Sell out with me tonight. The other day while perusing eBay I noticed a copy of Roald Dahl’s The Gremlins going for $150 AU. It was his first book and it’s extremely rare. As that price equates to about $80 US, my jaw just dropped. To compare, here’s the very same book going for over $300 US. I’ve seen them sold for even more. I figure that all the Americans just bypassed the Australian auction since it was in a different currency. I’ve actually already got a copy, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to get another one dirt cheap. The Snook agreed that it’s a pretty good investment. So I waited and watched. The auction sat at $150 AU for most of the day, but as soon as we hit the magic five-minutes-left mark, the price started rising. I watched it go all the way to $300 AU. The Snook and I conferred and agreed that we’d go as high as $350. With one minute to go, I put in my bid… of $357.50. The odd numbers are key. Most people bid in “blocks”, so you’ve got to have just a *little* bit extra to win. I had it at $320… less than 30 seconds… then $330… only fifteen seconds… then $350… and I got it! For $355, to be exact. See, I told you the extra $2.50 was key.

Now I’m sorta having second thoughts. Not about the money; I have no doubt I’ll be able to sell it for a profit later. It’s more the mercenary nature of it. Some other fan wanted that book pretty badly and the younger me would’ve let them have it. Instead I’m just perpetuating what is already an overpriced market. Do you think that was a shitty thing to do? In my defense, I’m not fabulously wealthy and I could certainly use an extra hundred bucks or so. Should capitalism outweigh youthful ideals?