Perhaps one of the greatest overlooked genealogy resources is the huge "online garage sale" at eBay. For years before the invention of the Internet, I scoured flea markets and yard sales looking for old books, hand-written records, family Bibles, photographs, and anything else that would assist my search for ancestry. So, why not do the same with the online equivalent of yard sales and flea markets: eBay?
Indeed, old records and genealogy books are available by the hundreds on eBay. You can go to http://www.ebay.com and search for almost anything. I did a search on the word "genealogy" and found 4,505 items listed. Some eBay sellers apparently cannot spell too well: I also did a search on the misspelled word "geneology”: and found another 75 items listed for sale!
To be sure, the quality of genealogy material on eBay varies greatly, just like the items you find in yard sales and flea markets. You can find books of all sorts. You can occasionally find original records. I once purchased the original 1907 tax records for the town of Corinna, Maine, hand-written by the municipal tax collector at that time. It shows my grandfather's farm listed with real estate valued at $400 plus a personal estate of $92. It states that grand-dad paid real estate taxes that year of $10.00, personal estate taxes of $2.30 and a poll tax of $3.00. It also shows that his next-door neighbor never paid his assessed taxes, at least not in the year 1907. I hope that he paid them in arrears the next year.
By the way, I have no idea how official tax records of a town end up on eBay, or in a garage sale for that matter. I would assume that the records still belong to the town. In the case of the Corinna tax records, I photocopied the pages that interested me and then donated the original book to the town.
As when searching through garage sales and flea markets, be prepared to sift through a lot of junk in order to find the gems of interest. You will find books, reprints of books, scanned books on CD-ROM disks, reprints of Virkus' Compendium (a series of pseudo-genealogy books printed from the 1920s through 1940s and generally considered to be worthless), genealogy software (always verify that you will receive a legal software license), family Bibles, and more. One of the greatest treasures I ever found was a handmade coverlet made about 1840 by a man in my extended family tree, not a direct ancestor but a great-great-great uncle. The quilt included a handwritten letter from the man's granddaughter written in the 1930s describing her grandfather and how she came to inherit the coverlet.
Other items listed on eBay are not worth much. You can find collections of family group sheets, both on paper or even on CD-ROM. The odds of finding an ancestor on those sheets are slim. Besides, you can search through millions of equivalent records online at no charge; so, why pay five or ten bucks to purchase a tiny fraction of that information?
I have also found listings of CD-ROM disks that contain scanned images of all sorts of books, including a few that are still under copyright. Of course, selling copyrighted material is a Federal offense. Anyone doing so risks receiving an unpleasant letter from the copyright holder's lawyers. If you see such disks listed, you might drop a note to the seller. I have done that and have always received pleasant "thank you” messages in which the seller claimed that he or she did not know that the copyright was still in effect.
Scanning through other items listed on eBay shows that most everything genealogy-related can be found there. In fact there are so many genealogy-related items that there are too many to find by using a simple one-word search of "genealogy." Luckily, there is an easy solution: narrow the search down for specific terms by using more words.
I did a search for "Eastman genealogy," which specifies the results to show any listings that have both those words in the titles. There were none on the day that I searched. However, by clicking on "Search title and description," I was able to look for those two words in both the short title and the longer descriptions entered by the sellers. This time I found 43 items listed. Some were of interest while others were referring to items previously mentioned in this article. However, searching through 43 items is much easier than searching through thousands.
Of course, you can search for other words. I have an interest in Penobscot County, Maine, genealogy, so I conducted a search for "Penobscot genealogy" in both titles and descriptions. (Four items were found.) You can use your imagination to find the items that interest you. You might also try searching for combinations of two, three, or more words.
Too busy to go to eBay every few days to find items of interest? There is an answer for you as well. eBay will automatically conduct daily searches for any words or combinations of words that you are looking for. If found, eBay will send an e-mail to you, listing the item(s) found. You do not even need to visit eBay at all until you find something to bid on. You can find more information at http://pages.ebay.com/buyandsell/myebay.
Of course, just like flea markets and garage sales, you have to be careful about what you purchase. Money back guarantees may or may not be present; so, read the entire description to find out. eBay has a strong policy about accurately describing the items to be sold and enforces it rigorously. However, with several million sellers active at any time, it is impossible to enforce those policies everywhere.
One of the best things that eBay did was to invent a rating system in which the buyers rate the honesty and timely shipments of the sellers. If you see a seller with a high rating, you know that previous buyers of his or her products were satisfied with the results. Always read the rating of a seller before bidding. You can read more about the rating system at http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/know-seller-stars.html and at http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/hub.html.
I must say that I have been an eBay devotee for years. I have purchased probably several hundred items on eBay, including one tractor, two automobiles, and several computers for myself and my friends. I have also sold numerous items on eBay, again including two automobiles, with one of them shipped to a buyer in the Virgin Islands! I have been quite satisfied with the results.
Out of all my purchases, I can only recall one disappointment, and even that one was handled to my satisfaction. I once purchased an item for $200 that, upon receipt, seemed to be a bit more "used" than the seller's description indicated. I contacted the buyer, and he immediately said, "Send it back." I did so, and a week later my credit card was credited for the full amount, including shipping. While I am a satisfied eBay shopper, I still closely evaluate every seller's feedback rating before bidding on anything new.
eBay is, indeed, the world's largest garage sale. It can provide many items of interest that would be nearly impossible to find elsewhere. Yes, rare genealogy books and other items can often be found at http://www.ebay.com.
