Building With EBay, Piece by Piece

Peggy Norris stands in the basement of her West Virginia mountain getaway with the sink she bought on eBay. It's an onyx vessel, flecked with gold, green and brown swirls. It just spoke to me, she says. So she bought it for $374. Onyx sinks usually retail for $800 to $1,500. (Courtesy of Peggy Norris)

Of course, building, renovating and repairing your homestead auction-style comes with caveats.

The big catch for many eBuilders is shipping costs. That glorious set of 24 Victorian balusters might be just what you're looking for, but it's not cheap to ship it from, say, New Jersey to California.

And yet, David Wood of Neptune, N.J., successfully made such a sale recently, despite the $120 shipping cost. The balusters, with matching handrail, went to a San Francisco man who was restoring his Victorian home.

"Quite a lot of effort went into preparing them and then packing them," Wood said. And when they arrived in California, still more work had to be done. "They had to be refinished before they could be installed, all of which took quite a bit of time."

Wood said he primarily sells antiques and collectibles, but he occasionally comes across striking architectural items. For example, he made a tidy profit on an Art Deco ceiling-light fixture that he picked up for $10 at an estate sale. Someone in Britain bought it for $150.

There are also the usual worries that accompany buying something sight-unseen.

To minimize the chance of misunderstandings, Saeed suggests buyers request a photo of the product before they send payments. If large sums are involved, eBay veterans advise using an escrow account, which holds a buyer's money until the item is received, and insuring the item during shipping.

Outright fraud is rare on eBay, the company said, thanks to the self-policing aspects of the Web site. The company said that of all the listings on eBay, less than 1/100th of a percent result in a confirmed case of fraud.

However, this does not mean buyers can be lazy, Saeed said.

He recommended paying close attention to a seller's feedback record, which quantifies a member's reputation on the site. After each eBay transaction, the buyer and seller are invited to leave comments and give each other a "positive," "neutral" or "negative" rating.

More than $20 billion worth of goods was traded on the site last year, suggesting that plenty of people are finding it a safe, reliable way to shop.

Norris, for one, was no eBay novice when she went sink shopping. She had already bought her 2001 Mercedes SLK through the auction site. "Three glasses of wine, and I bought a sports car," she said with a laugh.

Of course, if this one-piece-at-a-time approach tests your patience, you could just track eBay's real estate listings and buy yourself a whole new house. Saeed said he has his eye on one now.