# I enjoy eBay **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 24, 2001, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoy-ebay/83570 "2001-09-24T22:40:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoy-ebay/83570/1 "2001-09-24T22:40:34Z")
Why? Because I just sold a piece of electronic equipment for $61.00 dollars that I got for free because my school was throwing it away! I was walking down a hallway and spoted a box with a sign on it sayng, “Custodian, please throw away.” So I rummaged through it, and found a network adapter for something or other (it’s for a Local Talk device, whatever that is.) So I listed it, with starting bid at $1.00, and a week later, I’m sixty bucks richer! God bless eBay. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoy-ebay/83570/2 "2001-09-24T23:21:09Z")
Oh, hey, **bouv** , I do stuff like that alla time. One man’s trash IS another man’s treasure… in my best month, I made about $5000 on eBay selling stuff I normally would have thrown away. I average a couple hundred bucks a month. Makes for a nice little nest egg! Plus it’s fun. I sit and watch the bids go up and say things to my monitor like, “Omigawd, I only paid $5 for that _new_, and you’re going to give me $10 for it??? Don’t they have a KMart out by you??” ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoy-ebay/83570/3 "2001-09-24T23:31:11Z")
Heh. I hear you both. I bought a record player at Value-Village for $20 CDN and turned around and sold it for $220 US 2 weeks later. Tidy little profit. The guys at work couldn’t believe it. I had to show them the money order paying for it to prove it! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoy-ebay/83570/4 "2001-09-24T23:36:09Z")
For about eight months, I sold off a good part of my comic and game collection on ebay, and made a couple thousand dollars. I would never have gotten close to that at yard sales and the like. At my last newspaper job, I took (legally, mind) the promo package for “The Tenth Kingdom” (fantasy mini-series). Big box, video tapes, paperback book and a paperweight. Sold that sucker for over $120. My wife heard my jaw drop when I saw the page. She wanted to spend the money right away, and all I could do was keep saying, “Let’s wait for the check, let’s wait for the check.” The woman had the money order in my hand in 3 days. What a wonderful woman! Best of all, I had relatively few problems. All the checks passed, no packages were lost (a few were late, but I was willing to refund the money), and only a few people didn’t pay, but as I didn’t need to make the rent on this, it didn’t bug me. (It also helped that I wasn’t trying to sell things like Beanie Babies or NASCAR memorabilia.) I love eBay. ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoy-ebay/83570/5 "2001-09-24T23:42:08Z")
Okay, I’m dying to join this site. I’ve been ogling it for a while, along with the auctions page on [amazon.co.uk](http://amazon.co.uk). But I’m gonna hafta ask you guys for a little help first: I’ve tried all the FAQs on this and similar sites, but I need some normal-person feedback. How exactly does it all work? Do I need a credit card? Will a Switch (British-only debit card) card do? Am I going to get ripped off or will I end up paying the price plus postage or what? Can I have an old Voodoo3? And so forth… Any help would be appreciated. I am an e-Bay virgin. ---
**Author:** ![johnboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e47c2d/32.png) [@johnboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnboy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoy-ebay/83570/6 "2001-09-24T23:44:27Z")
Around my office we have the same euphoria for e-bay happenin’ only in reverse. We are a Token-Ring (as opposed to Ethernet) shop and Dell, HP and a few other vendors no longer support that environment. We used to pay upwards of $210 for a PC network adapter card for each new PC but my boss got a boatload of them for $20 each. She also bought this funky IDE to laptop hard drive adapter for $20. E-bay rules! ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoy-ebay/83570/7 "2001-09-24T23:48:55Z")
Ross, ebay is just an auction site, not a store. It’s up to the sellers what form of payment they take and where they ship. Unfortunately, many will not ship overseas, but take a look as some do. Generally, the preferred payment method is money order. Other than that, make sure your Seller has a good rating and you should be ready to go. Oh yeah, I think you do need a credit card # to sign up now… but I’m not sure. The ebay home page should be able to answer the rest of your questions. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoy-ebay/83570/8 "2001-09-25T00:01:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bernse \* > \*\*is money order. Other than that, make sure your Seller has a good rating and you should be ready to go. > > \*\* Actually, the prefered payment method is rapidly becoming paypal. I love it, I have a paypal debit card. I sell something, and 30 min. after auction end I can go to the ATM and withdraw the cash. ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoy-ebay/83570/9 "2001-09-25T00:08:50Z")
I want to have eBay’s love child. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoy-ebay/83570/10 "2001-09-25T00:40:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bdgr \* > \*\* > Actually, the prefered payment method is rapidly becoming paypal. I love it, I have a paypal debit card. I sell something, and 30 min. after auction end I can go to the ATM and withdraw the cash. \*\* I’ve found the opposite. IMHO it used to be, but their fees seemed to be getting the goat of some people. I will concur though, it is widely accepted. ---
**Author:** ![labradorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@labradorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labradorian)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoy-ebay/83570/11 "2001-09-25T00:41:08Z")
Avid eBayer checking in. My selling cross-subsidizes my buying. How have the last couple of weeks affected buyers and sellers? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoy-ebay/83570/12 "2001-09-25T00:53:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bernse \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by bdgr \* > > \*\* > > Actually, the prefered payment method is rapidly becoming paypal. I love it, I have a paypal debit card. I sell something, and 30 min. after auction end I can go to the ATM and withdraw the cash. \*\* > > I’ve found the opposite. IMHO it used to be, but their fees seemed to be getting the goat of some people. I will concur though, it is widely accepted. \*\* Paypal charges you fees? I use it absolutely free. Unless you’re referring to eBay’s fees, which in fact do annoy the Hell out of me. ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-enjoy-ebay/83570/13 "2001-09-25T01:06:54Z")
**Ross** - you might be better off using [ebay.co.uk](http://ebay.co.uk) rather than .com. It’s the same people, just UK-focused.