Anyway, as far as buying/saving on eBay goes:
If you see an item that you want listed in auction format, send the seller a message asking if they will accept $x to end the auction early and sell the item to you. If that doesn???t work, use a sniping service such as Bidball.com to bid for you. It???ll bid in the last few seconds, helping to save $ and avoid shill bidding.
If there is a particular item that you want that is relatively rare on eBay or goes fast when one is listed, use ebuyersedge.com to set up a saved eBay search for it. You???d get an e-mail whenever a match is listed. You can use the price, category, exclude word, etc. filters to narrow down the results that you get in the e-mails. Excellent for ???Buy It Now???s priced right.
If the item that you???re looking for is difficult to spell, try a misspelling search site like Typojoe.com to find some deals with items that have main keywords misspelled in the title. Other interested buyers may never see them.
Like ghost towns in other parts of the world, the Italian village of Pratariccia has seen better days. With empty houses and overgrown fields, the Tuscan township has been uninhabited since the 1960s.
But instead of trying to renovate Pratariccia or lure in another crop of families, the property’s owners—reportedly a religious order—have decided to cut their losses and put the whole village up for sale… on eBay.
The medieval estate, which sits about 25 miles east of Florence, is now up for sale on the popular auction site for €2.5 million ($3.1 million), a price that includes the town’s 25 buildings and the right to build more.
“I put out all the usual details via the usual outlets but then thought why not use eBay?” Carlo Magni, the man arranging the sale, told the Telegraph. “So many people buy and sell online these days that it has to be worth it.”
The eBay ad makes no secret about the village’s “fixer-upper” status, however. After the town’s older generation died out and the economy forced young residents to move elsewhere, the hilltop sat empty for over 50 years. Now, most of the village’s structures are in ruin and driving through the town is nearly impossible since there are no real roads.
But according to Magni, who admits that the village would require another €1 million in repairs, the deal is still worthwhile.
“It’s a unique once in a lifetime opportunity to own your very own Tuscan hamlet—and the price is a complete bargain,” he said. “Where else would you get all those buildings, land, panoramic view, plus all the history for 2.5 million Euro?
Images: Jaklin Riegelmann & Co
