Ebay

I like Ebay.  It's a chance for little people to have a go, amongst other things.  You can buy some stuff from somewhere (or steal it, I suppose) and put it up for sale, and see if anyone goes for it.  I buy quite a lot of things on Ebay, especially nowadays.  But sometimes it is a bit baffling.

Now that I've repositioned the trampoline onto specially-positioned concrete blocks (yes, I did that without telling you, sorry), I need to attach the thing to the concrete blocks to avoid any more unintended wanderings in high winds.  It's already a bit bent from its unintended wanderings during the last set of gales, but not too badly.  Also, I have a plan to attach some fencing which was removed during the building of the terrace (and has been littering the lawn ever since) round the base of the trampoline. Anyway, I needed some pipe clips, so off I went to Ebay.  Fortunately the trampoline legs are about 38mm diameter, which is near enough to 40mm, which is a standard waste pipe size, so there are lots to choose from.

Here's a typical example: 2 x New Pushfit Waste Pipe Clip plumbing pipe fiitings(sic), size:40mm Black for £2.39.  Ebay helpfully points out that that works out at £2.39 per unit.  Er, no it doesn't, but never mind.  Even £1.20 each seems like rather a lot to me for a small bit of plastic.  No matter, there are always more to find on Ebay.

And so to these: Ah, that's a bit better. 40mm Push-Fit Pipe Clip pack of 10 - Black, for £4.80.  Ebay somehow isn't up to attempting a calculation on that one, but I can divide by ten (in my head!) and get 48p each.

But I need more than ten, so I'm still looking.  Ahah! These look like my sort of deal. FloPlast Push Fit Pipe Clips white 40mm Qty 50 for £5.  Ebay is, once again, flummoxed, but even including £3.10 for postage (from Cowbridge, United Kingdom) that still only works out at 16.2p each.  I'd prefer black or grey really, but not enough to pay three (or even seven) times as much for them.

I should have stopped there, but you know what it's like when you're on a roll. And so I discovered these: Merriway BH06824 Push/Compression Fit Waste Pipe Clips 40mm Black - and the price? £15.99 sir.  Is that a box of 100, or something?  There are no clues in the description, but I scrolled all the way down to a section called "Specifics" to discover...

Included Components: 4 x PIPE CLIP BLACK 40mm

Batteries Required?: No

Shipping Weight: 18.1 g

So, just the four clips then, at a modest £4 each?  For plastic pipe clips?  That's very nearly 25 times the price of the cheapest FloPlast ones.  At least they don't need any batteries.  Incidentally, they also work out at 88p/gram, which is more than twice the going rate for silver bullion.

Ah, but these are no ordinary plastic pipe clips sir.  They are made by Merriway, and "Merriway is a brand of bulk hardware Limited, a family-owned company established more than 45 years ago And based in the south West of England. Bulk hardware designs, manufactures, sources, packages and sells high quality products covering areas as diverse as DIY, hardware, gardening, security, ironmongery, electrical, domestic, fastener, plumbing, fixings, draught exclusion, child safety, packaging, soft furnishings, shop fitting, flooring and automotive."  Capitalisation obviously isn't one of their specialisations, and I do have to wonder whether they actually sell many of their pipe clips at £4 each.  But maybe they do, and that's the wonder of Ebay.  Just not to me.

a pipe clip