Please keep posting the ebay links so we can follow along. It looks like it could be interesting.
I have taken the opposite approach. When I buy a card for $50, I keep it for a while, then sell it on ebay for $35. I then buy a $35 card, and sell it at a card show for $20. I buy a - well, you get the drift. My final card is a 1988 Topps common.
Rick