I understand your point but it's what 'number of posts' to set it at as people use the forum differently. I can't see how you can say that a certain number of posts alone is the qualification.

Some 'lurk'
Some like me post only when they feel they have something 'unique' to ask / contribute - I have logged in almost every day for over 3 years but have only got above your suggested limit in the last couple of months. I have successfully bought (in person) via this forum twice.
Some join and just post any old thing on loads of threads really quickly

If we want to put a qualification on I think it needs to be only to stop people joining just to sell immediately - i.e. not if joined within the last 14 days.

Personally I don't think the issue is a 'problem' yet. If they have something to sell let them post - potential buyers can see their number of posts and their joining date etc. and make their own judgements.

I'm going with the scientific ballon of some sort possibily not necessarily weather. It's clearly a ballon with something below, not a chinese lantern nor a kids ballon and a ballon science instrument the most likely thing to see at that size at that sort of altitude.

Always collapsible rubber for us - both handy and a small amount of protection from dropping or knocking the front of the lens.

gartmore, interested in your comment as I always shoot RAW+ which I thought was for this reason:

If I am happy with the jpeg I can just use that without having to spend any time post processing but if I do need to tweak I have the RAW to do a better tweaking job with. 95% of the time I am happy with the jpeg. Maybe I just have low standards

If I just shot RAW I would always have to do some PP as 'out of the camera' the RAW shot will not look as good as the jpeg , for example people always seem to need to apply some sharpening to a RAW. I realise that could be done as 'batch' but really don't want to have to do any PP unless the shot really needs (1 in 200 or so) it or is a 'special' one ( 1 in 1000.)

Do you think my logic is based on a misunderstanding? I am keen to check I am not wasting card space but would rather that than have to spend more time PPing.

I use these 'rules of thumb'

- reserves are the worst option for all

- auctions have to start really low to get 'mommentum' but you risk it going for less than you want

- if you are going to start an auction high and expect it to go for around that you might as well go Buy It Now - you can list for longer & the potential buyer will know they have won and will get it sooner so are more likly to buy it.

- Best Offers is fine if you are really willing to drop a reasonable amount.

As you say the difficult bit is what to set it at in the first place if there are no comparable 'Completed Listings' to guide you.

Thanks Arto

By co-incidence the question about 300 dpi has been answered in another thread.

Can anyone enlighten me on my remaining question:

Is having a profile we can download and match essential for accurate colour reproduction?

If one of you with an unused hotshoe spirit level happens to find it lying at the bottom of their bag and wants it to go to a good home instead - PM me.

Maybe one advantage of being short of funds is that we don't buy things until we are sure we really need them - as I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

As our printer is in for 'repair', probably terminal we are looking at online printing rather than replacing it. One reason being that we don't use it that much, just one large print every 1-2 months when we get a special photo we want to hang on the wall.

But, that's also a barier for online printing as the most recommended companies have quite high P&P charges, so for example whilst dcsl charge for a 10x8 is good once P&P of 3.25 is added it would work out at over £4 a print.

So, was attracted to ad for Snapmad whose P&P is only 99p. I was put off because they don't have a profile you can download and they print at 300dpi. I thought that 300 dpi sounded bad for enlargement as my old 'All In One' printer can do 600 dpi. But looking at other companies (inc. dcsl) it seems standard.

I am clearly missing something so if someone can educate me that would be appreciated?

Also the question of profile - I understood you needed to match this to get correct colour reproduction? But the next cheapest for P&P Snapfish don't have this either and I know many people here are happy with them.

We have one photo we have taken of a sunset where the mauves in the sky fit our decor really well so are considering a large canvas print of that. Snapmad are really good value for those, but if the colours were off the whole point of it would be lost.

Is having a profile we can download and match essential for accurate colour reproduction?

In case it matters we have Elements 9, PaintShop Pro X, Fastone but have not 'calibrated' our monitor and I think as calibration tools cost £60+ would not wish to do so just for this purpose.

Thanks for any advice or if anyone has used Snapmad their comments.

I have found lots of sellers seem to have diferent prices on e-bay to Amazon Marketplace to their own websites. Fees and P&P policies would be a reason but it's not always consistently one way or another - 7 Day Shop in particular.

I now find I check all 3 before making any meaningful purchase to get the best price.

I don't blame the shops they are quite within their rights to charge what they can across different markets, and it's for us to 'shop around' as always.

I seem to be able to watch DVD Box sets by buying new on Amazon / Play etc. then selling used once watched for almost the same price and sometimes more on e-bay. So we can watch the box set for just the price of the e-bay / Pay Pal fees. Lots of people on e-bay don't seem to go beyond there when checking prices so I can't blame retailers for pricing there accordingly.

Can't understand it myself, it's not like it takles forever to type what you are looking for into Froogle / Google Product search. But I guess some people have such busy, busy lives