERSARY BOXED SET !!!???!!!!

Please someone help explain this to me.

-PD

Well, I have used this site at various time and understand the prices being represented here.  Sometimes for me I would rather have the item, then get a great deal.  Remember someone else was willing to pay $1 less than what I was.  I moved recently and came across my boxes of old D&D stuff.  Before that, I only ever purchased some State Quarters on eBay that I was looking for.  I guess I just wanted to fill in some of the memories of the stuff that I remember gaming with back in the late 70's when I was 9 or so years old.  If that seems so strange to all of you (since many of the introductions read that way), then I don't know of any other explanation.

So, to breask down the items:

2nd print MM/1st print basic set - So?  I wanted to have an early addition version.  Sorry if that makes me seem stupid.

6th print original boxed set - Look at little closer.  It also came with three of the supplements.  Still too high a price, probably, but not as crazy as you make it sound.

History of TSR - This one was more of a personal desires.  Look more closely, some other idiot bought it for that price before I did, too.  So, buying another at that price didn't seem that crazy to me.  Since one has sold for less than $10 recently, I guess it was a bad idea.

Basically, once I receive everything and go through and catalog it all, my plan is to re-list the items that are duplicates on eBay.  Will I make back the money?  Probably not...  However, at least I will have reclaimed more of that memory.  Not just for me, but also for my upcoming son...

I have been open here and willing to provide my real contact information.  If you have question, want to flame me in person, fine.  I just hope you realize that all I desire is most likely the same things many of you do.

Oh, and I have no idea who DavidVanWie is except someone that lost to my bids.

Todd

Thanks Paul, I was about to post something along those lines.

Welcome all newcomers! It is good to see the hobby growing.

Thanks to those responsible for contacting these collectors and asking them to join our forum. A well informed collector is a happy collector.

Welcome all

I hope my rant above did not offend anyone.

Actually, I really don't care if someone was offended (this new world is way to sensitive), but I certainly was not targeting any specific person. Merely comenting on the theory of overpaying in the hopes of making money down the road. I stand by my post in that regard.

Now to be fair, I have also overpaid for stuff. It is the nature of this beast we call ebay. Sometimes an item will pop up that I have been looking for, and bang, I overpay because I am sick and tired of waiting for a decent copy to come along. And to be perfectly blatant, I can afford to drop $20 or $30 for something trivial, but needed. I want a collection to call my own; I have no plans to sell off. I recently paid $25 for great copy of B12; yeah, it is alot, but I am sick of waiting.

Again, the pattern of someone buying multiple copies - and I mean more than five or six, is just plain strange...  

Honestly, who really cares if someone pays $50 for a mint copy of X1! If they really want it, great. Now if someone is going around buying every copy of X1 - no matter the cost - then we can comment on that...and we probably should. Hell, some guy just paid around $60 for a fifth or sixth printing of the D&D (blue book w/chits) basic set...it is interesting, but so long as we don't see the next dozen go for the same, it is really pretty irrelevant.

Good luck and go get them.

Yeah.. when we all say 'That was a stupid high price to pay' we really mean 'gosh... I wish I had enough money to bid on stuff I wanted like that' *AND* we run to our closets to see if we have said item already.

It's pure Green Eyed Envy/Jealousy bud!

On the other hand.. some of us like finding 'good deals' on Ebay/BookStores and yard sales and we feel 'smart' when we find a good deal.

It's a sad, pathetic way of achieving self-esteem.. but hey.. it's working for me!

Seriously, don't take the  stuff as personal criticism.. for example...Burnie's a cool dude and he bids stupidly high!

I just hope all you guys have budget left for when I get around to auctioning off my stuff (any day now... I swear).

In any case, MOST of the time, we don't spend so much time harping on auction prices and get into fun discussions about 'lost gems' that no one has seen in 20 years or comparing notes on the variances of shrinkwrap (that whole thread cracks me up!).

So, please, stick around and have no compunction about BRAGGING that you've got the winning bid on so many cool items that we'd all love to have.

-Jon

If someone advertises an X1 as rare or guys pay $96 for a shrink-wrapped RS1 or $150 for the mono D1-3, then I am laughing and I don't care if the buyer is a millionaire or not, because either way this is totally stupid and ridicolous.

So, please, do not stop posting ridicolous auctions. If you catch me bidding on one of them, you can laugh at me, too.

Ah yes, written like a true New Englander...  

Actually, I call it American Spirit. That "gotta have it" attitude gave us the internet (no offense to Al Gore).

The trade deficit is definately linked to consumerism, but it is also largely irrelevant (no offense to John Kerry). Purchasing certain items at a low cost because they came from overseas or Mexico allows Americans to spend more money on larger ticket items made in the U.S. (D&D modules on Ebay)