Ebay Score - Starrett 199 Master Precision Level 15"

So I narrowed my choices to two levels. Condition for both was like new. The high bid on the first was $179, the second was a buy it now for $300.
I bid $250 on the first to clear out the riff raff bidders and minutes later someone out bid me, hey man . I upped my bid and someone else out bid me . FINE...I threw down a $350 bid and was again outbid. Dang that's like $400 with shipping...(Coolidge looks around whistling innocently pretending it wasn't him to who bid up that level) BAM I purchased the other one instead for $289 via make an offer!

Yours is in better shape than the one I picked off of eBay. There were two I was looking at and I asked the sellers to post pictures of the bottom surface. One looked great, one looked uhh, well, okay.

I bid on the wrong one with my iPhone. Stupid 5" screen. %$&*.

But it does work.

Could be worse, you could be that guy who goes back and forth between two offerings of the same thing, bidding both of them up because he wants to buy the cheapest one.

LOL my mind isn't that far gone yet. My shill bidder radar was going woo-woo on that first auction. I thought I did okay on price, I didn't' steal it but I feel I got it for a decent price.

The trick on ebay is to place your bid 2 sec. from end.

Yeah sometimes you can snipe an item that way, or lose an item. I cut a Make an Offer deal with my seller for $289. Meanwhile that other level is in a bidding war its up to $437 now. Looks like I wound up the other bidders and they got into it lol.

$437 for a used precision level of unknown actual condition and it's not over yet. Wow. I know they sell for about $1000 new, but buying one of those used can quickly turn into buying a pig in a poke. All it takes is for it to get dropped once and it's junk, but it might not be readily apparent in the photos.

I used to try to snipe bids at the last second, and it was a big pain in my eyes. I never get into bidding wars, either. I figure out the maximum amount that I am willing to pay for an item, put in my maximum bid and let it go from there. If I win, cool. If I do not, it doesn't bother me because then somebody else paid too much for the item. If I cannot get a used item at a reasonable price after several attempts, I just buy new despite the increased cost. At least it comes with a warranty when I buy new.

I just got a notice that the other one sold for $437, you can buy one brand new for $803. I like that the one I purchased still has an inspection sticker over the adjustment screw, that tells me it was used in a shop that has to re-certify their measurement tools probably as part of ISO certification.