The budget deals are rarely found on ebay or at bike shops. As you pointed out, unless the ebay bike is local, the shipping alone will kill the deal. I did pick up a really nice Centurion last week on ebay for $60, local pickup. But that is rare. Bike shops can't afford to sell bikes for anything close to $100. The local deals are on Craigs List (if you move fast), garage sales and thrift stores. I bought five nice road bikes off C/L this weekend, the most I paid for any one of them was $40.