Bargains on ebay?

[Jac Hawk]

I think ebay is great, but there are pitfalls, i've seen junk fetch top dollar, as well as good hifi equipment go for peanuts, in my oppinion the secret to buying, is do your research, know what the item will go for elsewhere, set yourself a maximum price, and always bid in the last 15 seconds of a sale assuming the item hasn't gone over your limit you set yourself, if the item is pick up only, and it's too far to travel, ask if the seller can box the item up and you arrange a courier (they can only say no, and you may be supprised they may agree), finally always look for stuff that ends at weired times, mid afternoon or late at night, items that sell at this time often attract less last minute bidding so tend to go for less.

[nat8808]

Auction sniping has lessened the effect of odd ending times meaning cheaper prices I think.

Nowhere is too far to travel in my Ebay opinion. You just have to wiegh up the costs of that travel, including perhaps the cost of the time - I often 'pay' myself £10/hour in phantom money to pick something up to judge if it's still a bargain at the end. Then again, I quite like driving.

The main thing that will help get you a bargain is taking the risks that others won't take - an unheard of item that by instinct looks good but you can't find any info on it (and neither will anyone else) or something that someone is unable to test or has discovered not working after a long period of disuse etc.

Second thing is to literally spend hours and hours on Ebay trawling through all the catagories.

In other words, doing things that other people won't do because they have lives to live!

[Jac Hawk]

Yes I would agree that most people have wised up to ending sales at strange times, but it still happens, and you're right when you say that you have to spend some time trawling through the adds, but in the end it could all be worth it for an unearthed treasure.

In the end it just depends how much time and patience you have, and i suppose what you are doing it for.
In my case i enjoy finding old forgotten jems on ebay and reaserching them on the net.

[The Grand Wazoo]

How about something different?

Accuphase P260
A 30 watt class A mosfet power amp, switchable to 130 watts of class A/B
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Accuphase-powe...#ht_500wt_1156

[Techno Commander]

I have a feeling thats going to end up costing considerably more the the current £21.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Yeah, my thoughts too, but what a thing of beauty, eh?

[Techno Commander]

It is absolutely gorgeous, as is most Accuphase kit.

[Marco]

Bloody gorgeous, that - I'm a sucker for anything with big 'glowy' VU meters!

It'll definitely go for a decent price, but someone will still end up with a bargain, considering what something like that would cost new today!

Marco.

[spendorman]

Bloody gorgeous, that - I'm a sucker for anything with big 'glowy' VU meters!

It'll definitely go for a decent price, but someone will still end up with a bargain, considering what something like that would cost new today!

Marco.

This is fun:

http://www.vuplayer.com/vuplayer.php

The analogue meters of VUplayer:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4113/...eaf91a0f_b.jpg

[The Grand Wazoo]

It'll definitely go for a decent price, but someone will still end up with a bargain, considering what something like that would cost new today!

The current equivalent would be the A35 which I believe goes for something like £4.5k