An instant sale

Bought: $6.31 Sold: $70.74 Fees: $7.40 Profit: $57.03

This is a Thomas the Tank Engine train set. I got this at VV right after Christmas. Someone had donated a number of boxes, and in each one was a different type of toy. I picked up two of the boxes - both containing train sets, although different ones. This one was originally $8, but I had a 30% off coupon. It also came in a plastic rubbermaid bin, which I got to keep and is now housing all my eBay items, so that is an added bonus of this sale. I spent some time researching this, trying to identify the set, and I was able to figure out that it came from a specific set - Thomas at Tidmouth Sheds. I, unfortunately, didn't have the complete set. Shame, because complete sets, new in box, seem to sell upwards of $200. That being said, I had about a 75% completed set, and there were no partial sets listed on eBay. I thought my set was worth less considering it had no trains, and the Shed component, that gives the set its name, is largely missing. I put it up for $50 USD BIN with OBO turned on. Almost immediately someone made an offer of $45. I knew then that I had priced it too low, but it was still a great ROI. As I about to accept the offer, the person bought it outright. He was clearly concerned about someone beating him to it. Anytime something sells that fast, it means someone was watching for it, and likely sold for too little. Still, I am not complaining if something gives me a $50 profit. I think the reason for the offer before buying is that sellers can set to automatically accept any offer over a certain amount - so if he knew he wanted to buy it, there is no harm in making an offer and seeing if it auto accepts, saving him $5, and if after a few minutes it doesn't automatically accept he just bought it. Smart ploy on his behalf. Had he waited another 10 seconds he would have actually saved the $5. Overall, it was a good sale, even if perhaps too low. I still have another train set to sell clearly donated by the same person, and I expect it to have an even better ROI.