QotD: Best Buy

What's the best thing you ever bought off of Ebay or Craigslist?

<curmudgeon>It's spelled "eBay" with the CamelCase.</curmudgeon>

The best thing I ever got off of eBay was a sign from Disneyland. It used to hang over the Mad Hatter shop in Fantasyland, but eventually became too weathered for Disney standards and was put up on eBay by a guy who insisted he obtained it by completely legal means. Later, I came to doubt this.

It was expensive - over $200 - but I had to have it. It was, after all, a Disneyland "artifact" (a prop or other item that has been used in the park), and it had an Alice in Wonderland theme. This was also my first purchase ever on eBay (this was back in 1999), so I was a little wary. Still, I braved it, bid, and won.

Then the trouble started. I was told it shipped. Two weeks later, nothing. I sent numerous emails. He would respond, but always with the same info, "It shipped," but wouldn't give me a tracking number. I became increasingly nervous. I sent more strongly worded emails. My contact would blame his "partner," whom I doubted existed.

When I finally threatened to get eBay involved, I got an email explaining they were confused, it was a different item that had shipped, and my item had indeed been shipped by FedEx. My request for a tracking number was ignored.

It finally showed up on my doorstep hastily "packaged" in a collapsed brown box, the open ends loosely taped shut. There was no waybill or any indication it had been shipped at all. My suspicions were confirmed when I checked the location of the sellers - they were one city over from me. Clearly, they shoved it in a box, drove it over, and dropped it on my front porch - and pocketed the money I had given them for shipping and insurance.

I could have pressed it, but I didn't. I was so relieved I hadn't lost my $200, I let it go, but not without sending them an email explaining I knew what they did. And that Mad Hatter sign is still one of my favorite things ever.

You'd think that experience would put me off, but no; I've used eBay quite a bit since then and haven't had a single transaction that's gone bad. Everyone should use eBay for all their ecommerce needs. Shop victoriously.