A few years back I sold a carnival glass bowl. Nothing special and available everywhere. I did a bit of research and they were selling for between 20 to 30 quid. I listed it as auction and started it at £10.  About 10 minutes later, there were a few bids and it was on 120.00. I stared in disbelief at the screen. The next morning, it was on exactly £400.00. In my inbox was a message from someone in the USA who wrote "a great rare piece...this will go crazy". I started researching again but was mystified. I wrote back to the person who sent the message and asked why was it doing so well. He didn't reply. I started to get edgy and worried. The day before it finished, it was on £940. Come the day after, it was on £1300. Sat at the laptop with a few minutes to go and was 'refreshing like f***'. 20 seconds left and it started. Bids coming in and it finished on £1,880. It was paid for immediately. I messaged the buyer to ask why it had done so well and his reply was that "these bowls have 10 ruffles around the top, yours has 9. The 'niner' is very rare and I'm delighted to have won it, Please pack it well for its journey to the States". I sent it with enough packing to survive a nuclear bomb and meanwhile, I left the money sitting in PayPal, scared to withdraw it in case something went wrong. About 10 days later, I got a message from the buyer. In those days you could read the first few words of a message without opening it. Those words were 'the bowl has arrived but unfortunately...' My heart sank as I opened the message but the words following 'unfortunately' were...I am away on a business trip so haven't seen it yet but my wife has opened it and it is perfect and gorgeous. (something along those lines). Needless to say I immediately logged in to PayPal and withdrew the money to my bank account.