for over ten years I have been a regular user and avid fan of ebay but in the past month I have run into more deadbeats, angry sellers/buyyers and just plain lousy transactions than I had in years. it started when Diplomacy arrived in such a flimsy box that it  had been crushed and it took the seller over a month to send me a refund.

just this month I purchased a tea pot which arrived broken, a treo whose keyboard only half functions, a URL rather than a product (stupid me for not reading the fine print), and a set of 12 plates which came as a ready to mosaic project for a prisoner in occupational therapy. 

i guess all good things must end and the days of ebay being a way to get killer deals from other internet nerds is over. so long frank lloyd wright.