eBay-buying-selling-solutions
~ eBay-buying ~
This is the place to start. We will cover the basics in the world of eBay auctions. The first thing if you have not done so already would be to register on eBay so you can begin to bid, buy and sell on any eBay site. This is real simple. Click on the eBay link. Go ahead, what are you waiting for? The eBay registration page will open in a new browser window. Then you can come right back here.
The second thing I recommend is opening up a personal Paypal account. Paypal is an eBay company and simply the easiest and safest way to pay for items you win on ebay auctions. Later as an eBay seller you can start a Paypal merchant account and accept credit cards as a form of payment for your auctions, more on this in eBay-selling. Go ahead and open your account now.
Now you are ready to start buying, but wait. Before actually buying or bidding on anything I recommend you watch a few items, or similar items to that which you want to buy to get a feel for how these similar auctions go and what to expect.
Ebay has a powerful advanced search where you can search for items with many customizable options. I would recommend doing a search for your item with the completed listings only box checked. Only completed auctions for your item will show. This way you get an idea of the price range you can expect for the item before beginning bidding.
Following is a list of buying tips for you to use. I've tried to arrange them in order of importance.
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Read the description carefully. It sounds stupid but many buyers don't. As a seller I've had many buyers email me a question that is clearly answered in my description. They obviously didn't read my description very well. Some buyers are very good with their descriptions, others are terrible. If you have a question that is not covered in the description or something that needs clarifying, then definitely ask the buyer questions, It's important to have all the facts before bidding.
- Understand the shipping options the buyer is offering
and the cost of the shipping and remember to factor this into your total
final price you will end up paying.
- Check the sellers feedback rating. The higher the
better. If the feedback score is not 100% read all the negative feedbacks
the person got and proceed with caution if you are considering bidding
on their auction. If the person has 3 negatives and all three have similar
comments like item misrepresented or inaccurate description I would
be very careful about this seller.
- When you win an auction pay promptly. This will
get you good feedback. Also it will get you your item faster.
- Always leave good feedback if deserved. Please be
very careful about leaving bad feedback before exhausting all ways of
remedying any problems you have with an item. But if you need to leave
a negative go ahead.
- Avoid getting ripped off! Fraud on eBay is actually
pretty rare but it does happen. First never bid on an expensive item
in which the buyer demands payment by cashiers check or money order
only, THIS IS A HUGE RED FLAG. You pay, the item never arrives and the
seller disappears.
- Bid in increments of .02 or .03 cents. Most people
bid in even increments, like .50 cents or 1.00 dollar. If you bid in
increments you can win an auction by a few cents instead of a few bucks.
- Sniping, This is long as there are many ways to
snipe. Sniping is the art of waiting till the last minute to make a
bid so there is no time left for someone to counter your bid. First
I'll go over how to snipe on your own. This requires sitting at your
computer at the very end of an auction. Open one window with the auction
description. Open a second window and place the highest amount you will
pay for the item and hit "Review Bid." Now enter your username
and password -but don't hit "Place Bid" yet. Wait until 15
or 20 seconds before the auction ends. (Remember to refresh your first
window to see the time left). At the right moment, hit "Place Bid".
Sniping services, hosted and software are other ways to snipe. Hosted services are great if you can't be at your computer at the end of an auction. Powersnipe is my favorite. They have both software and hosted services.
- Getting great deals. One way is to search for auctions
ending at times when less people will be watching. For instance auctions
ending in the middle of the night or early morning, especially on weekdays.
I've gotten some great deals this way. Powersnipe
will work great for this if you can't be at your computer when the auction
ends.
- Another way to find great deals is by searching
using misspelled words. Most people find their items by searching, if
their item is misspelled it will not come up in the searches so these
auctions usually get less bids on them.
