TheGreateBaySolution.com

*Basics*

Buying on eBay can be done one of two ways. You can peruse the multitude of different auction categories, like different departments in a department store. Or you can search for specific items that you are interested in. By default, auctions will be listed with the ones ending first, along with the "featured items" at the top. You can always sort them according to the newest ones, the highest or lowest priced, by paypal payments, or distance of the location of the item.

Most people use eBay on Sundays and Mondays. Therefore, Tuesday is a good day to capture auctions with less volume. If Internet response time is a major factor, the best times to shop is early in the morning or late at night to avoid the peak use times. To start immediately for a quick and simple search click here and type in your query.

-Research:
It is good to have a comparative price when shopping for your desired item. If you know the typical eBay market price, it will be a good gauge of how much you should be spending. We have aggregated average prices for specific items for this purpose to ensure that you find the best deal. We take completed auction prices from the last thirty days to generate a useful average price guide for comparison. Current auction prices do not give much helpful information since most of the bidding happens in the latter parts of the auction - within hours or minutes of the ending times.

-Refine your search specifically:
Because of the innumerable items, you want to refine your search as much as you can. The greater the selection, the better chance you have in obtaining a good bargain. When using the eBay search function, it is helpful to select the option below the entry window that says "Search titles and descriptions" for items like books. Otherwise, the search engine will only search the auction titles for your search phrase of interest. Different terms and spellings will also reveal more listings to choose from. It is helpful to review all the customary eBay abbreviations. Every eBay item category has developed its own set of these abbreviations to save some space.

-Examine the description closely
It is imperative to gather as much information as possible to illustrate your item. (pictures only tell so much - if they are even the real picture)

Some guidelines to check:
Is it new? Broken?
Is it listed "as is?" or reconditioned?
(As is - should reflect seriously flawed - and no returns <-- avoid these!)

Is shipping a flat rate?
Is there a handling fee?
Is shipping excessive in an effort to avoid eBay fees?
Is the seller overseas? (to avoid extreme shipping fees)
Is the payment method fishy? Money orders? Personal checks?

-Feedback rating
By clicking on the number link next to the seller's eBay name, you can easily identify seller's feedback rating. Generally, avoid sellers with negative feedback ratings especially with a history of many or even a few recent ones. There are always a few exceptions since there are bad buyers as well. But comments can be revealing like poor packaging, different item than described, non deliveries etc. Who were the seller's buyers? If the previous buyers have only one or two items sold, the seller could just be selling to themselves to beef up their feedback rating. Also note if the feedback rating is based on buying as opposed to selling. The letters "B" and "S" will indicate if the buyer was buying or selling in each one.

Note the "Changed ID" symbol in the user's profile. This indicates that the seller has changed the name within the last thirty days, with possible artificial feedback.

One of the founding principles of feedback is that it is public. Be wary of private auctions and private feedback. A flag should be raised if the history of a seller's items are low-priced items and they are featuring high-priced items. Look out for people that build up feedback on low-priced items like recipes and wholesale lists.

-Don't get carried away with the winning mentality.
Most everyone is programmed to having a winning mentality. Don't give into temptation of trying to win every single auction you come across. Establish a maximum price you are willing to pay for a certain item before you start bidding. Try not to exceed this amount, even it if means bidding one dollar more to win. If you win every auction, you will inevitably be paying too much for some of the auctions. Don't worry that the item will no longer be available (unless its a definitive one-of-a-kind) - it will be sure to appear in a different auction.

Find free resources and guides with refined searches for online's best bargains and deals.