er dang ebay!

First of all, a big welcome to you, Steven - I'm looking forward to checking out your collection.

And secondly, I guess that I am a believer in the "every man for himself" philosophy. For the most part I try to snipe auctions, and I rarely put in an early bid unless I am trying to win the auction for the opening bid price. I have seen many auctions in which I thought there was suspicious, shilling-type bidding on behalf of the seller, and sniping is the only way I know to avoid at least some of the shilling. I hope that no one here will take it personally if I outbid him or drive up his price, and I certainly will not take it personally if one of you does it to me. Obviously, there are just too many factors involved for us to create an all-inclusive policy about who should win and/or bid on certain auctions, and so I think we are all prepared to accept some negative ebay experiences along with the positive ones.

Kyle