Just couldn't pull the trigger :(

**OC Richard** · 29th September 11, 03:35 AM

I troll Ebay nearly every day looking at kilts and kilt-related things.

Kilt bargains come up all the time, ex-hire and what have you, but they're never big enough, or if they're big enough in the waist, they're too short. (I need around a 43" waist and 25-26" length.) Or, in very rare cases, they're just the right size but made in a tartan I don't like.

Soooooo.... yesterday an Ebay auction is ending for a 42-44" waist 25" length handsewn 8-yard heavyweight kilt in a tartan I've admired for around 30 years, Stirling and Bannockburn, and the kilt is going for less than 100 pounds.

The stars all aligned, and I just couldn't pull the trigger. It was if a little devil sat on one shoulder whispering in my ear "what do you need another kilt for? You have two handsewn tartan kilts already in tartans you love. You should spend that money on a jacket, or a musical instrument, or anything except another kilt."

And there was no little angel sitting on the other shoulder to say "You know you want that kilt! It's just what you've been looking for. You love that tartan. That price is fantastic. You'll never come across that again."

And you know, over the years it's always the things that I didn't buy that I regret.

**pascs** · 29th September 11, 03:45 AM

Always a difficult choice.............I just did the opposite

Sometimes its better to just 'buy it' and then you can always resell it if you decide you dont like it or one devil gets the better of the other.

If you buy from UK ebay and ship to the US, do you have to pay import taxes?

**Mikewood** · 29th September 11, 04:17 AM

I am a firm believer in intuition. The deal may have been right but it was not the right deal for you. Maybe a new kilty just got his first hand sewn because you didnt jump on it.

**denmcdough** · 29th September 11, 06:00 AM

Richard,

You're bad!!! Should have done it...pulled that trigger. Hey, one always needs ANOTHER kilt. I want to see you next year, at Bridgeport, WV, in that new Ebay find. Next time, for sure, go for it!!

Den

**Meggers** · 29th September 11, 06:48 AM

maybe they will resell it! and honestly, I could see Pascs and Mikewoods points: You could either buy it and resell it later, OR perhaps someone who has never had a kilt just got their first one

maybe they will relist it if it just ended and nobody bid on it yet.

**CMcG** · 29th September 11, 08:31 AM

eBay is a certainly a powerful temptation. I've also found myself watching items and somehow not pulling the trigger. Sometimes I regret it but sometimes I'm happy with the restraint...

**Caddy One** · 29th September 11, 08:45 AM

If ya gotta think about it twice...don't do it.............

**Newfoundlander** · 29th September 11, 09:28 AM

One of the best points of advice I ever got in my life was from a colleague and friend at the University of Glasgow:
"flip a coin, and if you find yourself saying 'two out of three' you know which way your heart lies."

**English Bloke** · 29th September 11, 09:41 AM

OC Richard... Mate.

I'd have bought it without hesitation but then I have no willpower whatsoever. I agree it's always the things you don't buy that you regret.

**OC Richard** · 30th September 11, 04:20 AM

Thanks all for the advice and kind words.

Now, a day later, I already regret not putting in a bid on that kilt.

Part of my regret is that I've long admired Stirling and Bannockburn. When I started playing in pipe bands back in the late 1970s there was a band here that wore that tartan, and many times at competitions I found myself looking at their kilts, thinking "one day I would really like a Stirling and Bannockburn kilt..."

Well there it was, in my size, and I didn't even put in a bid.

There was another bidder, so as you say, perhaps some guy somewhere is at this moment Jonesing for his first kilt, and his lovely Stirling & Bannockburn will soon arrive at his doorstep.