1. FIND SUPER-LOCAL BARGAINS
Whether they’re designer sofas, dishwashers, Wiis or children’s books, sellers on eBay often specify items must be collected in person. As this often means fewer bids, there are bargains to be had. Yet you can’t search for “pick up only” on eBay, so we built tools to speedily track and map gems near you.
On the web. Do in at your desk, with the free Local eBay Deals Mapper tool.
2. USE SPELLING MISTAYKE SPOTTERS
Many people can’t spell, so they mistype their eBay entries. This English teacher’s nightmare is a bargain hunter’s dream. Wrongly-spelled products attract fewer bids because many people miss them.
A few specialist search sites take advantage of this. They trawl eBay for all possible spelling mistake combinations. These include Fatfingers, Baycrazy, Goofbid and BargainChecker
3. LIST YOUR EBAY DELIVERY ON SHIPLY
Listing your eBay delivery on Shiply will give you the chance to receive delivery quotes from thousands of feedback-rated couriers. Transporters will compete to give you the best offer; you can then compare different couriers based on their quote, feedback score and reviews they have received from other Shiply users.
To get the best quotes for eBay deliveries it’s important to list your item with as many details as possible. Find out more here.
4. TOOLS TO BAG NO-BID ITEMS
Often sellers start auctions at 99p or less, hoping a bidding war will erupt. Many items go unspotted, staying at this super-low price. Lastminute Auction hunts for eBay auctions due to finish within an hour, but which still cost £1 or less. On a similar note, Baycrazy’s Zero Bids tool finds items ending soon with no bidders.
Double-check delivery charges, as some sellers hope to recoup costs by charging a little extra (though eBay’s now set maximum delivery charges for many categories).
5. SET ALERTS FOR RARE ITEMS
If you want something very specific or hard to track down, set a ‘favourite search’ and eBay will email each time a seller lists your desired item. This is fab if you like buying on eBay, but don’t want to spend your life hunched over the site.
Simply type a product in eBay’s search bar, such as “Star Wars Lego Millennium Falcon”, and click ‘save search’. Be as specific as possible for the most accurate results. Then, when someone clears out the loft and lists one, an email pops into your inbox.
6. CHECK THE EBAY GOING RATE
There’s a quick way to glean an eBay product’s market value. Fill in the search box and tick ‘completed items’ on the left-hand grey bar. It’ll come up with a list of prices similar auctions have already fetched. Then sort by “price: lowest first”.
If the price is red, it means no one bought it. Green means it sold – don’t pay more than the average
7. HAGGLING ON EBAY PAYS OFF
There’s nothing wrong with asking for a discount, even if the listing doesn’t show the ‘make offer’ logo. Haggling works best on buy-it-now listings, or auctions with a high start price and no bids. To contact the seller, click ‘ask a question’. If you’re polite and charming, you’ll get further. Blunt requests such as “hi, will u take 50p” are usually a mistake. They annoy the seller, and a discount is at their discretion.
Once you’ve clinched the deal, keep the transaction within eBay – just ask the seller to add (or change) a buy-it-now price. For 20 haggling tips for success beyond the web, see the High Street Haggling guide.
8. FIND AUCTIONS CLOSING IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT
Listings that finish at anti-social times often get fewer bids, so sell for less. To locate auctions that finish in the dead of night, use BayCrazy’s Night Time Bargain search.
Don’t fancy burning the midnight oil? Combine this trick with auto-bidding tools that bid on your behalf while you’re deep in the land of nod.
9. PAY BY PAYPAL
Avoid sending cheques and never use money orders. It’s much harder for scammers to vanish with your cash when you use eBay’s online payment system, PayPal.
Paying this way costs the buyer the same as paying by cheque, but means you’re covered by eBay’s Buyer Protection scheme. If an item is faulty, counterfeit or non-existent, you are far more likely to see a refund.
10. BUY SOMETHING SMALL FIRST
In its essence, eBay’s just a marketplace. While it’s easy to snap up a scorcher, it’s just as easy to get burnt. Thus it’s a good idea for newbies to learn the ropes by bidding on a few small items such as books or CDs. This way, they learn how the bidding system works, before graduating to more costly wares.
Want to check if an item’s legit? Why not post it on the forum’s eBay board? Experts in there will tell you whether it looks dodgy.
Source: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ and http://www.shiply.com/