Over the years, I’ve made a few good acquisitions from eBay to enhance the genealogy research – I’ve also been fleeced there. But with a little healthy skepticism, and a great deal of patience, eBay is a resource that should not be overlooked.

For example, I picked up Huffington Family History Volumes 1 and 2 (actual books, not computer CDs) for a nominal price. It took just over two years from the time I set up my eBay saved search, until the time a set of these books was put up for auction. I sniped successfully, and the books were mine.

The key here is the saved search feature on eBay. This feature is an automated scan for any items that match your saved search terms – if and when there is a “hit” you get an email from eBay with a link to the item. Most auctions on eBay last seven days, so there is still plenty of time to consider your bid.

I also picked up a copy of History of Marshall Illinois and Eastern Clark County this way. This book turns up on eBay with a little more frequency that the Huffington books, but the first 2 times my saved search alerted me to an available copy, I was outbid. The third time my patience paid off, and I picked up a nice clean copy for less than $25.

I currently have about 40 saved searches set up on eBay. I search for surnames or places of interest in categories such as Photographic Images, Paper and Postcards, Books, etc. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t get an email from eBay. Most of the time it’s for items of absolutely no interest, but it takes less than a minute a day to view and delete these messages. Over the years it’s been well worth the effort.

Some pitfalls:

• In one instance, I was the only bidder, at $4.95, for a magazine and therefore “won” the auction. The shipping charge was an exorbitant $6.50, but I knowingly agreed to this ripoff when I placed my bid. The magazine was described an being in excellent condition, and accompanied by a typical fuzzy photo. It arrived promptly and when I opened the package I discovered a filthy dirty rag of a magazine that reeked of mildew. Although eBay does offer recourse for buyers when something like this occurs, in this case I just took the item outside to the trash and forgot about it.
• A number of sellers on eBay are hawking rare old local and family history books, reproduced on computer CDs, for about $10-20 – usually far less than what you would probably have to pay for the real thing. But before you buy, be aware that many of these books are in the public domain. Always check the Free sites before you PayPal your cash away. A few places to check:
  Open Library and its parent site Internet Archive
  Google Book Search
  and the BYU Family History Library.
  Finally, check WorldCat to see if a library near you has a copy.