The Hunt - Online Auctions
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The online auction houses have taken the concept of the local swap meet and perfected it with one simple change: they opened up the swap meet to the world. Unfortunately, it’s very easy to get wrapped up in the auctioning and surpass the cost of purchasing the exact or similar new item. This is where doing your homework really pays off. Sometimes, when doing research on the value of a component you’ve contemplated bidding on, you find what you’re looking for at a much better price.
Also, eBay is a fantastic outlet for learning about those components. When you have thousands of people posting the sale of computer components, most will post specifications, reviews, and even hyperlinks to the manufacturer’s web site. Many times their configuration will also let you know that it’s something to avoid, or to seek out. eBay is not only an auction house of computer components, it’s also an electronic community and library for those components (see Figure 2-6).
Figure 2-6 - There are about one million new items listed on eBay every day.
The first place I looked for components was eBay and uBid, both of which list for sale thousands of parts in a wide range of condition and prices. For those of you eBay addicts, you know that the best way to “shop” on eBay is by clicking “going, going, gone” in your desired category (see Figure 2-7). This takes you to auctions that are ending shortly, maybe with the perfect part at the perfect price. You’ll no doubt be using eBay to buy parts for your server, so here are a few words from the wise:
- The rating system is there for a reason, so check the seller’s history and feedback. Take it from someone who’s been the victim of “eBay bandits” twice—if they’re newly registered or have a large amount of negative feedback, do not bid on their items. I’m still waiting for a 1 GHz Celeron processor I “won” for $35 from a place called Ready2GoComputers. If it’s too good to be true, it is!
- Avoid sellers who insist on payment through money orders and cashier checks only—unless they have an incredibly positive feedback history. Think of it as sending cash to a complete stranger with friendly referrals. Paying through a credit card or PayPal leaves a better paper trail.
- Do not bid on three or four of the same item if you need only one. You may win them all. Be patient. When you discover an item that you desire, bid on that item and watch it. This is how you can get a new CHAINTECH Computer Co. LTD MX400 Nvidia 64MB graphics accelerator or a Legend 3D Eagle Eye 128MB 3D Thrill graphics accelerator for about $70, while purchasing comparable products at retail would be up to $300.
- Don’t get caught up in the competition. Keep your maximum bid in mind. Winning an item at a great price is a better “kill” than winning the item at the price of a Ferrari. Remember your $400 budget.
The other online auction house that I’ve used extensively is uBid, as shown in Figure 2-8. The differences between uBid and eBay include the following:
- You bid and win most of the auctions through uBid, which processes the order and ships it to you directly, while on eBay you are dealing with the individual seller.
- The payment process automatically bills your credit card directly on uBid, but with eBay, you can use PayPal, an escrow-like payment service; a credit card, if the individual seller accepts them (many are actual retail outlets that also sell on eBay); or a check or money order, again sent directly to the seller.
- The number of offerings on uBid is considerably less, although still impressive. While eBay attracts over a million new auctions a day, I’ve rarely seen the total offering on uBid over a million.
- The auction doesn’t close on the specified time and date on uBid, but rather when no more bids occur for a ten-minute period after the posted deadline. On eBay, the end is the end: if you don’t get your bid in on time, you lost.
Figure 2-8 - uBid, an online auction site
Originally, bidders would only deal with uBid and not individual sellers, as uBid was a conduit that provided excellent delivery (usually) at a price. Today, there are three choice sellers on uBid: the official uBid Preferred Partners, who are uBid-approved third-party merchants; the Consumer Exchange, where you can sign up as an individual seller (like eBay); or uBid itself. Another valuable service offered by uBid is the payment process. When you sign up as a buyer, you are required to provide a credit card number, to which all of your winning bids are automatically charged; whereas on eBay, you actually have to check out each item, using the seller’s paying preference.
My tips for bidding on uBid are the same as for bidding on eBay. Overall, uBid has been a great resource for memory and hard drives, although they can be quite expensive with shipping and handling—so check before you bid, especially because the payment process is automated. You may win a 17-inch Sony Trinitron monitor for $35, but there’s a hidden $50 shipping and handling charge, usually listed as “Standard Ground – $11.99, plus $0.99 per pound.” That’s about $50 for a 40-pound monitor, which for a server is overkill.
 This chapter is from Build Your Own Server, by Tony Caputo (McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2004, ISBN: 0072227281). Check it out at your favorite bookstore today. Buy this book now. |
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