Ebay, the world's largest online auction site, is a fantastic place to find some great bargains. However, there are a few simple precautions that everyone should take before bidding on that one-of-a-kind antique anvil that's going for a song.
First and foremost, know what you're bidding on!! This sounds like common sense, but you'd be amazed at the number of people who bid on a "authentic" designer hand bag without even noticing that the trademark logo is upside down. A good rule of thumb is to avoid all auctions for high end designer pieces. This category is filled with scam artists selling fake goods. Likewise, do some checking around to find out what the average value of an item is before you place a bid. I'm constantly amused by otherwise rational people who will pay $50.00 for a second hand item that they can buy brand new at WalMart for $20.00. Yes, it really happens!
Before you place a bid, make sure that the seller's Terms of Service (TOS) are clear and concise. Shipping and Handling charges should be listed in the auction description. If it's not listed, contact the seller and ASK what the shipping charges will be. The Ebay help forums are filled with posts from people who won auctions for a small, lightweight item and were charged $15.00 for shipping and handling. Once you place your bid, you are contractually obligated to complete the transaction. Make sure you note what type of payment the seller accepts. Nothing irks a seller more than to say "No personal checks" 18 times in his auction listing, only to have Aunt Mabel from Detroit send him a personal check. You can always email the seller (before you bid, of course) and ask if he will make an exception in your case. Sometimes they will.
Check the sellers feedback. The number of unique feedbacks that he has received is in parenthesis next to his user name. A unique feedback is one feedback per user. For instance, if the seller has sold 10 items to 10 different people who have left feedback, he will have a (10) next to his name. If he sold 10 items, but 5 buyers each bought 2 of them, the seller will have a (5) next to his name, signifying that five different people left feedback. Avoid sellers with low feedback if they're selling expensive items. Make sure you read any negative feedback that is left. If a seller has 50 negative feedbacks out of 100 total transactions, and they all say "Seller never sent merchandise and didn't refund payment", perhaps this seller isn't one you want to entrust your hard earned cash with. Pay attention to the percentage of negative feedback that a seller has received. After all, no one can make everyone happy every single time, so a few negatives are to be expected. A hundred negative feedbacks may seem like a lot, but if the seller has 10,000 positive ones to offset those 100 negatives, that's a darn good ratio. Unless of course, all 100 negative feedbacks have been posted during the last week.
Remember, any bid you place is considered binding and active until the auction ends and someone else is the winner. Do not immediately place a bid on the same item with a different seller if you are outbid on the first auction. That high bidder could back out (a big no-no, but it's done anyway), leaving you the winning bidder on two identical items. Changing your mind and retracting a bid just because you found it cheaper from someone else is also not permissible, so take your time and look at a lot of different auctions before you choose one to bid on. Price isn't always the main thing, and I will often gladly pay more to a seller that has a high number of positive feedbacks, simply because he is well established and has a proven track record. Peace of mind is worth something.
Now that you've done your homework and checked out the seller's reputation and looked for the best deal, your final step is to place your bid. Here is where many people make the biggest mistake. There are three methods of bidding, and only two are considered ideal for bidder and seller alike. The wrong way of bidding is called "nibbling" or "lowballing". This is where a bidder makes a really low bid initially, then constantly keeps re-bidding and raising his bid by a dollar or two over the life of the auction. This is time consuming, and Ebay glitches have resulted in many a bidder losing an auciton because the site went down before they could raise the bid price again. Before you place your bid, decide for sure how much you are willing to spend on this item, including shipping and handling. Then bid that much. No more, no less. Ebay's proxy system will take care of the rest. What is the proxy system? Simply put, it will remember your maximum bid, and raise it by increments to beat any opposing bids until your limit is reached. For example, if you bid a maximum of $50.00 on the antique anvil and the seller has set the opening bid at $1.99, your bid will show as $1.99. If Jim Bob comes along and bids $25.00 on the anvil, your proxy and his proxy will battle it out until his $25.00 is reached, and you will be the high bidder at $26.00. If no one else bids, you will win it for $26.00. Remember, your maximum bid is just that; the maximum you will pay for it. Just because you bid that much, doesn't mean that it will cost you that much. There have been many times that I've put in a max bid of $20.00 for an item and won it for $5.00.
The second method of bidding (and one I personally adore) is called sniping. This is when you use an outside site to enter a maximum bid amount. This site remembers the item number, the time the auction is ending, and your bid amount. Seconds before the auction ends, the site logs on to Ebay and bids for you. This method is as close as you can get to guaranteeing a win. Why? Because once you place your bid on Ebay itself, your bid is right there for everyone else to see, and bid against. If they bid against you, the price will go up until it hits their maximum bid, or your maximum bid. Many other buyers are "nibblers" and will slowly drive your bid up over the life of the auction. You bid $50.00, and over the next five days, they raise their bid from an opening bid of $10.00 to $52.00 and end up winning. If you snipe, your opponent has entered his original $10.00 bid, and since he sees no one bidding against him, he leaves it at $10.00. At the last second, you come along and bid your maximum $50.00, too late in the game for him to raise his maximum bid, and you win the item for $10.50. The only time you'll lose when sniping is if someone else has entered a maximum bid higher than yours, either through sniping also, or using Ebay's own bid entry page. No one will have a chance to slowly nibble away and drive your bid up. A great site to utilize for sniping is Vrane.com. Click on the "sniping" link on the left and enter your information to set up a free account. The only down side is that if Ebay's servers hiccup right at the auction's end, your snipe may not go through.
Okay, the auction's over, and you're the big winner. Now what? Contact the seller and let him know that you won (within three days of auction end). Make sure you list the auction number and what the item is. Put your mailing address and ebay user name in the email so the seller can get your item ready to ship while waiting for your payment. Don't email the seller every twenty minutes asking if he's shipped your package yet. Give it at least a week, then send a NICE email asking when it was shipped. Most sellers are honest, and don't take kindly to accusatory emails that imply they're stealing your money. When the item arrives, rip it open and gloat over your great deal, then take a moment to leave the seller positive feedback. I like to drop them an emailing telling them that I received the package, the item is great, and I left positive feedback. Most of them will then leave you feedback in return. Negative feedback should be reserved for sellers who are blatantly dishonest and ripped you off without trying to resolve the matter. If you have a complaint and the seller remedies the matter quickly and nicely, positive feedback is warranted. Neutral is known as a "soft negative" and should also be used as a last resort. A neutral feedback is generally used when the transaction is resolved satisfactorily, but has taken too much time and effort on the buyer's end to get it resolved.
I hope this little tutorial was helpful, if you have any questions
or comments, feel free to leave a comment through the link on the
left. Happy Ebay-ing!
Copyright 2001 Pam Allen
Another easy to understand book that shows you how to get the most
out of the World Wide Web and your browser of choice. If you're looking
for an excuse to spend more time online, this book will give you plenty
of opportunities. Learn effective search techniques, utilizing bookmarks,
etc.
