actually, i've gotten a lot of really, really good deals on ebay. the problems there are many, many people out there who get auction fever, i too have seen many used items go for more than the new price! the trick is to figure out what it's worth to you and not go crazy, the other trick is to be patient, if you have the time to put in hunting for bargains it's highly worth while. if you are prone to over excitement and haven't done your' homework to see what things sell for it's best to stay far away from ebay. in this case, you just want an ide drive, so you should check the drives section, not just the mac section (i have found a disturbing tendency for mac fans to get the auction fever more severely than others). the other thing of course is to actually check people's feedback, read what was written and check out the complainers to see if they have a long history of not getting along with others. generally, i don't like to see the neutrals and negatives total more than 1% of a feedback rating, but with computer stuff i'm a little flexible as many of the complaints come from people who don't know what they are buying/need to buy or haven't bothered to read the auction (yes, some people rip you off on shipping, but if it's mentioned in the auction you've no excuse for not knowing and no right to whine after you win and finally bother to read...). having said that, do your homework, checking with the list ahead of time is a very good start. for something like a hard drive it's also a good idea to go to the makers site and check out the documentation, you could also possibly google for reviews, and what ever you do shop around and don't get the "i simply must win THIS item" mentality when bidding, there will always be a lot more drives listed in the near future, including those that haven't attracted the over excited over bidding people. finally, week days are usually better, on the weekends there are a lot more people bidding which means higher prices, and a slower ebay. also be aware that the ebay search function is flaky, often returning different results and missing many things when you are in a higher category so go all the way down to the ide drive category before doing a search, and remember you can have things sorted by price, though ebay always starts with the high priced until you click the price column again.
"Robert M. Reed" wrote: -------- > > The thing about ebay is that a lot of the Mac stuff goes for a bid > price that comes pretty close to what you can get it for from a > dealer with far less risk. > I saw Radeon 7000 video cards going for more than I saw them at -------- -- Philip Stortz -- To be nobody but yourself when the whole world is trying its best night and day to make you everybody else is to fight the hardest battle any human being will ever fight. -- E.E. Cummings -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
