Yes in the end I contacted the seller, and have agreed to pay £155 for the trombone. I suppose I was so relieved at the limitation of possible damage it changed my view. The seller seems a nice bloke, who told me stories of his ebay previous problems, and said he'd pay for the p.&p. I know what happened. My bid for 50,00 was read as £5,000 maximum bid, and I suppose I was lucky someone didnt know my maximum bid or I could have been financially crippled. I still dont know if the £155 was a manufactured bid by the seller, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt, and I now know the value of CORRECT PUNCTUATION, thanks for your support, and I have learned my lesson, if it cost £100 to do so. I wonder if that trombone is as good as it looked in the advert . Thanks KMH