Largest used-car dealer? You'll be surprised!

Although a few niche and high-end new cars such as Hummer H2s and 2005 Corvettes are offered by dealers, the vast majority of cars for sale on the Web site are used vehicles, many offered by individuals.

Although it's technically an auction site, vehicles often are offered and sold under conditions that don't really qualify as an auction. For example, a seller -- who pays a $40 fee to list a car and another $40 when it sells -- can set a "reserve price" on a vehicle. If the bidding, limited to a maximum of 14 days, fails to reach the reserve, there's no obligation to sell.

A seller also can put a "Buy It Now'' price on the auction in which a bidder can end the auction instantly by agreeing to pay that price.

A significant portion of eBay Motors' vehicle listings carry one or both of those restrictions.

But often a seller just wants to get rid of a car -- particularly if it's not a late-model vehicle -- and will put it up for the highest bid.

Bargains are not only possible, they aren't that tough to find with a little searching.

Last January, after satisfactorily buying many things from automobile parts to a laptop computer through eBay, I decided that was where I would buy my next car.

I wanted something that was somewhat economical, but it had to be sporty, nearly new and it had to be a convertible. I settled on a Mazda Miata.

Searching the Web site, I came across a 2003 Miata equipped the way I wanted and with just 703 miles on the odometer.

The seller was in Houston and I was in Florida. A minimum bid was set on eBay at $18,500 and, with three days left before the auction ended, no one had bid.

That was in part, I believed, because the car had an automatic transmission -- most Miata buyers want a manual gearbox -- and at the time it was the highest-priced of more than 100 Miatas being auctioned.

I looked up the list price when new and found this car would have stickered at about $26,500, making the auction price look like a bargain.

I checked the seller's feedback and found it was a shop that had sold quite a few cars in all price ranges on eBay Motors. They had nothing but positive feedback from buyers.

Next I did a Carfax check of the Miata's history -- the listing provided the car's VIN (serial number) and a link to the Carfax site.

It showed that the car had been bought new from a Houston dealership seven months earlier and traded at a Chevrolet dealership four months later with just 700 miles on the odometer. Carfax verified that it had not been in an accident or had major repair work done.

At that point I took the plunge and sent a bid of $18,500. I used another eBay tool that allowed me to set a maximum automatic bid of $19,000, should someone top my bid.

(A word of advice here: Be careful how high you set an automatic bid. On other items I have run into situations where I was sure the seller was using a different ID to bid up their own item, so my initial bid quickly went to something very close to my maximum.)

My bid set, I waited. No one else stepped in and I got my Miata for $18,500.

After the seller and I made phone contact I had a check sent from my lender. I also had secured that loan online.

A week later I took a one-way plane trip to Houston, was met at the airport by the seller, and in less than an hour was on the highway headed home. Nearly a year and 14,000 miles later, the car remains trouble-free.

As a postscript, when I got the car home I found the name of the first owner in the glove box. I called and found out that he had bought the car as a retirement present to himself and quickly discovered it was too small. So he traded it.

One person's castoff became another person's bargain.

Terry Jackson is an automotive expert, journalist and author. He is the former editor-in-chief of AMI Auto World Magazine and has written for dozens of publications, including Automobile, Road & Track and AutoWeek. He has penned seven automotive books and evaluates more than 100 new cars each year.