Over the years of playing around with electronics and computers, I have accumulated a cable or two. However, when I wanted to check out a particular product, I found myself short on HDMI cables (I didn't have any!) - so I had a look on a couple of websites, including eBay.
I found a Seller who was offering HDMI cables at auction with a one cent start and 'Free' postage. Some of those had sold at prices less than $1 - so I went to check the Seller background.
This seller has been a member since mid 2005 and has a feedback score of over 10,000 with a rating of 99.2%. Over 1500 of the feedback came in the last 6 months with around two dozen non positive ratings. This seemed not unreasonable - but then it got interesting.....
In trying to read the feedback comments, I was somewhat stymied - since the vast majority of them were in Italian. The Seller ID and Store name were clearly Italian as well, but then there were some other observations on geography.
The listings stated: Item location: MELBOURNE, Australia
immediately beneath: Postage: FREE - Standard delivery from outside AU
but somehow I think this entry under the Seller profile is more informative: Location: China
OK - so not being in a hurry and fully expecting the possibility of a slow boat from China, I decided to throw a dollar at one of them ... well, actually, it was $1.17.
I won it for 31 cents. Being a conscientious buyer, I immediately paid. (Yes, I used PayPal.)
I then threw my unspent budget of $0.86 at the next auction ... and won a second cable for the princely sum of 30 cents, which I also promptly paid.
I let the next auction slide until my curiosity got the better of me, whereupon I placed the entire balance of my budget - a whopping $0.56 - and won a third cable ..... for 20 cents. It, too, has been paid.
I now await delivery of three 1.5 metre current spec HDMI cables - apparently PHILIPS brand, with a Lifetime Warranty - for a grand total of 81 cents, including delivery.
Even though I reckon it's odds-on they are coming from China and I just might see them before the end of the month, that is just insane economics.
I just could not bring myself to lash out with the remaining 26 cents of my budget............