This would definitely count as a rant post ! I am a gadget freak and it seems that all the good stuff is only available at an affordable cost [even after USD to INR conversion] on ebay US or UK. No matter how much one says, ebay India or formerly bazee is a whole lota noise, and little auction. Lets do a small study on what I am talking about here
Search ebay US for “iphones” and see the results
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m570.l1313&_nkw=iphone&_sacat=See-All-Categories
Now go ahead and do this on the India one !
http://shop.ebay.in/?_from=R40&_trksid=m570&_nkw=iphone&_sacat=See-All-Categories
What is the difference, the US one actually shows ones which are being auctioned ! While the Indian one shows extremely lame results for an extremely popular product. I can draw couple of simple conclusions out of this simple activity. We Indians do not believe in second-hand bidding ! [Well, this is untrue, as a significant number of people do buy and make good use of second-hand goods in a country like ours] The audience which sells and buys stuff online do not believe in second-hand bidding [both buying and selling]! [This can be true given the low number of auctions one sees on ebay India to be honest] We only like to bid on new things, get discounts on them. [This is a fairly observable generalization, if you go through the stuff on ebay India]
Harsh as it may sound, we Indians are bad recyclers as we have more money. I also joined the freecycle Delhi club, and believe me you only have people asking for stuff and not giving away [and in theory we all generate some sort of electronic waste that can be re-used].