BASICS: Ebay Buying Part II (making the purchase)

Now that you've decided that Ebay offers the best deal, you have to make the actual purchase.

Before pulling the trigger, I want to tell you about some tricks you can use to reduce your purchase price even more.

Remember, emotions are the enemy of Ebay buying. You want to set a maximum ceiling price you will pay and you must not go above that. Do not get into a bidding war!

Specific tips

• BigCrumbs: More useful if you are purchasing at a fixed price. BigCrumbs, besides its other benefits, offers you a cashback bonus for all ebay purchases. You can receive up to 36% of seller fees as cashback. You just need to remember to click through the BigCrumbs website before purchasing. Sign up for BigCrumbs!
  

• Sniping Services: To avoid a bidding war, you want to place your bid at the very last possible moment. You can try to do this manually, but Ebay sniping services can automate this so you don't need to be by your computer at the exact moment. There are tons of services available, most of which you have to pay for. I find, though, that the cost savings are worth the fees for these services. PowerSnipe is a well-reviewed sniping service that I've used. They offer a 30 day trial to test it out.

• Misspellings: If a seller misspells an item, you are in luck. No one will see it to bid on it thus you can get it at a great price! You can try searching AuctionBloopers or AuctionEgg for such items. I don't usually find this method too helpful.

Random tip: When paying, definitely use Paypal with a linked credit card. Both paypal and your credit card have methods in place to easily get your money back if the seller is scamming you.

Finally, After receiving the item in satisfactory condition, leave positive feedback for the seller. You will be more likely to receive good feedback in return.

Good luck!


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BASICS: Ebay Buying Part I (researching the purchase)

Whenever I want to buy something, I first check Ebay.

Purchasing items on Ebay can be great or it can be a very, very bad experience. Understanding Ebay's unique role in the marketplace can help you decide whether to use it. You can often find nice deals, but you need to know when it's good to use and when it's not.

Ebay needs no introduction. You know a company is big when its name becomes an English verb. I ebayed it. I googled it. For those not familiar, Ebay is an online auction site/marketplace. You can either purchase through an auction process or you can buy at a fixed price.

Old-fashioned retail stores buy bulk items and resell for a set profit. There is a MSRP and thus prices are generally very uniform. Unlike retail stores, Ebay is not so constrained. Supply & Demand rule. Therefore it's great for unique hard to find items that only you want (I got a great deal on some 1990 CTS Thunderstick tennis racquets), but horrible for high demand hot items (look at the ridiculous prices for the iPhone and Wii).

Random tip: Don't buy items that are easily forged. For example, brand-name clothes (Diesel & Abercrombie clothes are notorious), and jewelry. Buying these items on Ebay is akin to buying that Rolex on the NYC street.

Researching the Ebay purchase

1. Search 'completed auctions' for what prices that item has sold at. This will indicate the price range you can expect to pay. You do this by searching for the item, clicking on the checkbox for 'completed auctions' (you need to sign up for ebay to do this).
   
2. Take into account seller's feedback rating when looking at prices. Seller reputation is key. Higher feedback ratings = less risk but higher price.
3. Based on completed auction prices, decide on what is an attainable price
   
4. Compare the price to lowest online price (maybe check Amazon)
   
5. You have to then decide whether the price savings is worth the added hassle of poor return policies and risk of fraud (generally low). In my experience, it is very low risk if you use common sense.
   

Once you decide that Ebay offers a good deal, then you need to actually make the purchase. Stay tuned for my next installment where I will talk about "ebay sniping" and cashback options; ways to make your Ebay purchase an even better deal.
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