Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thought it might be good for a laugh to ask people to nominate their most ridiculous ebay (or other auction of classified for that matter) purchase. God knows I've had plenty as those who know me well around here would already know.

My most silly purchase was actually from the weekend classifieds, not ebay. Advertised was a couple of hundred (can't remember exact number now) 6 metre long 60cm wide polystyrene sheets. They were advertised as being 1cm thick - so I figured that by adding 3 or so together and sandwiching between some cheap ply, they would make fo great insulation for the AP tank room that I was going to build in my shed.

Unfortunately when I arrived at the sellers place - having already hired a car carrier to get the stuff home, I found that not only were they thinner than 1cm, they were not of uniform thickness (they varied from sheet to sheet). Pissed off as I was, I still took them because I'd hired the trailer etc. I think he may have taken a bit off the price. Of course after having had 2 piles of this stuff in my shed for the last two years, each pile around 2 metres high, I wish I'd cut my losses and not bought the stuff. I'm going to use some of it sandwiched between a couple of bits of tin to make a roof for a cubby I'm going to build for the kids, but then I think I might end up getting rid of the rest (try and get a few bucks for it, or just dump it)

What has prompted me thinking about this is my latest ebay purchase which I picked up today. Although I'm still reasonably satisfied with this particular purchase, it too is kinda silly and I might post about that one later

Go on VB do tell!!! Please????
Is it the structure for the bomb shelter!

I bought a shade house for 99c but when they told me it would cost $50- to post it,
I replied with "I'll pick it up then."
Apparently that was not an option.
I didn't follow through and haven't bought anything since.
I guess the moral of the story is, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
I may have a bad rating now??

when I was going thru an obsesive compulsive must buy stuff online phase, I bought 72 cans of spray mark fluorescent markout paint from Grays Online.. Just beacuse the stuff was cheap at $3.50 a can doesn't mean that I will ever use that many cans. So far I have used 2 cans, so they have cost me about $125 each instead of $8.50 at the hardware shop. This is easily the stupidest purchase I have ever made. Closely followed by many other items at clearing sale auctions, ebay etc.

If any Adelaiders woyuld like a can $3 will get you one lol

Stu - shame I'm not closer, I'd defintely want to buy enough cans to last the next 100 years off you

Faye - yes that is my latest.

I've been keeping an eye out on ebay, on and off, for anything that may be able to help me build my greenhouse I need to get my AP up and going properly. I've been pretty open to options, but mainly have kept my eye out for pipe/tube which I can bend to make a hoop house. There has really been very little of this coming on and on the odd occassion it has, it has sold for quite a lot.

This brings me to my latest purchase. I've decided that rather than make a hoop house, which is probably going to be vulnerable to the ferocious winds we get here a couple of times a year anyway, maybe I'll build a sloping roofed structure off the side of the shed, the shed wall being the back of the greenhouse (and the high point) and the roof made of polycarbonate sheeting. Advantages of going this way include (I figure):
- will be stonger than a hoop house (at least the roof part)
- I can use the 8 lengths of 6 metre long C channel that I bought off ebay about 2 years back
- I can use the roof to collect additional rain water for my tank (used for dirt garden and will be used for AP top ups). This tank is in the same area as where the greenhouse is to go.

This brings me to my latest purchase. Although not ruling out buying pipe/tube/rail to bend into hoops for a hoop house, I've kept an eye out for stuff I can use to support the C channel beams for the roof of a flat (sloped) roof greenhouse. Last week I see 13 lengths of 4 metre pipe on ebay, so figure this may be worth a bid. The point at which I want to attach the roof to the shed is about 3.5 meters high, so I figure 4 metre length metal is pretty much what I need, given that factoring in slope, the first pole will be a bit shorter than 3.5 anyway.

So I bid on this stuff and am successful. However in true Kuda style, I’ve tended on the over-engineering side of things in that the pipe I have bought is 140mm diameter pipe (structural). It was advertised as being 4mm thick, but I think it is probably only 3mm (hard to tell because the end has been cut with an oxy), though 3 of the lengths are 5mm. Even the 3mm stuff is way strong and way heavy. On the top of each piece there is a cleat welded (15mm steel).

Picked the stuff up today, so the question is whether I use it as originally planed for the greenhouse, or use it for something else. Could provide the basis for a very strong, kick arse greenhouse, but will also be fairly hard to handle and I image I’d want some pretty good concrete footings (not sure of the term) to sink them into

Wow cool mate. Build it. It'll never come down!

My worst was grays online. Bid on a pc for dw.they don't (or didn't) have the best website, so I got a message saying I'd been outbid - and my bid have been incremented automatically - reading this as meaning I had lost the auction, I went in search again.
So instead of buying 1 pc for $350 I bought 2 for $800!!!

Well at least I got myself a new pc out of the deal.

How about 4 pallets (perhaps 3000) of halloween costumes....

Anyone need a Zorro custume?

Mark

I once bought 300 kgs of stainless steel MIG welding wire on the internet (not ebay though) that's just sitting here in my room.. And I don't even weld!

Bought it for another hobby of mine - making chainmail - but it's going to take decades to use up all of that!

So yeah, pretty rediculous!

I feel a BYAP garage sale coming on

this is hilarious...

The wife of a friend was excited at buying a very tall wooden flagpole for their farm (near Monya). Got it for a bargain, but she didn't realise the logisical nightmare and expense to get it transported from Queensland.

Funny you would say that KE14, on ebay I bought a windmill from Monya's next door neighbour. (kidding of course)

Well it wasn't eBay... but Bunnings...

Been wanting to get some growbeds together for the Barra system... but money has been short....

Happened to be passing the local Bunnings today, so I thought I'd drop in and see what price they on 150mmx50mmx3mtr sleepers... thought I might be able to pick up a couple and get at least two growbeds online....

They wanted $12 each.... so I thought I'd drop into the local sawmill on my travels...

As I drove out the checkout gate I spotted about half a dozen 150x50 sleepers on a pellet.... a long way from where they are usually stacked...

Asked the bloke, and he said they were going to cut them up, as they were warped, chipped or slightly barked...







Turned over... they looked just fine... and I'm going to cut them in half anyway...

Haggled with him for about 5 minutes.... got 8 lenghts for $24... now that's ridiculous....

I think you're getting "ridiculous" and "bargain" muddled up Rupe... definitely WAY off topic here

It was a Ridiculous Bargain....

/duck