Ebay Tips For Buyers & Sellers
The purpose of this article is to list several Ebay tips that might be useful to both Buyers and Sellers. As a Buyer you are always in search for the best deals and as a Seller you are looking for opportunities to maximize your bottom line. Here are some tips to help both Buyers and Sellers.
Tips For Buyers
Using Ebay Search To Find Bargains
As a buyer you are trying to find bargains i.e listings with the best price (Buy It Now Items) or listings with the fewest bids (Auction Items). Generally these listing are the ones that get the least amount of visitors, and most of the time it is because of missing keywords (Product Serial, Manufacture Name...etc) in the title field. Thus, the key is finding listings that contain misspelled keywords or listings that are missing important keywords in the title field. Since the default Ebay Search box only searches the title field, you can often increase your chances on finding deals by checking the “Search title and description” check box.
Ebay also has some built in functions that are ideal for finding items. For example say you want the PS2 game Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones , since the game title is quite long it is an ideal candidate for having misspelled, misplaced and missing keywords.
To being the search type:
PS2 "prince of *"
in the search box and hit enter. You will now get a list of listings containing the keywords “prince of”. Shift through the listing till you find a deal. Read this for more on Ebay search engine commands http://pages.ebay.com/help/find/search_commands.html
Gaging Item Price
A nifty to find the going price for an item is by looking at ended listing. To search for ended listings, simply click "Advanced Search" link found under the upper right hand search box. And then check the "Completed listings only" check box before beginning the search.
This will give you a rough average of the current going price for the item and will avoid you from getting involved in a bidding war with zero rated buyers.
Find Reserved Price Auctions
You will be amazed at how many people just don’t bother bidding when they see the reserve price tag, most of times the reserve price is less then 10% of the item going rate which means huge savings. Remember however to place your bid in the last 10 seconds.Offering To Close Early
A nifty way to save cash on items is by offering sellers an end bid early option. The key here is that you will have to find recently listed item (less then 100 views) and from sellers with fewer than 50 feedbacks. Try to keep your initial offer to no lower then 10% of the regular Ebay price (See Gaging Item Price).No More Then Two Bids
If you are a pro on Ebay then you will mostly likely only bid twice on an item. The first bid is optional and it meant to take the item out of the “Buy It Now”, since you will be more likely to win the item at a lower price through an auction. The second bid should come on the last 10 seconds of the auction, this maybe longer if you are on dialup.Know Your Competition
You can tell a lot about your competition (fellow bidders) by looking at their previously won items to see their bidding pattern. You will be amazed at how many people keep their last bid to a whole dollar, meaning you only need to add a cent to snipe them in the last 10 seconds.Avoid Bidding During Weekends
You will be more likely to win an item at a lower price on a weekday then a weekend. The reasoning is simple, less competition, most people with jobs will be unavailable or less likely to bid, and thus increasing the probability of winning the item at a lower price.Use Ebay Coupons
Did you know Ebay occasionally issues Paypal coupons that could save you anywhere from (5 % -10 %) when paying for your Ebay items. A guide on redeeming coupons on Ebay: http://pages.ebay.com/coupons/.Find Low Feedback Seller
You can save a lot from buying from sellers with little or no feedback. But again the key is knowing your seller so you don’t get burned. Here is what I do before I place a bid, first I email the seller, asking him/her about the condition of the item. If he/she replies back then I check the email headers to get the remote ip address, I then go to a WHOIS database and verify the location of the seller. If everything is ok so far, I contact the seller through telephone to verify the item, its condition…etc. Remember that Ebay only covers up to $175, so it’s best to ask for insurance and always ask for shipping with tracking. Also I found its best to stick with Paypal as payment option.Learning Not To Get Burned
As a buyer you need to be aware of the following points:• Be suspicious of sellers with low rating.
• Be suspicious of sellers using stock pictures (pictures from manufacturers website).
• Sellers who use free email (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo..etc).
• Sellers who do not accept Paypal.
• Sellers who do not reply to email.
• Low rating sellers with 1 day listings.
Tips For Sellers
Always Include A Picture
I strongly suggest you to include a picture when selling items on Ebay. Remember however to upload you own picture, and not a copy of the product from an online store. In my experience bidders are more likely to bid on items if they see an amateur picture rather then a professional one. Also just to ensure the bidder that this is indeed my product I usually include a paper with my Ebay username & signature when taking the pictures.Promote Promote Promote
I find I get the best bidders from the forums that I usually participate in. Advertise your auction items in forums, but remember no spamming. I usually allow fellow forum members a discount on shipping or allow them the option of local pickup. This method not only will gives you very good bidders but also ensures that you have a good fan base to pool from the next time you have an item on auction.Picking The Right Season
Like in the offline world seasons is too a factor to consider when auctioning off an item on Ebay. I mean if you got a winter coat you should not auction off that item in the middle of summer. I strongly encourage fellow sellers to look at Ebay’s Merchandising Calendar.Picking The Right Closing Date
Always try to end an item listing on weekend. I usually opt for the 10 day listing and start the auction on a Thursday so that the item closes on a Saturday.Listing Item
It has been my experience to keep your item listing simple and to avoid the fancy html. In simple legible text state what you are selling, its condition…etc, use paragraphs if you must and remember to state your shipping, payment and return policy.Reply To All Emails
Reply to all emails, even from Western Union paying merchants from Nigeria. Just remember to enable the option that allows other bidders to read the email so that you do not have to keep replying to the same questions.Ship Item Promptly & Properly
Always try to ship the item as soon as possible and if possible try to include a scanned copy of the shipping receipt. I have found that many bidders are quite happy with this policy and often times recommend me to their friends and family.© Onimoto.Com. All rights reserved.
