How to bid like a pro on eBay

ahh.. eBay. Hundreds of thousands of people have discovered the sheer delights of bidding on things they haven’t got sold by people they have never met.

As is apparent to even the most novice user, using eBay is fraught with danger but by following a few simple tips, you can bid like the best of them.

1) Set your final price before your first bid. This sounds simple but everyone knows it gets more complicated when you’re watching the final seconds tick down and the frenzy begins. Do it like the pros! Use an auction-sniper such as Auction Stealer. Auction-snipers come in at the last second with your pre-determined bid level. If it is high enough, you’ll win the auction. If not, stiff cheese. But you won’t wake up the next day with a severe case of buyer’s remorse.

2) Check the country of origin. Beware any items being sold from Asian destinations. I know it sounds racist, but eBay is crawling with pirated goods being sold from Asian countries with the main culprits being Hong Kong, China, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand. You are basically guaranteed that the item you are buying is fake and you will pay through the nose for shipping as well.

3) Check the feedback Just because someone has a low feedback score doesn’t mean you can’t get a good deal! In fact, sometimes the opposite is true. Sellers with little experience attract fewer bids. Nearly all of my best purchases have been from mom-and-pop sellers looking to dump a toaster or an overseas student selling out the apartment before heading home.

Some tips on a sellers reputation:

Check the percentage. If someone has a feedback score below 98%, go and read the comments to find out why. In some cases, they have obviously been screwed by a dodgy customer. In other cases, they deserve every negative comment they receive.

Check the nature of the comments. In this way you can gauge the nature of the operator. I find that the every-day Aussie types are much more pleasant than your everything-automated approach of the power sellers.

Check their previous transactions, ie. what the feedback has been left for. I nearly bid on a cheap lap-top once only to discover the seller had just bought the same item a month prior on eBay!

4)Make sure the item actually exists. Run a search on Google or something. Is the price commensurate with the value of the item? Commensurate.. big word.

5)Check the return policy This generally works in the case of high volume sellers. Another word on buying from overseas – good luck on returning your item.

6)Check if you can pay by Paypal and if so, do they have the Paypal trustmark. It’s much easier this way to engineer a chargeback if you have problems.

7)Check if you can pay cash-in-hand. If you’re buying something bulky and/or local find out if you can pay cash-in-hand. You can trust the seller as they’re so happy with the item they’re selling they’re willing to give it to you face-to-face.

8)Read the item description closely It may look like a brand new television but the auction says it is refurbished. Look for any hints that the item is used, returned or damaged. Read between the lines.

I’d also like to hear anyone’s eBay stories.

Jonk.