rack related issues

[jhoney at flash.net]

As much as I am peeved with the people who run ebay based on their 
non-enforcement of their own spam policies, I cannot deny the fact that 
their venue of making purchases can save you major simoles.  You can 
drill into it from a number of directions and ultimately specify that 
you only see auctions/products in your area.  Beyond that:

    - look for somebody who has a 'lot' of auctions
    - anybody with more than 5% of negative feedback is to be avoided
    - pay close attention to any negative feedback they have had in the 
last 12 months
    - pay attention to shipping
    - if shopping locally, you'll pay sales tax but usually avoid shipping
    - confirm with seller, if local, that you can arrange to pick up the 
product
    - allow several days for seller to reply to any questions you pose
    - don't bid on anything if you haven't gotten your important 
questions resolved to your satisfaction
    - despite what ebay sez, I almost always try to reserve my last 
bidding for what they call 'sniping'.  Get on a high bandwidth line and 
be prepared to submit your best & final bid in the last 20 seconds of 
bidding
    - to understand how the price changes in the last 20 minutes, look 
at some auctions that have closed recently and pull up the bid history.
    - I typically am opposed to bidding on anything that has a seller's 
reserve.

Good hunting.

===

Dean Kao wrote:

>Hey guys
>
>   I was wondering where in the bay area I can pickup a rack,
>patch panel, and a rack mountable switch.  I know I can get
>these a rack and a patch panel at Frys but I dont think I've
>seen a rack mountable switch there.  Are there places that
>sell more rack mountable equipment around?  I'm also looking
>for cisco 2500s locally too.
>   In terms of the rack, can people with install experience give me
>some advice?  Anything would be great.
>
>Thanks!!
>Dean  
>