Another fun way to spend money.


I had no idea I was a collector. I was unaware this passion had worked its way into my repertoire. Perhaps it isn't so much the passion of collecting, as it is a deep instinct of hunting. The chase which makes it so much fun to participate in online auctions.


Seriously, who really needs 7 cookie jars all with the same blue and white ring pattern.
Yes that must be it! The hunt, the stalking - the waiting and the weighing of the options and then in the last minute...the attack! Yes, sometimes I bagged the trophy but sometimes not... More often than not someone else was faster, sneakier or just bid more money... Hey I actually didn't want to have that ol' thing!

Beware these online auctions can be addicting. The bidding, the hunting - that all can lead to the ownership of the porcelain Snow White and 24 dwarves or 2 acres of unreachable swamp land in Florida.

Who really can blame the 17 year old computer kid who just recently found he couldn't resist bidding on a doctors office in an attractive area and on an antique bed from the 17th century (hey at least he didn't bid on a gun!). Well, as virtual as the offers may have been, when it came to the payment, reality hit back hard. His $12 a week allowance would not quite cover his millions of dollars in bidding.

Anyway, regardless of these occasional faux pas', online auctioning has become for some quite a serious business. Perhaps the biggest online auction is eBay. eBay's approach to auctioning is fun and simple to use: For a period of 3 to about 9 days the offer stays online. A description and usually a photo helps you to judge the quality of the object. Well, sometimes the photos are more fun than the object itself. (Next time he for sure won't use a direct flashlight for the under glass water painting).


eBay Gallery - Guitar offers


Groups and subgroups help you to find your way through all the offers. A search engine makes it easy to find exactly what you are looking for - if you know what you are looking for.
Everything from tin toys to antique pin rollers to the guitar which has been in the same street where Jimmy Hendrix once drank a beer - the range is so wide I wouldn't even wonder about a fart-in-a-jar offer.


Search for 'Keyboard'

With a little bit of luck you can win the stereo speakers you always wanted for half of the regular price, which gives you the possibility to use your old speaker as a display for Snow White's dwarves - or better yet - you offer them all together in an online auction.

N.R.

eBay
2,037,620 items for sale in 1,627 categories now!
Over 1.5 billion page views per month!

auctions.yahoo.com
Yahoo's auction house

www.onsale.com