Yes.  You read that correctly.  I just lost my virginity.  No you sick bastard- not that virginity, my eBay virginity.  It is not lost on me that, like losing one's virginity, you can only really write about it once…

I always thought that eBay was a place where people tried to get other people to buy their crap from them; like a big estate sale.  Then one day I was cruising along the cyber highway in my brand new BMW 325i (come on, you don’t actually think I drive a BMW do you?  I can only afford to do that when it is in my imagination or on a silly blog posting) when I came across this odd and wondrous entity showing me a new world of opportunity.

You see, I was in Dick's Sporting Goods in Denver recently and decided to take a look at some new skis (alpine of course) for the first time in about twelve years just out of curiosity for pricing purposes; to feel out the playing field if you will.  My last pair of skis were Rossi's- straight skis that were 215 in length.  They were skis you had to ski- you had to drive these puppies hard, and drive them hard I did.  On my last outing with them a few years back the edge tore off the right ski.  Yeah, I know.  I'm lucky to be walking without a brace on.

I digress.  I have not been in the market for shaped skis before, and my limited experience with them is that you have to finesse them more than drive them or you'll end up skiing down the hill backward- at least that's what I did several times on my first day on them.  All I know is that I am looking for an "all mountain" ski in the 180 range (length, not price).

So I get these K2s for $125.  They are Omni 5.5s at 181.  They throw in some new Solomon bindings for $25, and I'm off to the races- er…uh…slopes.  WHOA!  Hold on there! Not so fast!  You have skis and bindings, but no boots (here's where I get to the relevance of eBay).  So I start looking at boots and find that the only decent boots out there run over $200 and it is Christmas time.   I go discount boot hunting one night and eBay keeps showing up in the Google search results.  I decide to take a look-see and find that eBay has new stuff too- and at really great prices. 

At this point I decide to throw caution to the wind.  I start small with a pair of ski goggles for $17.  I have to admit that they are a bit disappointing, but what'd I expect for $20 right?  I am impressed, though with the massive amount of new name brand ski boots at really good prices.  This is some good stuff.  So I start bidding.  I make a novice mistake and bid too early and not quite high enough, and get "bumped".  The price goes past what I wanted to pay and I learned my first lesson- patience, jackass, patience. 

After buying a few items for Christmas (some really cute- I mean, cool Cinderella dress-up clothes…FOR MY NIECE) to get warmed up.  I try my hand at a couple bids on more ski boots then, WHAM!  I hit pay dirt on some really cool Rossi Mountain Vipers.  Sweet.  Now I know what those whole "shop victoriously" commercials mean.  Sweet.