Don't Bid on the First One You See! You've been busy searching for your Gizmos and find one you've never seen before, an M & M Gizmo! You don't know if it's brand new or a rare older one. The seller is very brief in the description and you don't want to let this jewel slip away, especially since there have already been several bids. The first tendency can be to bid immediately, DON'T!
- Do a bit of quick research. First continue searching on eBay, using the tips on Finding It. If the item is brand new and is a popular collectible, usually several sellers will immediately go to eBay and list away, hoping to be among the first ones to sell it online. You could find it cheaper, maybe finding one that isn't drawing as much bidding interest.
- Next, go to the manufacturer's web site and see if they are offering it for sale. In the case of an M & M Gizmo, searching the M & M Internet store, as well as the Gizmo company might turn up just what you are looking for. Or if you're very lucky, there will be a note about how these M & M Gizmos will be sold at all Walmart Stores over the next few months.
- If you're still looking, do a general search on the Internet using the best words you can to describe the M & M Gizmo. Several times I've been excited to find a new cookie jar on eBay, but after a search on Google I've found it for sale outright at a better price!
Carefully Read The Description
If you're the winner, you're obligated to live up to the listing agreement. If you don't agree with the options available, negotiate before bidding not after you win!
- Read the description carefully and take the seller at his word. If it says used, you can't complain when it doesn't look new.
- Does the seller ship to your part of the world and how much will it cost? If the shipping costs aren't stated, ask before you bid and the auction has ended. Be especially careful of large auction houses that sell via the Live Auction format, some of their shipping charges have can be unexpectedly high. Checking feedbacks are especially helpful to find out if the seller's charges are out of line.
- What are the payment options and can you abide by them? If a seller says no personal checks, that's what he means! If the seller only accepts money orders, will you be able to send one in a timely manner?
- Any return privileges?
It's almost time to bid, but not quite yet. Not until you check out the seller's feedback. Feedback is a seller or buyer's eBay reputation in a nutshell. Every eBay auction that is completed gives the option for the buyer and seller to leave a (feedback) rating about each other. It goes both ways! There are three choices - Positive, Neutral and Negative to choose from, along with 80 spaces to write a short blurb.
- What's the feedback rating? If a seller has been around for a long time, chances are they might have a negative or two -- if it's just a very small percentage of their total feedback, it's usually nothing to worry about. Look and see how long ago it was and how many successful feedbacks have been posted since then. If a seller has more than a couple of negative feedbacks and some of them are recent, think twice about taking a chance with your money and do a little further checking.
- Check out the seller further by looking at their other auctions. Are the items similar, does the seller know his stuff? Many times it might not matter, but this can be especially important in the case of items that are known to be reproduced.
- As mentioned previously, Feedback is also a good place to read complaints about excessive shipping charges.
- Is the auction private? Why? If the item has a large number of bidders, I check the seller's other auctions to see if there is a similar pattern. Although eBay has a stand against shilling*, there have been times that shilling is apparent and reported, but nothing has been done about it. If I suspect shill bids, I will not participate.
- Sellers with reproductions are also notorious for having private auctions. In these cases, sellers don't want others to notify their bidders about the fakes.
*Shilling: Bids made to artificially raise the price of an item by the sellers or other persons not intending to purchase the item.
The ABCs of Buying on eBay
- Starting Out
- Search & Find Your Stuff
- Don't Bid Yet
- Bidding & PayPal
- Completing Your Purchases & Possible Problems
More Resouce Links:
Feedback Overview
