Sometimes a seller will have more than one of something, like a box of nibs, or a lot of individual nibs. Especially if something is in a lot of some round number, I'll ask the seller how many they have. This at least gives a reason why they can offer you a "second chance" to purchase the same thing. Unless you think the nibs will go for more than you offered the last time, you can always come back with a lower price than your last bid.
Now, I often purchase nibs that don't generate a lot of interest, so it may not work for popular nibs, but sometimes I've been successful if I see a "lot" of nibs being offered of asking the seller how many they have then offering a price for all of them. I've gotten some good deals this way.
That's how I recently got 50 Spencerian 230's, a very flexible spear nib with turned up tip, in stainless steel, for $20 with free shipping. I had bought a lot of 20 for $10, got them and realized how very nice they were, so I went back to the seller and asked if she had any more. She posted a "buy now" with the last 50 she had and I snatched them up.
Sometimes the listing will indicate how many of the offered item they have for sale, but not always.
Other recent prices that may be of interest that I've seen
50 Spencerian #1: $157
I won't mention the almost full box of Spencerian 1's that I was watching recently to see how high they went, and didn't bother bidding, and someone "stole" them for $22. That taught me to at least put in a bid. It haunts me still.
Turner and Harrison 103, Extra Fine - $0.76
Most of my purchases y'all probably are not really interested in, like
J.L. Hammett "Kendall" nibs, $0.23 each
Standard Railroad (made by Esterbrook as a flexible Falcon and sold only through Sears) #2: $0.69 (extremely rare)
Frances Pratt & Sons - Gladiator Series 453 and 455: $0.30 each
