There are very few people nowadays who haven’t used eBay at some point, and even fewer who haven’t heard of it! It’s a real institution, and a great way to save (and make) money. You can buy almost anything on eBay; new items, second-hand items, and even ex-display appliances for a fraction of the price of the stores.
However, the world of online auctions can be somewhat daunting if you haven’t got much experience, so in this post I am going to outline a few ways in which you can make sure you’re truly getting a good deal on eBay. Amongst them will be a few general eBay tips to help you avoid the scammers and have a positive online auction experience.
Know What you’re Looking For
The key to finding a good eBay bargain is knowing what to search for. Sometimes, if you are looking for something specific, general search terms will not be sufficient. You may find your item, but it will probably take hours of poring over listing after listing. If you’re not sure of the specific name of what you are looking for, have a quick search online and see if you can come up with it. If not, it’s worth checking the “search title and description” option just below the search box. Sometimes it does take a little effort to find what you are looking for on eBay, especially if it’s particularly obscure, but it’s usually worth persevering.
Don’t Give Up!
Thousands of new items are listed on eBay every single day, so if you can’t find what you’re looking for straight away, keep on checking! Nowadays, there is an option to save your search and have eBay email you should your item become available. You can even put a “wanted” ad on the site if you like!
Keep an Eye on Postage Costs
Although there are rules against it, some sellers will hike up their postage/packaging costs in order to make a bit of extra cash. Sometimes, you will find items from further afield (Hong Kong is a common one) that cost mere pennies to buy, but up to $60 to post! Obviously, in this kind of situation, the seller has used the postage and packaging option to get a decent price for their item, so they can draw the buyer in with a cheap starting price. This doesn’t mean to say that you still can’t get a good deal, in fact you will still probably pay less than you would in a store, but don’t let yourself be tricked into thinking you are getting an amazing deal.
Set Your Limit
There is no thrill quite like that of an online auction. Getting into a bidding war with another user is exciting, but it can also lead you to spending a lot more than you originally planned. Before entering into a bidding war, set yourself a limit and stick to it (of course, taking into account the postage and packing costs). If you don’t feel you can handle sticking to your limit, it may be wise to just stick to ‘Buy It Now’ or ‘Best Offer’ style auctions, to avoid getting sucked in.
Another thing to bear in mind is the timing of your bid. If an item has a few days left on it, it’s best to ‘Watch’ it and leave the bidding part until the end. If people start bidding too early on in the auction, it will push the finishing price up. Wait until the very end (I usually wait until 10 minutes before the auction’s end) and then place your bid. This then gives you ample time to increase it should someone have already placed a higher maximum bid. Watch it until the very end, and make sure you increase your maximum bid (within your limits, of course) in the last few seconds of the auction. Remember, your maximum bid amount isn’t necessarily the amount you will pay! You will only pay as much as is bid against – for example, if your maximum bid is $50 and someone else bids $20, you will only have to pay $20.50.
Take Your Time
It’s always worth watching the market for a while before taking the plunge to buy something. For example, I recently bought a tub for the impending home birth of the baby I’m pregnant with. I’ve been watching eBay for a long time to see what kind of prices they go for, what kind of accessories I can get for the price, what people tend to charge for postage, etc. I must have watched more than 30 tubs over the time I’ve been looking, and it really helped to see what really is a good deal. In the end, I got one for a bargain price and I’m really happy with it. Watch as many items as you want and compare the prices. Watch them when they get towards the end, and see how much they sell for. If you were shopping in a store, you wouldn’t buy the first thing you saw without shopping around a little first, would you?
Pay With PayPal
If you don’t already have a PayPal account, get one. It’s a secure way to pay, and there are very few sellers on eBay who don’t accept it. In fact, there are a very large amount of sellers who won’t accept any other payment method. I used to pay for all of my eBay purchases with either postal orders or checks. Checks make the turnaround time longer, as sellers won’t post until the money has cleared, and postal orders have quite significant fees. It’s really easy to set up a PayPal account and once it is validated, you are free to buy and sell as much as you wish!
Negotiate with Sellers
Quite often, a seller will be willing to negotiate in order to get a quick, or definite, sale. You may be able to negotiate a lower postage and packing price, or even a cheaper ‘Buy It Now’ price if there are no bids on the item. Yes, the seller might say no, but it’s always worth (politely) asking anyway. They might say no, and then contact you when the listing has ended if they don’t sell the item or are unlucky enough to have ended up with a non-paying bidder. Of course, make sure your offers are within reason. If a seller has listed an item for $50, they are very unlikely to be grateful or accepting of your $20 offer. Some sellers don’t appreciate this kind of negotiation, so make sure you read the item listing properly first as they will probably have requested that nobody tries it.
Check Feedback
Make sure you spend a little time actually reading a seller’s feedback before buying. Feedback ratings are useful at a glance, but always make a point of reading any negative or neutral feedback your prospective vendor has received. They may have been very unlucky – some eBay buyers seem to have made it their mission to ruin sellers’ reputations. Keep feedback in perspective – if a seller has 500-odd positive feedback ratings, and 4 negatives, the chances are they’re a great seller that has been unlucky enough to come across some dodgy buyers.