- Well, I have tried it?
- I have peeped and had a go?
- I have gone goggled eyed and headachy?
- My husband has called me ‘obsessive’ and bleated on about living a solo life?
- I have become so adrenalin driven I could race the 100 metres under 10 minutes.
Oh! All that I have done for the sake of a good story!
This is a story about what happened when I found the jewellery auction site - www.Biz.com
If you have never been there, do yourself a favour and don’t go!! Honestly, it is hypnotic.
And they know it is as they say in their registration area something like beware highly addictive. They are not wrong!
Well, it all started back last week when I innocently struck onto this site. I wasn’t looking for jewellery, I was searching the net for a clothes airer for goodness sake!!!
It is a website for the non stop auction sales of jewellery, watches, gifts and accessories and once I found this site I was hooked. I would keep sneaking back to the study to see what was happening. Learning the names of those bidding, checking out how much items sold for and enjoying looking at the things ‘I might buy’.
Wow, that gorgeous citrine pendant I had been eyeing off was bought by faridbaku for a dead cheap $6.00 – (value $120). No profuse bidding on that one but rock bottom price that’s for sure.
Cystalengland managed to snuffle up a yellow gold, topaz ring (a gorgeous icy blue stone) for $52.00 (valued at $560.00). But the bargains of the night go to 44fdr who paid $949.00 for a beautiful ring (value $10,210.00), followed by the purchase of another at $627 (value $6,700.00). If you have the big bucks, by golly you make the big savings.
And so as I watched what was going on, checking out item details, viewing the items I'd really like reach dizzying heights well beyond my means, I could work out the items I could most likely afford and keep tabs on how much they sold for.
You see, the items seem to rotate. That ring you had your heart on will come back at a later date. You just need to stay tuned. This is like a monstrous jewellery shop with a revolving door where millions of similar items are being passed out to us at wholesale prices. I mean, if you could buy a ring worth $10,000 for $1,000 – why would you shop anywhere else.
And so as you foray into this alluring world, it beckons you again and again and again. Yes, you know they were right!
So, after days of becoming a biz.com groupie, I registered.
Yes, it’s crazy I know but I just had to do it!!!
Then I hovered over items wondering if the whole thing was for real. Would I really get an item that was normally out of my financial reach for a ‘song’! I looked, imagined, I compared the items details against one another.
The more I looked, the more I got sucked in.
Every time Mr G came into the study he would see me clicking from one item to the next. Watching the seconds tick down and the bidders banging it out to secure their goodies is tantalising stuff. It is almost like gambling I dare to say but I didn’t need to be participating to actually enjoy it.
AS SO THE DRAMA BEGINS:
Anyhow it was late on Sunday night as Mr G and I sat at our computers when I decided the time had come to release me and him from this crazy torture.
I had to buy!!!!
But what? There was a pendant for $1.00 so I bid a $1. Within a nanosecond my bid was overtaken but I had made the bidding plunge. I had moved into new territory.
I was no longer a watcher – I was a bidder.
I searched around all the categories and found something I liked and it was down to the last minute. Time was ticking. It was $47.00, and at 10 seconds I made a bid. My bid was then overtaken immediately so I thought I’d go again! I bid again and so did the other bidder. I thought, one more time and that’s it.
7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and SOLD. Yes I have just bought an item for $56.00(AUS) valued at $1,086.00.
“I’ve bought something” I relay to Mr G. He gives me a horrified look. I tell him it was a bargain and now all I have to do is pay. I think he is too scared to ask me how much!
I carefully follow the instructions and then find out I have two of the same thing in my basket. I panic. I write customer services an email. No response. I try phoning. It doesn’t connect from here in Australia.
I manage to tick the box of the second item and pay and then I receive my invoice. In all the frantic moments of payment somehow my address is not complete in a pretty drastic way.
I will never receive the goods!
My euphoria is turning into a nightmare!
So what has just happened! I inexplicably have two items in my basket, I have paid for one and because of the address, I will likely never receive it.
Adrenalin takes over. I am hot and flustered. What an idiot to do this so late at night! I write another letter to customer service, explaining the extra item and telling them of my address error.
I receive a reply email saying ‘thanks for your purchase, we have received your money’. I reply that I as a ‘shaky first time bidder’ I would like a few things straightened out and apologise for flooding them with my emails.
By this stage it is about 11.45pm and I have work the next day. I am hypertensive and anxious.
How could all this be happening to me?
After a sleepless night I check out the emails– sure enough Biz.com customer services has written a nice email letting me know that the other item has been removed and that the address has been rectified. Now that did impress me I must say.
What have I learnt from all of this?
Firstly, don’t embark on this in the middle of the night. You heart won’t thank you for it.
If you are sure you want to buy jewellery, spend a bit of time learning about the pieces that are available. I personally felt it was pointless bidding for smaller items as the postage to Australia is quite high.
If you want something in particular, you need to be ‘on line’ at the last 10 seconds of the auction point. You see, some of this stock is put on line days ahead and it clicks down by the second. It is not until you get down to the last 5 minutes I felt there was any point bidding at all.
You can certainly put random bids on other items days ahead and with some stroke of luck you could get to the winning post without any other bidders.
But I think being on site as the win is achieved is probably a tinsy bit exciting!
I am sure there are times in the day that are better than others to get a better deal. Some of the bidders are serious dudes who are out to buy hundreds of pieces. If they want the item you are bidding for, they will either win because they won't stop bidding or really push up the price with their bidding. Probably when the northern hemisphere is asleep is a good time for we Aussies.
But do you know why I really made the purchase.
Mr G and I had been into the local shopping centre in the weekend and I looked in the window of a jewellery shop. Honestly, it looked like every item I had seen on the website was sitting in that window display and at horrifically high prices and I thought, I could buy one of those things for a smidgeon of the price!!! I really could!
I wondered if people like 44fdr are jewellery shop owners who buy up their goods this way. Well, if they do, I just beat them at their own game, and neatly bypassed them to get my own wholesale jewels.
I am half panicky and half exited. I must say a little piece of me is dying to get my purchase but will I be excited or disappointed? I know the use of clever photography makes the items look enormous and I just have a feeling my treasure is going to be tiny and look unimpressive.
OK, I know you are wondering what I bought aren’t you? Well, I’m not telling just yet. Sorry, but this is just part of your excitement in all of this!!!!
When I receive it I will put up a photograph to let you decide if I was (as Biz.com likes to call me) a ‘winner’ or NOT!
Well, it’s all a bit of fun really, but you must know when to stop!
I am a bit worried though that I will be bowled over by my purchase and I will be lured back for more. On one hand I want to be blown away with my exquisite piece because I got value for money, and on the other I want to let down because I don’t really have the time to invest in such a thrilling chase every minute of every day!
Come on, don’t be shy. Write to me and let me know of your experiences.
Did it add a new dimension to your life, did it destroy it by compulsive spending, or did you manage to build yourself a glorious jewellery box full of divine pieces that had your friends drooling with envy!
Copywright – gigi@wisewomensworld.com
Gigi
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