Bob I first heard your trick for finding the real bargins on eBay from a friend who was making his living on eBay at one time. He was using wild cards to search for miss-spellings.

He also suggested when you find something like that the first thing you do is bid on it, so the seller can no longer change the listing to correct it. I've never gone quite that far to secure a bargin, but a few little tricks can help you get what you need at a good price.

For one day back in the 80's I was a used car salesman. One trick we were taught was to devalue a customer's trade by saying 'I saw one like it last week on 82nd for $xxx.' 82nd was the local used car row. I couldn't lie enough to make it selling used cars, but I do watch price on stuff on eBay so I can say with integrity that I saw such-and-such 'on eBay last week for $x' and so your's cann't be worth any more.

Items are eBay sell for various amounts, and both sides can use sale amounts to their advantage.