I have been using Ctbids since it's inception and have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on it, sometimes for single lots. I used to love it but as of late the handling prices have gotten crazy with sellers tacking on an extra 20 dollars for taking the item to the post office. Many times they justify it with gas and staff costs as though your item is the only one being shipped from the auction when that's obviously not the case. If they are collecting 20 dollar handling costs from all the buyers who need shipping you can imagine how much extra they're making on the side. The terms are very vague regarding these fees, often referencing fees but not going into detail about the ridiculous prices until after the item has already been purchased. The customer service has gotten substantially worse over time and many of the sellers don't follow their own terms and conditions. My last 3 purchases have been as follows: 1. Won an 18 dollar lot with an item worth around 75 (good deal right?) and was charged close to a 100 dollars after s&h charges + seller handling fee + buyers premium. To be fair it was a stack of records but even so the actual shipping cost wouldnt have been more than 20 dollars. I run a record store so I ship items like this out all the time. In an effort to cut the costs I asked the seller to only send the one item which he did but only after telling me that he usually charges an additional 50 to dispose of the items but he'll make an exception for me (gee thanks!). He still charged me a significant amount for taking the item to the post office and my total s&h costs ended up being just shy of 30 dollars for a single vinyl record. The estimated delivery date for the one item is over a month after I purchased it and I have yet to receive it three weeks later. 2. Bought a 40 dollar lot of items and paid 40 dollars shipping because the seller chose to do it themselves and charged for the effort. (the actual costs couldn't have been more than 15 dollars Max) 3. Purchased a thousand dollars worth of items only to receive them MONTHS later (this was a whole story in itself, I won't even bother going into the details on here) when the items arrived there was obvious damage that wasn't shown on the photos. Was given the run around day upon day for months.
4. Purchased a single vinyl record and had to argue with them to reduce the price on the shipping and handling. Ended up paying around 20-30 dollars s&h. (for reference it costs me $4.35 + 1.28 materials to ship a vinyl record anywhere in the US. I charge my International customers 26 dollars flat to ship anywhere in the world. Oftentimes it costs me less to ship to Japan than it does to ship a single record from ctbids.)

If you are a reseller or are looking for deals keep in mind you most likely won't get them here. The extra costs make it impossible to get a bargain unless the item is ridiculously high value and you get it for a song. Be sure to ask the sellers lots of questions before bidding, specifically regarding additional handling costs as well as shipping methods. Also be aware that communication varies a lot between locations and a lot of them are only interested in making a quick buck.