I forget that, too, even when thinking about those days.
I wrote many checks, and on some items you had to go out and get a money order. And then you'd wait for your payment to arrive, and in some cases you'd even wait for the check to clear before the seller would ship.
And with all of that, it was still a better world. Something I still miss, and it's now been YEARS since they made this change, is that you not only got to know the sellers, you got a feel for the other regular bidders in a given area of interest because eBay didn't hide the usernames.
And the manual sniping, yes indeed. I got really good at it, and many a night I'd set my clock so I could get up and bid just seconds before an auction closed. And more often than not, I'd win. I was actually quite reluctant to put my trust in sniping software. But I finally did, and eSnipe became my friend. I never looked back.
