The build-up of new products like Apple’s iPhone, the Sony Playstation 3, the Microsoft XBox 360, or even the new Presidential $1 coins have created a temporary secondary market based on the perceived scarcity of the new items. Sometimes there are enough to go around for everyone who wants one (more or less); other times … Read more
I know: Dogs and cats living together — mass hysteria! Trent over at The Simple Dollar shelled out $3 for a chocolate bar and he and his family had a blast eating it. Sure, it wasn’t the most prudent use of money in a grand cosmic financial planning sense, but in a grand cosmic have-fun-with-your-family … Read more
A few days ago I asked whether inflated shipping charges on eBay are bad. My original take was that the shipping charges by themselves really didn’t matter that much — it was the sum of the final bid and the shipping that was important to the buyer, as well as knowing in advance what that … Read more
A couple of weeks ago we went to IKEA to pick up some light bulbs for some of our lamps. I was a little surprised to find out that IKEA had started charging a nickel apiece for plastic bags. We don’t go to IKEA often, and the bag charge had been around for a couple … Read more
A friend at work has a bone to pick with some eBay sellers who charge excessive amounts for shipping. It really ticks him off when he gets charged $14.99 shipping for a $9.99 item, and finds out that the shipping only cost $1.85. It doesn’t matter if the item was a great deal at $24.98 … Read more
We went to a big outlet mall near where we live after church today. My wife was shopping for quilting fabric and I was going around the mall with my daughter. One of the center kiosks had used DVDs for sale. The three prices for the DVDs were $8.50, $5.00, and $3.00, from most recent … Read more
I was glad to see Jim’s article on using eBay for pricing information. This was a topic I posted on a really long time ago — back before this site was even a blog! — and it’s still excellent advice. Some points to add emphasis to what was already in the articles: So yes — … Read more
On the first leg of my flight back from my conference in California a little over a week ago, I was informed by the ticket agent that the flight I was on was overbooked and overweight. They offered me a $250 travel voucher, good for one year in the US, for me or a family … Read more