Six steps towards successful buying at eBay auctions
Buying on eBay can be very rewarding, either in terms of being
able to pick up items cheaply or for hunting for hard to find
items. Although generally the experience is good, there are
instances where things can go badly wrong. These tips, based on
experience over the last seven years, should help to avoid some
of the potential pitfalls.
1. Make use of the various tools provided on eBay to ascertain
the target price of items you are interested in. A simple way to
do this is to 'search' for completed items.
2. Always check that there are no hidden costs associated with
your potential bargain. These may may include unspecified
unspecified postage costs, or paypal fees chargeable to the
buyers. If in doubt e-mail the buyer and if you don't get a
response then don't bid. Remember that when buying from overseas
postage costs can be significant compared to the price of the
item and also for more expensive items you may be liable to
customs fees.
3. Check out the seller's feedback. You should be aiming to buy
from sellers with feedback of at least 98 per cent - if it is
less and you are interested in an item read the feedback
comments to satisfy yourself that the buyer provides a good
service. In particular, read the neutral and negative feedback
posts to try to work out what may have gone wrong with previous
transactions.
4. Don't get carried away and end up bidding more than need or
want to. Some items appear very frequently on eBay and it may be
worth setting yourself a limit and waiting for the next one to
come along.
5. If you find you are often being outbid at the last moment,
consider using a sniping software which you can use to
automatically submit a bid in the last few seconds of the
auctions.
6. Where possible, use Paypal to pay for items on eBay. The
sellers get their payment quickly, and there is a degree of
protection for buyers if things go wrong. eBay (via My eBay)
provides a number of tools for monitoring progress on your
transaction.
Stephen Reynolds