UPDATED: Know what you have!

UPDATE: The auction ends in less than 6 hours. When I got up this morning I saw where the price had jumped up over night to over $100! Remember I paid $4.

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Last week I wrote about a odd item that I picked up at an estate sale. As I watched the near immediate reponse to the item after it was posted I knew I had a good buy. At the time I bought the item I wasn't really sure it was a good buy. In fact, I questioned why I even bought it as soon as I got home (this is part of that Lizard Brain that Seth Godin talks about).

The piece had no model number or manufacturer name. Actually, it had no identifying mark on it at all. But, it looked cool was heavy and honestly, it just caught my eye. So I picked it up. I got home, listed it, and BAMM! In no time it got traffic and bids.

If you check out the item here, you will notice that it is listed as a 8mm/16mm Film Splicer. When I research the item and started my listing this was a bit of a guess. It looked like some splicers that I saw on eBay but since it had no identifying marks on it I couldn't be sure. I made sure that I put this uncertainty in the listing (see the auction).

I started getting a lot of questions about it. One guy in particular asked me to make some measurements of the item. I did and I sent them back to him. I didn't hear from him again until about 11 hours left in the auction. He sent me a note that said:

"Since you told me that the size of the white film is 1-7/16''
(36,5mm) , I think it doesn't correspond to a 8mm or 16mm, but
maybe 35mm film. Unfortunately I'm not interested in it (I'm
looking for a 16mm splicer), but you should have a look at the
price of the 35mm splicer...it is usually way more expensive than
your price..."

So I did "have a look" at the price of the 35mm splicers. Here is a completed listings page of some of the 35mm splicers that have closed in the last 15 days:











(not sure whats gong on with the quality here)

So I immediately tried to cancel the auction only to learn that you can not cancel and auction that has bids on it AND is under12 hours to go before it ends. So, I waited it out. I had a few unethical thoughts cross my mind. But I decided to let the auction run it course. It wound up bidding up to over $70 before it ended.

After it completed I sent a note to the high bidder and told him the delima. He was very understanding and agreed to have me refund his money. (I did tell him that he could have it if he wanted, but he responded that he was not looking for a 35mm). In fact here is a copy of the note he sent back to me:

"no i have 2 35 neumade splicers,i really need a
16mm splicer,well i have to find another one thank
you and yes please refund the money.
thanks again Ron"

Very nice and polite guy. So, I refunded the money and re-listed the item!

Here is to hoping that it gets close to what some similar items did!

Here is the new auction, notice its already bid up close to what the 8/16mm finished at:

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