Inefficient markets

The internet is, among other things, supposed to provide total transparency on pricing. In other words, it should be quite easy to find the lowest cost for a given item. Right.

Check out this ebay auction for an ice cream ball. As of this writing the bidding is at $41.00 and that comes with a tidy $12.55 shipping charge (at least to get it to my zip code). Since most sites are offering the ball for about $30 with about $6 for shipping, whoever "wins" this particular auction won't really be winning.