Good deals can be found on eBay but there is an unfortunate outcome for those of us who don't live in the USA. The shipping costs are sometimes more than the item that is on sale and once you have paid for it you have to wait for the item sometimes for over a month if you choose not to get it through FedEx which is double the price.
I imagine that international shipping costs would prohibit people from taking advantage of some of the deals to be had on eBay. I recently just bought a Fiesta ware serving set on eBay and spent about 40% less than I would have if I would have went to Macy's to buy the set, not to mention the gas I saved and time driving to the store.
The only discount promos I participate in when it comes to ebay are ones that are local. For international ones, I tend to just let them go even if I know the discount is much higher because I know I'll eventually end up paying the amount I saved for shipping anyway, and probably even more than that. I'd only consider it if I knew someone from that country who I knew would be able to do me a favor and bring it back and even then I would be uncomfortable with not treating them to a meal or giving them some sort of compensation so it pretty much equals out at the end no matter what.
Yeah, sale on eBay are actually really awesome. I find some of the cheapest deals on the internet there because either it's secondhand items or just being sold cheap for whatever reason. I'd much rather buy it cheap off someone else then have to pay like $100-200 more dollars on the same item. I live in the states so I couldn't speak on the behalf of foreigners but that must really be a bummer though if you have to pay that much more on shipping and it takes much longer for the item to arrive.
Actually eBay has several country-based versions, similar to Amazon UK, Amazon Japan, etc, so it's up to see if there is a local eBay and what the deals are. In addition, some members in US-based eBay advertise to send worldwide, mainly digital goods or small items.
