Newcomers to EBay Revised 2011 : eBay Guides

  Perhaps you found this page by accident. Perhaps you did some investigation and was curious. Perhaps you were just bored and decided to read a little...

   In any case welcome Newcomers to Ebay!!!

  It seems very daunting,; millions of items being offered and you want them all!

Wait!!! If you read anything about EBay, read this through- it will give you tips and ideas on how EBay really works.

  1) Set up an Ebay account. That is an easy step. Pick a user name (hopefully unique- DO NOT use your name, or other info that can be used by phishing) and browse the listings.

You can browse by category, or frequently people browse by the item you seek (ie 1968 hockey card, Gordie Howe). Trial and error will help you refine your searchs. Frequently items will be listed in wrong categories or even mis-spelled, so searching by actual name willnot always work.

 2) Set up a paypal account (I am not going into the good-bad about paypal), however it is the fastest and surest way to pay for and track your purchases. Make sure you use a crdit card through paypal to GUARANTEE your transaction.

 3) How do I buy? When do I buy? There are 4 different methods-

a) On line auction- Bidding has a minimum price, you enter what you are willing to spend for the item. If you are the only bidder- you get the item at the minimum price. If you are the second bidder- Ebay places your bid at the next interval higher (up to your maximum bid). Raises are usually .25, but raise to dollar and more at different levels depending on the items value.

There are different philosophies about the best time to bid. Some say wait until the end, others choose to bid upfront. My personal feeling is that if you bid early you have a better chance of winning the item and usually at the starting price.

Beware of feedback scores. With Ebay's recent demographic change to increase sellers (by allowing 100 free auctions per month), many new and untested sellers will have entered the marketplace. Obviously not all will be bad, however simple research of the feedback score and longitivity on the site should help ease some worry.

b) Ebay stores- These stores are made up of (usually) trustworthy sellers that offer goods at a no haggle fixed price. Click and its yours. Many items will also feature Best Offer (see d, below).

   Some stores have vast amounts of goods (20, 30, and even 100 pages+). Now nobody really has the time to go page by page through 1000s of stores.

While a store may have 20 categories, even those may have large amounts of listings. A simple strategy is to use the internal search window. For example you type Superman into the window. Results will show the various items pertaining or including Superman throughout the ENTIRE store. If you know more specifically- you may type in more keywords- example heroclix superman. This procedure can be repeated and refined.

c) Buy it Now - This option is a fixed price on either auction style listing or store fixed price listings. These are ways to acquire the item without an auction and perhaps losing out.

d) Best offer- Many items have a "Best Offer" tag. What this means is you have only an opportunity to persuade a seller to sell below his/her "asking" Buy it Now Price. Once offered it is the seller's choice to accept, reject, or counteroffer (New feature).  

Please note that if an "insulting Best Offer" is sent (ie. .25 for a $100.00 item) most likely you will be blocked by the seller ( meaning you can NEVER purchase anything from seller in auction or store) 

A word of caution to newcomers- Sometimes that feeling of being " a kid in a candy store" can overwhelm you, causing you to overspend on auctions or in store, etc. Outside of rare or vintage items there is always " another deal right around the corner" . Take your time, watch a few items, throw questions to the seller, and become comfortable with the process.

4) Feedback- This is a critical part of EBay! Feedback (the number beside the star) allows you to view how a seller or buyer transacts business. Obviously the higher the stars ( at least 100) and the higher the percentage (at least 98%) the better chance that the transaction will go smoothly, or if a problem occurs- it will be resolved.

It is equally important that YOU (the buyer) leave feedback. For some strange reason many buyers choose not to leave feedback- I am not certain why (I have asked, and asked, and asked...)

PLEASE if you are going to be a part of this community- DO Leave Feedback.  At the same time DO Contact the seller if there is a problem- Don't leave negative feedback if displeased, contact the seller and explain why you are disatisfied. Communication is imperative for successful transactions.

5) Shipping (you can read further in my other guide). BE AWARE!! Sometimes a listing may have a very low starting price, and then the shipping charge (especially if it is not posted) will be VASTLY EXCESSIVE.

Again this boils down to communication. Contact the seller beforehand with shipping costs before being disappointed. All shipping charges are supposed to cover postage and reasonable packaging (usually up to $1.00/$1.50 above actual postage, frequently it should be less). Also be aware of where the item is shipping from- distance and method of shipping will vary greatly (as will the cost). Also always ask about combined shipping if buying multiple items, some charge by item, some offer no discount, and some will weigh them and give you a fair price. 

6) Watch list- You can watch items in your watch list; Save a couple of similar items and see which gets bid on, which is a better deal (including shipping). You can also run a search of completed transactions to see what similar items have recently sold for.

I thank you for your time in reading and hope you found this guide useful. Comments are always welcome and appreciated---->

 Tell me directly if you found this useful, and if NOT, tell me what it is missing?.

For further information about my auctions or store click on ABOUT ME (me)