eBay
Tips
By following a few simple eBay tips, you too can get the best
possible deal on eBay. We have been buying and selling with eBay for several years now with great
success.
Do Not Bid on eBay Items Just Yet
Do not bid on anything until you read all of these eBay tips. It will
assure that most of the common mistakes are avoided before you bid.
eBay Tip #1: Read these tips first
Max Bids & Shipping / Handling
Do not get sucked in to bidding without having a maximum bid in mind - then use
the max bid feature within eBay. What is a max bid? You just enter
the maximum amount you want to spend. Then, only when there are other bidders on
the item, eBay will bid on your behalf, up to your maximum bid. If another
bidder outbids you before the listing ends, eBay will send you an email to let
you know.
If you do not have a maximum bid in mind, you can find yourself bidding
beyond what you wanted to pay. A good strategy is to search online or at
your local store to see what the best price is. Use this as a basis for
your max bid minus a discount of 10-15%. Remember the object of using eBay
is to get the best possible price unless it is a hard to find item.
DO NOT forget shipping and handling. Some of these sellers can an will
change you a lot for shipping and handling - be careful and make you that your
max bid + shipping and handling = what you are willing to pay.
eBay Tip #2: Have a maximum bid in mind that includes
shipping and handling
Rating of Seller
This is what makes eBay so great. Buyer and sellers can leave feedback
about the transaction. Be sure to look at their feedback. If there a
lot of recent negative feedback, this is a clear indication of trouble.
eBay Tip# 3: Check out the rating of the seller
Be careful, especially with larger ticket items - to bid on items where the
seller is new and has no feedback yet.
Read the Entire Description
Make sure you read the entire description slowly and carefully. Is it
new? Is it almost new? Is it used? Like most things in life,
if it doesn't clearly state "sealed - new in the box" then you can
guarantee that it at least has been opened or worse.
eBay Tip# 4: Read the entire description 5 times
Email the seller with any questions that you may have and make sure they clearly
answer your questions. If not, email again until you are satisfied.
eBay Payments
Now you can bid with confidence now. And we recommend using PayPal and NOT
pay with Cash, Check, Cashiers Check or Money Order. If you do not use a
credit or something like Paypal, you may never see your merchandise. If
you do pay with Paypal or a credit card, we would recommend carefully checking
your statements weekly online or your monthly statements for any unusual
charges. The nice aspect of Paypal is that you can use a credit card but
the seller never sees the credit card number.
eBay Tip #5: Use Paypal to pay for your items
Make sure you
can pay on time. We usually pay the same day that we will the item to
ensure a good rating from the seller.
