Hey, Curtis, welcome aboard.
I think most folks will recommend older Stanleys, those up to the 1960s or so as being the best to try for on ebay. You might need to check out the "Type Studies" on several sites on the net to determine which are which on ebay. Other brands that are good are Miller Falls and Sargent. Older Craftsman and other store brands like Keen Kutter were made by one or more of the above so they can be good buys also.
Ebay is a crap shoot at best, especially for someone just starting to look at old tools, and generally any planes you get there will require some level of tuning (called fettling) before they can be used well.
There are also several vintage tool dealers with good reputations and fairly reasonable prices. You might spend a few more bucks getting something from one of them, but the extra confidence in receiving a good product, fairly appraised is worth a few extra dollars.