First of all, as an experienced eBay buyer and seller in tools and other kinds of items, I'd like to say I've missed my share of auctions. It will pass.
I get crazy over some of the high end prices I've seen...reports of BINs on Craftsman wrench sets going for over $100 when I struggle to get $15 for some sets. There's a ton of CM stuff out there. But as in most such markets, you have to discount in your thinking the high end and low end pricing, because they are flukes. And for wanting low end as a buyer or high end as a seller, some of that is just pure dumb luck. Middle is what daily reality is.
Example: Sold a rare CM case badge awhile back. Two of the bidders got the same idea in mind coincidentally to enter $100 as their high bid thinking that nobody's ever going to bid that high and they'll win for something less. The second buyer sniped the price. BOOM! First guy won. In most of these cases, the buyer goes 'dark' and takes the hit for not paying. But the earlier bidder who won manned up and paid. Without two bidders hot for the same item, there's no way it should have ever sold for that (at least in my opinion, but who knows?). That's the same in all auctions, whether eBay or otherwise. It was pure dumb luck. So was the $9 wrench set. For either of us to expect that again is not realistic.
You really have only two choices if you're looking for a complete set:
1. Spend lots of time scavenging flea markets, yard/estate sales or pawn shops. Could take you quite awhile. And if you're busy with 'life' as you say, you probably don't want to spend your life's resources running around like that every weekend. I do it all the time because I'm retired. But even still, I've got a rack that I hang all my CM USA finds per size. Some sizes I only have one, some I have 10 or more. Haven't found a 7/8 in over a year. Got all the way to a 1-5/16, but also don't have the 1-1/4. When I get a complete set, I'll sell it and start over. Remember too that the two brands even the soccer moms know are worth something is SO and CM, so expect to pay more, especially at a flea market, estate sale or pawn shop. Metrics are even harder to find, as people are using them now, and they didn't sell so many of those in the past. Even on eBay, it would be time-consuming to put a set together with onesies and twosies, and ultimately the shipping will add up.
2. Settle on buying a complete set at once, and settle on paying the going rate. ebay's a good bet for that. But in most cases, the seller is going to understand the value of a CM metric set, especially USA, and isn't going to give them away.
I too favor the raised panel style for the feel. I much prefer the old vintage SK RP over the CM. But finding these vintage wrenches in metric is like hen's teeth. If I had my heart set on a vintage metric SK combo set, I'd have to give it up and buy it off eBay--bet a complete combo set in metric will scare $100. Oh well, I already know I'll probably never obtain it by scavenging. Unless pure dumb luck steps in. But you can't plan your life around winning a lottery.
I do have a beautiful set of virtually brand new CM metric DOE, still in the original styrofoam trays that came out of a woodworker's shop where they were barely touched, and then only gently. On top of that, they're USA -v- series!!! Going to put them up for sale soon. But I know what they are, and I'm not going to give them away.
