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DangerousDave · Post by **DangerousDave** » Mon May 22, 2006 3:14 pm

Question about regular Ebay MRE case sellers. Hey Kman, I was wondering about the integrity of some of the sellers. CajinClara? etc. Some guy near Ft. Campbell has been selling A and B case sets dated INSP. 2008, but looks like he's using shill bidder(s) to drive price up. Do you have any good info? I think someone on forum mentioned cajinclara before. The hype on those auctions looks suspicious to me, the U.S. flag and "Lets do a free case" crap.

Thanks for any info.

Post by **kman** » Tue May 23, 2006 9:14 am

Well DangerousDave, for as long as I've been ebay shopping for MREs (about 6 years now), CajunClara has been selling them. Her prices have always been about $10-$20 too high for me so I've never bought from her but I've spoken to people who have and the deals seemed to have gone though ok. And she seems to have an endless supply of MREs. She's been through Gulf Wars and hurricanes and I can only guess how many Army investigations (when they crack down on ebay sellers) and yet she's still selling them...and still selling them at her premium prices.

I've heard of other problems with certain ebay sellers - shill bidding is definitely a concern. It's just getting harder and harder to tell the legitimate ebay sellers from the non-legitimate ones. That's why when I buy MREs, I've started being more cautious - deeper checks into their feedbacks, email conversations with them, etc. Anytime I start to get a strange feeling about the seller, I back off.

For instance, there was this guy who lived not too far from me who had a great deal on a whole lot of MREs so I started emailing him. I usually ask about local pickup right off the bat because if they'll agree to do the swap with you in person, they're most likely legit. But this guy said no, he was acutally out of state right then on a trip or something and his buddy was handling the shipping so we couldn't do local pickup. He also wanted instant payment. And his shipping was insanely cheap. I offered even more money for more MREs for local pickup to try to entice him but he held firm. So I backed off that one - too fishy.

DangerousDave · Post by **DangerousDave** » Wed May 24, 2006 2:58 am

Good info. I find it hard to figure out that Cajin Clara, thats why I asked. I know the ins and outs of Ebay. Had a real experience with a particular jerk located near Bragg a few years ago. He seems to have pulled his act together, but I would still never mess with him again. Don't use Ebay much anymore, but with the price of gasoline, for a premium on shipping costs, having UPS drop it on ones doorstep, might be better, if one gets the hankering for a case or 2.

Richard w. · Post by **Richard w.** » Wed May 24, 2006 7:24 am

I bought a set of A and B boxes last month from the seller "ina3914".

I received both very quickly, and they were dated 2/08 as advertised. Have only eaten one, and it seems to have been stored properly. I was hoping to get the 2005 menus (Sloppy Joe!), but as of the 2/05 packing date, they were still using up the 2004 menus items.

Paid $63 per, shipped, which is about fair, I think. He has multiple auctions going, and keeps putting new ones up all the time, so I wouldn't bother getting into any bidding wars. He seems to have an endless supply of cases with a 2/08 inspection date.

DangerousDave · Post by **DangerousDave** » Thu May 25, 2006 12:03 am

Thanks Richard W. I think that was the other seller, near Campbell. Kman, if you read this, I also noticed, like Richard, that the official menu lists are sometimes off a bit, with early cases packed in a particular year, of course , that would be due to getting rid of "production over-flow" I guess you could say. Took me 3 trys just to get a case with a Pork Rib meal, awhile back.

Post by **kman** » Thu May 25, 2006 7:00 am

Yes, DangerousDave, I believe what happens is that the new menus aren't contracted to start production until sometimes as late as March or April - so most of the time, the Jan-Feb/March cases might contain the menus from the previous year. I usually shoot for a September case just to be safe.