I pulled up my Pokemon search last night and right at the top of the list, with 2 minutes to go, were a couple of reverse-holo cards from the relatively rare Skyridge set. Skyridge and Aquapolis are the "weakest points" of Daughter #1's collection, so I was not surprised to find that she didn't have either of these when I checked the list. The opening was $0.99 and there was already one bid in. Knowing that the reverse holos from Skyridge go for at least $2.00 each at retail, I put in a two buck bid, and won the acution for $1.04 (the previous bidder had obviously come in for exactly the minimum). The shipping was a very reasonable $1.00, so I got both cards for $2.04 ... one of them was "worth" $7.00, so the "retail" equivalent from the "cheap site" would have been $12.00 (with two bucks for the other card and their three buck shipping charge). Not a "steal", but still a "deal".
I surfed on for a bit and saw a lot of 15 assorted Promo cards, which had a $2.50 miniumum (and also only a one-buck shipping charge). Now, Daughter #1 didn't "need" any of these, but I figured that the value was good (and, being the doting Dad that I am, I'm always looking for stuff to add to her "trading binder"), so I put them on my "watch" list. When I went to check my e-mail this morning, I saw that they were just about to close, and nobody had bid on them as yet. I put in a bid, and then headed out the door to drop her off at school. When I got back I found that I'd won these for the minimum, so with shipping, I'd burned up $3.50 ... not bad for a set of cards that would retail in the $40 - $50 range!
The combined cost of the two wins ... $5.54 ... is easily in my "1/7th of retail" target range, and (depending on who you believe for the "retail" on these ... my three sites are less predictable on Promo cards) these may well have ended up as "ten cents on the dollar"! I do love getting a deal, even if it's just adding two cards to the collection.