Combined Shipping, Not!

For the past 4 days, I've bought a total of three brand new Swatches from eBay. Given that I already have an Irony, a Jelly in Jelly, and an AutoQuarz, I really shouldn't be buying more. Then again, this is what eBay does to new users. I mean, compared to the SRP, these things are CHEAP.

First up, I bought a Swatch Extra Thin (a.k.a Swatch Awearness) GK326 for only US $10.50 on Sunday morning. At Squiggly, it's listed for EUR 36.13.

That same night, I bought an automatic Swatch Roundabout SAN108 for US $35. On Squiggly, it's EUR 54.62. Actually, I didn't win the auction for the Roundabout. From an initial price of US $0.99, the bids went all the way up to $29. I put in an extra dollar, but looks like somebody has already put in a max bid. I kept upping the ante until I'm the winner at $31, with only a few minutes to go. Just to be on the safe side, I put in my own max bid of $35. After the deadline has passed, I found out that I lost the auction to a guy who put in $35.99 in the last 5 seconds. I was dumbstruck - now I know what the expression "having the rug pulled underneath you" felt. Anyway, the good news is that I was sent a second chance offer, which I immediately grabbed.

Today, I picked up an automatic Swatch Nume-Rotation SAM107 for US $26. Squiggly is asking for EUR 54.62.

The reason I bought so many in so short a time from only one seller is because I misunderstood one of his terms. The condition said, "maximum of 3 items for combined shipping." With a shipping charge of US $22 each, I figured that's a savings of $44. Apparently not so - you get 3 items shipped together, but the individual shipping charge still stays. Fortunately, I got a discount of $7 on the 2nd and 3rd item. I guess this means no more new watches for the next few years.