Good to see there are more sellers on eBay now to offer a variety of pillar post as well as other exterior accessories like rocker panel, body side molding and window sill. This largely helps customer to get a good deal for the customization of their favorite ride.

Ok, what is the "pillar post" actually?

Pillar post in restyling section of auto industry refers to the self-adhesive pieces of material to cover the pillar post of your ride. The material for pillar post can be stainless steel, carbon fiber or plastic ABS. The installation is very simply. Just peal off the 3M double sided tape on the back and stick it onto the correct position. Most of the kits selling on eBay have a “beveled edge” which mean the edges of pillar posts would be rounded and not a straight cut.

Stainless steel is the most popular material for pillar post in market. Largely because they are to match the OEM window trims which have the chrome color too. Since it is rust-free and easy to maintain, it is the most popular material for pillar post.

Carbon fiber attracts more popularity now. It has a very unique looking and yet more low-profile. It is normally the most expensive one due to the cost of the special material and not many competitions in the market.

Chrome is good too. And due to the vast production in the past, it may be the most cost effective one. Technology is progressing so as to the quality of the chrome pillar post. It becomes more durable and more shining than ever before.
 
Customers always see different prices even for the exactly same thing and become confusing.  Are they really the same thing?
 
For stainless steel pillar posts, the price factor is affected by the actually material, cutting technology and the size of company.
 
Material: Stainless steel is a general term for material and does not indicate any detailed chemical component. Different stainless steel may have different color, like one maybe more shining or more reflective than the other. Generally, if it is domestically made, the quality control is guaranteed. 
 
Cutting technology: Some of the pillar posts were cut by cutting machine with metal template rather than the CAD (computer aided) guided machine. Human may not be accurate as to precise cutting for each and every piece of the pillar post. We used to encounter a set of pillar post with a very good price but we then found the left and right correspondent pieces are not the same size. It might not be noticeable when they later were put on either side of the truck but the handcraft depressed me.
 
Size of company: Most renowned eBay sells are a big company with several employees. They are trained to handle your orders professionally but they can not give you the best deal because of the company policy. The cost to open a big eBay seller team is huge. On the other hand, small sellers on eBay are more flexible and they are able to give away a good deal only because the customer service guy is just the boss herself/himself. Always check the feedback when evaluate whom you buy from.

One kind reminder for the installation of pillar post or other exterior stainless steel trims like rocker panel, window sill or body side molding is to be very very careful. Before installation, you need to treat the surface to be clean and oil-free otherwise the pillars won't stick. Second is that you need to be so sure before you apply the peeled stainless pillars onto the auto pillar post. If you missed the correct position, then you ends us totally screwed. There is no way you can re-apply the pillars once you did it already.  Good thing is most local sellers for pillar post will sell you the replacement pieces but still cost you more than half of the price for the whole kit.