I have noticed that with vintage cars, the seller will place a note in the description that the car is subject to be sold before the auction ends. There is no way to control what goes on behind the scenes. After all, the item belongs to the seller. Some thought behind high expensive items: If the seller were to pass up a pretty good offer say locally from a 'bidder' who just happens to be in town, what are the chances that some of the bidders on line may default on the deal and leave the seller with high fees to ebay with no buyer to be found. I think that is why as an honest seller, if you want the cash out right, make it a 'buy it now'. One of the most discouraging things that I have dealt with regarding ebay, though not very often, is the bidder that will out bid a bidder in the last second of the auction, and when it comes time to pay for the item, the bidder is long gone and nowhere to be found. The bidder that came in second had many great feedbacks with 100% rating. And yep, I had to pay the ebay fees and relisting fees, etc. Ebay still wants all of their fees! A two edged sword with the feedback system is if you, with a 100% feedback, leave a sorry bidder with a bad feedback, what do you think will happen? Yep, your 100% feedback becomes ruined by that no good bidder. Currently, as a buyer, I am in the market for some pretty 'pricey' items in this wonderful hobby of collecting phonographs. I have been very fortunate to have collected some nice pieces over the years and am ready to end out my collecting for the pieces that will complete the sets that I have wanted for many years. I am more apt to buy from members of the phonograph club that I am associated with, and possibly from some members of legitimate phonograph groups, when bellying up to the bar for these items. I have bought four machines, all horn machines, from ebay and really sweated big bullets until they arrived at my home. I was very fortunate, they arrived fine. A Victor E and a Victor I, purchased from the same seller this time last year, arrived one month late due to the seller writing the wrong address on the packages. Inattention to detail will delay a transaction each and every time. As for the shipping, they were all shipped well with proper packaging, dismantling, etc. It's true, some folks are selling for that great aunt and have no earthly idea that shipping one of these items requires bubble wrap, dismantling of the components, etc. Some of the 'ebay mind set' on shipping is to just throw the item in the box with some old newspaper and away she goes! I appreciate the many people, several of you may have been part of it, that I have had the pleasure to buy from and sell to on ebay. Like many of you have said, ebay really has no control of the millions and millions of auctions that go on each year. Their biggest concern is getting all of the fees owed to them. Does ebay really have the resources, or the desire to look out for the customers? Thanks for reading my two cents worth. You all have a great 2008 and keep the speed limit at 78...rpm, that is! Brantley </HTML>