Tophatter, The Site Where Keely Just Burned Eight Hours.

I love my treasures. I love a good bargain. And I love to win. So when I was asked to check out Tophatter, the new virtual bidding marketplace, it really didn’t take that long to convince me. After creating my avatar (red dress/indeterminate brown hair= spot on), I hung out in the bazaar to watch people bid. With the appearance of each newcomer, the room became crowded with avatars and bidding wars. (Each high bidder got to enjoy the top hat until they were outbid.)

I did not buy this ring.
Kinda wish I had.
Photo: 42 Things By KejaDesigns
on Tophatter

It wasn’t until I hit the jewelry auctions that I became, as my brother-in-law likes to say, Highly Involved. A pair of garnet and diamond stud earrings were about to go up in the next hour- for an opening bid of six dollars. A pair of hundred dollar earrings for six dollars. So I placed a “watch” on them, which would send me a text message right before bidding on that item would start. But since placing an alert is public, others in the jewelry auction saw my watched item…and placed their own alerts.

So I started to panic.

And since I wanted an alert for the item immediately after the garnet earrings (a stunning silver lariat coin pearl necklace with hand-stamped engraved initial tags), I had to figure out how to surreptitiously place a watch so I could get some work done in the meantime. (We were about to leave for a seventeen hour road trip the next morning and had yet to pack. A fact which P.J. continuously reminded me of as I drooled over auctions.) So I waited until there was a bunch of bidding and conversation to place my alert. And saw three other people place their own alerts for the same necklace. SO THEN I NEEDED TO WIN.

I packed a hoodie and a few sippy cups and then hunkered back down in front of the laptop. The garnet earrings were about to go up, but I had decided to focus all of my energies on WINNING THE LARIAT NECKLACE. And it’s a good thing too, since the earrings' opening bid of six dollars was quickly doubled. And then tripled. And then two avatars began incrementally climbing into the forties, where the bid finally rested at forty-eight dollars. All in the span of about two minutes. Then it was the lariat necklace’s turn, with an opener of four bucks. Now, I didn’t want to be too eager…but I wanted that necklace. So I was the fifth bid. (Of nine dollars.) And then I was the seventeenth bid. And nineteenth. And twenty-first. And then there was no one else bidding but for me and this bid-happy blue-dressed avatar whom I wanted to push off a bench. Twenty-five. (Her.) Twenty-six. (Me.) “Don’t bid more than thirty,” I could mentally hear Peej admonish me. And then he was in the living room, watching me perch with one leg on the couch and one on the coffee table, nervously bouncing back and forth between the two and shaking my computer around in a way that most likely voided the warranty.

“Please don’t bid more than thirty.”

“I got this.”

And then…nothing. My bid remained the highest. They called it once. Twice. The clock started to run down on bid time. TWENTY-SEVEN, SHE BID. I panicked. Didn’t want to keep playing the one-up game. So I let it wait. The clock started to run down.

TWENTY-EIGHT, I BID.

Nothing. Going once. Nothing. Going twice. Bid counter ran down.

CONGRATULATIONS, KIKIFLYNN!

And I screamed. (And then promptly paid the seller’s immediate invoice.) And proceeded to spend the rest of the evening obsessively watching auctions, deciding to let packing just take care of itself.

***

This is Sir Wendell Wattington.
He's my friend.
I know him.

You want a turn at this addicting awesomeness? (I know.) Fabulously, I’ve got a ten dollar credit for you to use with your first eleven bucks spent! (Just sign up from this link and it'll be automatically added to your account!) And hey, if you’re stumped, I’ve a got a terrific shortlist to help get a jump on that pesky What Shall We Gift Keely conundrum. Glad to help, folks.

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Have you discovered the addictive new auction site called Tophatter, where buyers bid for sellers’ unique goods in fast-paced virtual auction rooms? From crafts and DIY projects, to antiques, jewelry, home décor and much more, there’s no limit to what you can discover on Tophatter. With live auctions every day, sellers get to showcase their wares from around the world to a community of thousands of buyers, and answer questions via chat as the clock ticks down. Each lot sells in an average of two minutes, so buyers must bid quickly! Tophatter’s auctions become interactive live events where buyers and sellers can hang out, chat, and win. Led by the esteemed Sir Wendell Wattington and his animated family, Tophatter auctions keep the fun rolling in. This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Tophatter. The opinions and text are all mine.