[crazygringo]

So you're going to sell your surfboard and buy new ski equipment every winter, and sell your skis and buy a new surfboard every summer? As well as the rest of your bulky seasonal gear?

Sounds expensive.

[nytesky]

Surfboards mounted on the wall are a common decoration, so there is off season storage.

You can rent skis for a season for $400, I suspect most rental places are than $100/month.

But skis especially can usually fit in the back of a closet or under a bed.

Kayak? Get a season pass for the rental place.

[crazygringo]

I think you're ignoring the point that if you want high-quality gear, it's cheaper to buy it outright and store it off-season.

And the kinds of people who live in places where they don't have room to store a surfboard year-round, are the kinds of people who don't have a bunch of wall space for one either.

I think you might not be totally understanding the concept of small urban apartments. Putting skis in the closet or under the bed year-round doesn't work, because your closet and underneath the bed are already full. (And it's not just skis, obviously -- it's boots and poles and helmet and bulky jacket and snowpants and gloves and everything.)

[dpifke]

Not to mention the time value of haggling on Ebay, dealing with scammers, etc.

[crazygringo]

And wasting all that money on shipping and sales tax with each transaction.

Because yes, you have to pay sales tax on eBay, even for used items that already had sales tax paid on their original retail purchase.

[toast0]

You're not using ebay for storage if you buy new replacements every season. It's ebay as storage if you're buying used replacements.