Hugh -- We have been purchasing items for the collection on eBay for about six months now. Mostly rare books and historic postcards, a couple of baskets and a few miscellaneous items. We are a tribal museum in the planning stages for a new facility. We are building our collection for library, archives and research, as well as for use in specific areas of the planned permanent exhibition. EBay has been a great source. The eBay vendors have been great. When we are successful, I always let them know that an item has been purchased for the museum. Some of the vendors have even thrown in a bonus postcard as a donation. A couple of local eBay vendors have delivered the items directly to the museum to save us the shipping costs. On only two occasions have we have received merchandise that had some damages that had not been described in the auction comments. Those vendors have been apologetic and willing to take the items back. Overall we have had great success. Good luck on your purchasing. --Kathy Kathy Clewell Registrar Agua Caliente Cultural Museum 219 S. Palm Canyon Drive Palm Springs, CA 92262 phone: 760/778-1079 fax: 760/322-7724 email: [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Hugh H. Genoways Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 2:30 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Use of e-bay Does anyone have experience with buying items on e-bay for your museum's collections? Has it been successful? Did you encounter any problems? What were they? Any recommendations for other museums looking to fill specific needs for the collection in this manner? We are particularly interested in any attempts to purchase Civil War related artifacts in this manner. Thanks for your insights. Sincerely, Hugh Hugh H. Genoways University of Nebraska State Museum W436 Nebraska Hall University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE 68588-0514 Telephone: 402-472-2012 FAX: 402-472-8949 E-mail: <[log in to unmask]> Professor University of Nebraska State Museum School of Natural Resource Sciences Museum Studies Program Chair Museum Studies Program Visit our website at <http://www.unl.edu/museumstudies> ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).