Ebay: a useful idea on using it

I have been seeing a lot of threads on various bulletin boards where collectors discuss a "rare" item on ebay. Often they can prove it is a fake, or someone used to own the exact same thing.

And quite often, the item in question is identified with the ebay number. So I did an experiment. In a well known forum, I posted something including a random number/letter string that would be unique on the web.

I then started doing google searches for that string.

I was not able to check every hour, but in under 8 hours google had scanned that message and a search for it on google would find the one reference.

Therefore, if you are looking at a "rare" or expensive item on ebay it may be worthwhile to do a google search on the item number. And to help others out, if you are posting info on a specific ebay item, be sure to put the item number clearly in your message.