Rich,
Like shaving with a straight razor, people have good and bad experiences with fountain pens and fountain pen purchasing. You can get good and bad deals on Ebay. The best thing to do is read up on the subject and know what you want, what is available and sometimes what to avoid. There are several different types of filling mechanisms. Some pens only use ink from bottles, others can use prefilled cartridges (they also have converters available to use bottled ink). Then there is nib choice. Do you want new or vintage? There are many used pens that are bargains on some of the forums. Like shaving, there are a lot of different things that come down to personal preference. One thing not being better than the other, just what the individual prefers. My advice is read up on the topic before spending the money. Below are some links that have good sound information.
Richard Binder's site has a reference page with good information. He also sells pens at a good price that are guaranteed to work right.
http://www.richardspens.com
The Fountain Pen Network has a lot of information ranging from penmanship, ink and pen reviews, photos, pen market (pens for sale by members).
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com