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.

5 things you didn’t know about me

I’ve been tagged over at Oz Bargain Blog so here I go.

1.) I splurged a little on my phone plan this year. Picked up a Nokia N70. Four months later, I left it on a train and haven’t seen the bugger again. But the cap is good.

2.) I started Jonk’s Bargains as a personal website just for myself and whichever friends were interested. But so many of them forwarded it off to strangers… that I had to make it presentable in an extremely quick amount of time. In fact, more than 75% of my hits are still coming from people forwarding the site via email.

3.) My number one personal, non-work, goal is to learn Spanish. I have an under-utilised language learning gift but I strongly intend to use it. I have found the course, I have found the program where I can tutor English for free board (yesss..!). Now to get the time (and I actually am working on that!) and the fare.

4.) In March last year I was told I could have a tumour, MS or have had a stroke. What a day… In July I had finally finished the gauntlet and was declared healthy. It had a net positive effect on my life though.

5.) My first job was doing door-to-door surveys on behalf of a contractor to Chubb security. They went broke after one month of me working there… and I didn’t get paid a cent for the whole time!!

Cool. I tag…

Raja at Save as U spend, a voucher website trying to get established. Mark with his 5 word coffee shop reviews. Sarz. Chunks. Neilo.

Thanks to the Mouse Man

Well someone has left a comment in support of 22 percent off and I thought I may as well reproduce that here:

“i love 22 percent off…do not badger it for it’s god like status.”

– edit — I have just been informed that this was a prank which I should have picked up on… apparently.
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Levi’s

On Wednesday I was in Myer in SE Sydney lining up to buy a pair of Levi’s Jeans. There were two queues. One with a girl putting large amounts of customers through quickly, and the one I stood in….

After thirty minutes it was apparent why online shopping is so much better. You can sit and have a drink or a snack. There’s no sales people, opening hours or queues.

And there’s no idiot at the checkout who has to reverse and re-do a transaction on eight business shirts……. Van Heusen as well. I was tempted to step forward and tell the customer not to bother because Van Heusen.. well.. buy one shirt, learn your lesson and don’t buy another….

You can’t yet buy Levi’s – or Van Heusen for that matter – through stores listed on JonksBargains.com. But you can buy pretty much everything else.

You Beauty.

Stickybeek

I’m in NSW for Christmas right now. I am only a reluctant visitor, trust me. On Friday I travelled up to Sydney to celebrate Christmas with my parents which I had only done once in the past three years, so you can forgive me. Looking at NSW simply confirms to me that there must be a merciful God. How could such an undeserving populace live amongst such glorious scenery otherwise? Victoria deserves it so much more. I have often said it, and it is true: if you were to transplant the city of Melbourne onto the physical features of Sydney you would have the perfect city. For now, we make do with the Yarra and fairy penguins. But when the technology becomes available….

We were driving up Newcastle way and I saw a store which had their Sticky Beek site emblazoned out the front. I know it’s just for Newcastle but if you live in the area it’s very much worth it. Lots of information and some exclusive discounts…

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Celebration – today is Christmas Day and what better Christmas present than the 10,000th hit to Jonk’s Bargains. A lot of that is courtesy of Oz Bargain Blog (cheers Scott) but the most direct hits have come from Melbourne Victory Forum.

A huge majority of visitors however are typing this into their browser window. I wonder how they are hearing about it? Oz Bargain Blog again, but I understand that some people have been forwarding the link around in their emails. Good stuff. Keep on doing it. Watch your boss/sister/insert-here giggle.

The end of a heady first week!

Well, the end of a heady first week for Jonk’s Bargains is upon us. And let me say, it has been quite a week.

Hits for the first six days stand at 3,331.

CD Pacific and DVD pacific are two great new additions. These guys import cds, sell them below normal cost. Better for looking for cds you are struggling to find. It’s a US site and all prices are in USD.

Netspace is the final addition, and definitely the best. These guys have the privilege of being my internet supplier. They have just released a VOIP plan with 10c untimed calls to landlines anywhere else in Aussie. 29c/min to mobiles. You beauty. Great way to cut your phone bills…

And if you use cable, cancel the landline with Telstra or Optus .. or whoever it is.. and never pay line rental AGAIN!

Sweet, sweet mercy.

Jonk.

Welcome to Jonk’s Bargains.

This is the first post at the blog for Jonk’s Bargains. How titillating.

All website additions, and many sales spotted around the net, will go up here. You beauty.

Jonk.