EBAY - Good or Bad? Your experiences??

As an ebay newbie I have to say I'm becoming addicted, lots of my friends
told me how they'd got great bargains on everything from clothes to cd's, car parts etc. but I was never convinced.
So i took the plunge at the weekend, I joined up and searched for an old style turntable which I had wanted for a long time, the particular model I was looking for was retailing for about £1,350 or €1,650e approx. I didn't expect to find it but low and behold there it was on my screen with the price set at, wait for it,
£635.00 !! Naturally I was excited, there were four hours to go according to the auction timer so I called a friend and asked for advice , he told me to hold out 'til nearer the end and then see how it was going and place my bid. I literally couldn't bear watching but to my amazement there had only been two further bids when i checked the site again with just 30 mins to go.
To cut to the chase I made the winning bid with ten minutes to go and saved
approximately £500 to £650 on an item I was probably going to buy later in the year from a high street store. I received the turntable within ten days and it was
absolutely perfect.
I've since found another couple of items which I saved a bucket on although it can be very addictive and paypal often feels like using monoploly money until you get your credit card bill at the end of the month!
I know there might be also be plenty of negative ebay experiences out there but I thought I would share mine and ask
what was your greatest bargain purchase on ebay?

[edit on 24-2-2007 by pmexplorer]

A 4BG MP4 player for £25 and no postage.

Today's been a good day.

I just bought a lock of Britney Spears hair for $5 US. I think I got a good deal, just hope it is the real deal.

No, seriously there are a lot of good deals there, but I was never one to find them in the right place at the right time. I have also heard a lot of horror stories of people being phished and had their credit cards compromised as well.

I guess you need to be aware that you can get scammed by sellers as well.

Originally posted by ben91069
I just bought a lock of Britney Spears hair for $5 US. I think I got a good deal, just hope it is the real deal.

No, seriously there are a lot of good deals there, but I was never one to find them in the right place at the right time. I have also heard a lot of horror stories of people being phished and had their credit cards compromised as well.

I guess you need to be aware that you can get scammed by sellers as well.

Ben at the britney purchase!!

Just wondering could you elaborate on what you meant by
getting 'scammed by sellers'.

I'm basically an ebay newbie, I'd be interested in hearing
about this.
Thanks.

Originally posted by pmexplorer
Just wondering could you elaborate on what you meant by
getting 'scammed by sellers'.

I'm basically an ebay newbie, I'd be interested in hearing
about this.
Thanks.

Seriously, I don't have firsthand experience with Ebay. Millions of people do, but sellers don't get bad reviews for nothing. Some of them don't follow through with sales, etc. etc. I don't believe that Ebay is entirely safe.

My mom is an Ebay lover, but now she is forbidden to use it due to her husband. By some method (probably a phishing scam), someone stole her credit card info and ran it up to the max. Now, this is not Ebays fault, but it is obvious that an online buying and selling medium is just asking for potential thieves and con-artists to operate.

I think Ebays own FAQ's on completing safe transactions will probably tell you the very best information.