mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix
• Lumberton, NJ, (population 12,000) is the most active community of eBay buyers and sellers, per capita.
• Items banned for sale include ammunition, used underwear and teacher’s editions of textbooks.
• The first item ever bought on eBay was a non-functioning laser pointer. When the buyer was asked if he understood the product was broken, he replied, “I’m a collector of broken laser pointers.”
Broken laser pointers? No way!!
posted by Varient on 3-29-2007 at 3:07 pm
That laser pointer did set a trend in a way.
I have just given eBay another go after dismissing it years ago as a place where people have to pay a LOT for things like broken laser pointers.
It still seems to me that most thing people bid on end up costing the same or more as new items in a store, but I admit that you can find the occational fair deal.
But there are no undiscovered treasures. Which is a shame.
posted by Storm on 3-30-2007 at 6:49 am
Now, where did Mental Floss get this information?
posted by Robin on 3-30-2007 at 2:02 pm
The trick to EBAYing (verb), is to take the freshly conceived needed thing du jour; and do a search bringing up all the prices for said item. Pick out a few of the cheaper priced ones, and bid low. If none of these bids win, you will have a feel for what the going price is now. If that is less than retail, go for it. But be sure and check the mailing costs. Some are inflated. And some sellers are always charging Huge prices looking for dumb shoppers!
posted by Dave on 4-1-2007 at 9:18 pm