The thing about eBay is that it was a super cool idea at one time. A true peer-to=peer marketplace that was like a cross between an online garage sale and a collectibles expo marketplace. Sadly, most of that is gone... but they manage to make themselves a cultural icon of sorts, reaching that point where people say things like "Oh, I can eBay that!" when they make a "find" at a flea market.

My wife has solved her woes for the time being, by getting a set of registration codes from a friend at Microsoft... but we're still going to keep open to alternatives.