Hi Troy and all,
yes the *** is to help protect the identity of the other bidders. I hadn't thought of sellers using this anonymity to push bids to their 'reserve' price. Oh that's taken all the fun out of it.
I've bought a few pieces of art on ebay at great prices. One of my silly buys was a huge lot of celestron telescopes and other bits and pieces (tripods, a few alt/az mounts, a little equitorial mount, and a gazillion eyepieces and barlows ) ranging from a 60mm refractor, 2 x 114mm reflectors and 4 (yes four) 127mm reflector OTAs. My kids think they are great - much easier to drive and move than my scope, and there's always a 'spare' for when a friend or two come over. Not sure what I was thinking whilst bidding, as I could have just spent that money getting the kiddies something more decent each and we certainly didn't need all those OTAs - it was just a bit of astronomical fun.
Kerrie
