On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 03:19:35 GMT, "Tom Kohlman"
wrote:

Ebay...keep a source like Amazon (ToolCrib I guess) live while searching.
My experience is that you may get a great deal from time to time on EBay but
a lot of times the shipping charges will kill you.

I never bid if they don't disclose the shipping charges - I've been
burned on that before with $10 shipping on something that came via
first class mail for under a dollar. I always factor the total cost
including shipping (make sure you compare apples and apples by
including appropriate shipping charges from Amazon or whoever).

I tend to buy used books, often somewhat hard to find ones that can
run up the cost pretty fast. Most of the good book bargains are in
large lots. Better source for particular books is ABE. (although often
*much* more expensive than ebay. When bidding on a book last printed
in 1915 a reasonable bid is whatever it is worth to you, since you
probably can't find it anywhere else at any price.

If the deal is too good, it may look like a "newbie" but in fact is usually
a "shill" waiting in the background to make you pay a lot more as you get
into the "frenzy". If you are smart the item goes to the shill and the
seller only pays that small listing charge. While shills are a violation of
EBay rules, let's get real...absolutely no way to prove it. You'll know
when the same item shows up again a few weeks later.

If the deal is really too great to be true and the seller is afraid of the
"shill rule", they can simply cancel the auction. That is my biggest
gripe...buyers are bound but sellers aren't.

I've been on ebay for quite a few years and my impression is that
there may be some shill bidding, but for the most part it is pretty
legit. Your mileage and impressions may vary.


Tim Douglass

http://www.DouglassClan.com