A Free Buyer's Guide to eBay

[Menard]

A Free Buyer’s Guide to eBay

By Robert Meeks


Whether looking for a bargain on equipment and supplies, or that elusive collectible to add to our collections, eBay provides a wealth of resources with the number of sellers attracted to its venue of available buyers. With the number of sellers offering so many items, and yet, so many buyers vying to be the bidder with the final word, finding a deal can be a destination that just escapes our grip.

To improve our chances of success in finding that item we desire and bringing the auction to a successful end with an aquisition providing ideal savings, we can implement several techniques for searching, analyzing, and bidding which can optimize our investment of time.


Hunting the elusive auction

When searching for an item, we have various choices: a general title search; a title and description search; and we can isolate the search within a specific category and even sub-category. Checking the box for 'search titles and descriptions' searches within the seller's written description for an item. If we are looking for a specific item which is easily identifiable by its name, such as 'ricoh kr10m', this can be a useful choice to make. If we are, however, looking for a more generalized item description, such as '3-d camera', this option will list any item that has 3-D and camera in its description, thus returning hundreds, even thousands, of potential hits.

When using the search function on eBay, we need to evaluate how general our search parameters may be. If we are searching for other than a specific item, it is often beneficial to do a title only search first. We can then specialize the search by category and/or do a description search or add another keyword to the search. It is also advisable to do a general search within all categories as sellers do list items in categories they may not belong. Finding an item listed out of category can give you a bidding advantage as a lot of buyers stay within categories for their searches.

There are several techniques we can use in seaches which can optimize our chances of finding items by isolating the search terms further and even finding an elusive item others may not find.

Hyphens are a handy way to further specify our search parameters making it easier to find useful auctions for our purpose. Placing a hyphen between words will instruct the search feature to look for those words in that order. For example: if we entred the search words 'diana camera', we would get all listings which contain the words 'diana' and 'camera'; if we enter 'diana-camera', we will only get results where the words are in that order, separated by one space. Conversely, entering '3-d' in the search box would return any entry which also contains the the abbreviation '3rd' as the hyphen only instructs that there be on space between the entries, that space can be occupied by a letter in the results.

A very handy search technique to use to find elusive auctions is misspellings. Misspellings on the web are all too common, and eBay is filled with misspellings and typos. If you look in one of the lenses categories, you will find that a large percentage of sellers believe that the singular form of lenses is lense (and just in case anybody is confused, the correct spelling is lens). Searching for items by using intentional misspellings in the search box can find items many other potential bidders may miss due to the misspelling. On occasion, I have found a stereo camera listed as 'stareo', 'stero', and 'sterao'. Some of these are just simply typos as we all try to type too fast. Using this technique can find items for which the bidding competition is low due to the misspelling, offering us a potential deal.

Keyword spamming is an unfortunate reality of the internet and eBay. Although they insist that they take measures against it and it does not exist on their site, it is rampant. Keyword spamming involves the use of common keywords, whether they have anything to do with the item or not. Sellers will often list words in their descriptions, and sometimes the titles, in order to get hits during a search. Some sellers will also list other items they sell or any word they think has anything to do with their item. It is not uncommon to find the word stereo in the description of a camcorder or digital camera whether the item has the capability or not.

Keyword spamming can be avoided by not using overly common words by themselves. Common words like ‘flash’ can bring up any item where the seller has mentioned having used a camera with flash or the use of flash in a page design, and many will use this technique. Unfortunately, some sellers have hurt the ability to use the word ‘lot’ in a title only seach by including the word in a title to describe two items or even one item. These tactics clutter search results.

Taking advantage of the advanced search option can help to further isolate auctions by not only specifying and hyphenating seach words as has been mentioned, but also providing words to be ignored. If searching for a stylus pad on eBay in any type of search by using the word ‘stylus’ will unfortunately return hundreds, even thousands of Epson products since they use that as a brand name. Searching for stylus but telling the search to ignore ‘epson’ will not return any results with the word Epson in them.


Using feedback to our advantage

Feedback on eBay is both an important tool and misleading. Within the business community, a customer feedback rating of 90% would be considered excellent, on eBay, a 90% rating is poor. The reason for this is a practice which many sellers on eBay have adopted, which is hostage feedback. They won't leave feedback until the buyer has left feedback. Being that buyers do not want negative feedback, they often leave positive feedback or none at all, even if they were given a bad deal.

Feedback, however, can be used to our advantage. As many buyers may avoid a seller with a feedback rating below 90%, it is important to know why they have that rating, if they are a relatively new seller. A seller who has only had 20 feedback ratings, can have a low feedback rating with only one or two negative feedbacks. Investigating the feedback comments can give a clue as to whether the negative feedback was a legitimate concern, a buyer or seller with unreasonable expectations, or just simply malicious. If the negative feedback is unfounded or from a questionable source, this can be a potential bargain as many buyers will avoid a seller based on the feedback score alone without reading the comments.

Reading comments made by a seller in response to negative feedback is an important tool as well. If a seller is abusive in their responses, such as always claiming that everyone who leaves negative feedback against them is a crook, then that is a seller we may want to avoid as anyone in a selling position who is abusive toward their customers is exactly what their customers say they are.

Feedback can also provide a clue as to the availability of an item. If a seller has listed the same item several times before, we can not only get an idea of the bid range, but we can avoid overbidding on an item that will be listed again.

Another potential bargain can be found in new sellers with feedback below 10, as many buyers will not deal with new sellers. This is not practicality, it is simply elitism. These buyers never grew up after high school and never got out of the habit of picking on freshmen. Their problem can be our advantage.

When dealing with brand new sellers with a '0' rating, there are a few guidelines to follow. For the sake protecting our investment, it is advisable to not deal with a '0' rating seller outside of the country in which we reside (in the case of European members, outside of mainland Europe, or the EU) as it is easier for a scam artist to avoid legal repercussions when operating from another country. If dealing with a '0' rated seller, carefully read the wording of the listing. We are just looking for the context of the writing; whether it seems like they are promising too much or it seems natural. Scam artists do have a tendency to oversell (at least on eBay as really good scam artists would have a rating). Communicating with the seller through e-mail is a good idea.


Serious bidding on eBay

After we have scoped out our items and checked out the sellers, we can implement some tactics in the bidding wars. Some of these tactics will seem obvious while others may seem questionable, yet, the objective being set forth is not just to win the item, but to win the item at a low price.

One of the primary keys to being a succesful bidder on eBay is to be aware of the mistakes made by sellers and bidders alike; that is if we care to save money.

Two primary mistakes made by sellers involves shipping and reserve prices. High shipping costs are a turn-off to other bidders. If, however, this prevents others from bidding on the item, it opens up a potential deal if the total (winning bid plus shipping) of what we would spend on the item is less than what an item went for because it had lower shipping which attracted more bidders. Reserve auctions will fend off bidders as well who don’t like to play the reserve game. If we pay attention to what similar items are selling for, we can use that to judge what we want to bid on the reserve auction, which means lower than its usual selling price. We may or may not hit the reserve, but, if we do, and others are not bidding, we stand a good chance of getting a deal.

Unless the item for which we are bidding is a rare one-of-a-kind item, there is no reason to jump into a bidding war for the first item we find which meets our criteria. It makes more sense to find several items and place them in the watch items section of our ‘my eBay’ page. We can then watch several items and if one is not getting bids while others are, this gives us the opportunity to get the item for less than the other auctions. I have seen bidders beat up one each other over one item while there is a similar item available which is not getting so many bids. This is more of ego wars than bid wars and should be avoided.

Another method by which we can judge auctions to get low bidding competition is by their ending time. Sunday evening (North American time zones) is prime eBay time for people browsing eBay. Any auctions ending on a Sunday evening are going to be high competition and bring higher bids. Conversely, any auction ending early Sunday morning offers better chances for low bidding competition as people are going to church, sleeping in, or recovering from Saturday night. Holidays as well represent good times for auctions to end when there will be less competition, and, interestly, the Summer is a slack period on eBay, particularly on Saturdays. It is the days and times of year in which people will be involved with other things which offer the least competition when an auction is scheduled to end at that time.

It is the time when an auction ends, particularly the last five minutes, when the most bidding often takes place. A technique often used during this time by many eBay bidders is called sniping, which involves waiting till the last possible moment to enter a bid in which to outbid an opponent, before they get a chance to place another bid. Although this does work for many, and can be very effective to take an item at a low price if only one or two bids have been placed on it just before it ends, it can also lead to nickel and diming the bid price past what either bidder would have originally intended to pay. In sniping, we need to set a limit on an item and keep it. If the other bidder is aggressive, and so are we, we may end up with an auction which ended higher than the item normally averages. Sniping must be used judiciously.

One method to avoid being bullied into a sniping contest is to bid the most that we intend to pay for an item. If someone wants to outbid us, but they cannot succeed with only upping the bid by a few dolloars at a time, they may well give up. Where, as with sniping, if each bidding party keeps exchanging high bids because they are only bidding up in small amounts, they are likely to continue further and keep bidding.

Keeping another bidder off their game is necessary to prevent from being outbid. The majority of bidders on eBay bid in even dollar amounts. Often bidding in dollars and cents, such as $36.65, can spell the difference between winning and losing an auction as, if we had instead bid $35.00, a bid of $36.00 would have beaten us but not if we bid the $36.65. The odd cents also throws off the chance that someone will equal our bid which will automatically clue them into what we bid as the original bidder in a tie takes the bid, but if they see that the exact amount they bid is the high bid, then they will know that they tied and only one more bid will beat us.


Things to avoid on eBay

Sellers to avoid are easy to spot with practice. Any seller who only accepts payment through Paypal is a poor choice as they are only interested is fast payment. On average, the Paypal only sellers have a lower rating than other sellers on eBay.

If you use Paypal, they are not a financial institution. Any time a company wants your checking account number, it is a risky proposition. One mistake in an entry for funds to withdraw from your account can not only leave you with an absence of funds, but that same absence can cause other payments to bounce and cost you additional fees. Your bank is not required to, nor will they, replace any funds incurred due to an accidental overdraft. However, it is only fair to state that the majority of Paypal users have had satisfactory experiences.

I personally do not deal with demanding sellers. There is a thing called customer service where a store is more than willing to go the extra step to be helpful to their customer. This creates good relations. There are several eBay sellers who are more interested in receiving their payment within the shortest time and telling the buyer everything that the buyer is to do for the seller, without a mention of what the seller will do for the buyer. Sellers like this are questionable. A redlight should come on for any seller that is primarily interested in getting payed quickly. Sellers who use the excuse that they have been burned by other buyers are using just that, an excuse. Our local stores have been burned by an occasional customer and still offer us customer service, we should expect nothing less from eBay sellers.

 
eBay acronyms and abbreviations


This is a simple list of acronyms and abbreviations used on eBay by many sellers. As not everyone is familiar with all of them, it would provide a handy reference. This is compiled from various sources but is by no means complete, just common.



1st: First Edition (also FE)

AO: All original

B&W: Black and white
 
BC: Back cover

BIN: Buy It Now

CC: Carbon copy

CDR/CDRW: Compact Disc Recordable/Compact Disc Rewriteable

COA: Certificate of authenticity

CV: Catalog or Collector Value

DOA: Dead on arrival (non functional)

EX or EXC: Excellent

F: Fine

FAQ: Frequently asked questions with answers

FB: Feedback

FDD: Floppy Disk Drive

FS: Factory sealed

FVF: Final Value Fee

GU: Gently Used. Item that has been used but shows little wear, accompanied by explanation of wear

HB: Hardback book

HDD: Hard Disk Drive

HIS/HIST: Historical

HTF: Hard to find

HTML: HyperText Markup Language – used for webpages

IE: Internet Explorer

INIT: Initials

ISP: Internet Service Provider

LE/LTD: Limited edition

LG: Large

MIB: Mint in box

MIBP: Mint in blister-pack

MIJ: Made in Japan

MIMB: Mint in mint box

MIMP: Mint in mint package

MIP: Mint in package

MIU: Made in U.S.A.

MNB: Mint no box

MNT: Mint

MOC: Mint on card

MOMC: Mint on mint card

MONMC: Mint on near mint card

NARU: Not a registered user (or suspended user)

NBW: Never been worn

NC: No cover

NIB: New in box

NIP: New in package

NM: Near mint

NOS: New old stock

NP: Not packaged

NPB: Non-paying bidder

NR or NORES: No reserve price for an auction-style listing

NRFB: Never removed from box

NWT: New with tags

OB: Original Box

OEM: Original equipment manufacturer

OF: Original Finish

OJ: Occupied Japan

OOAK: One of a kind

OOP: Out of print

OS: Operating System (Windows, Linux)

PIC: Picture

PL: A Pink, or a Pinkliner. This refers to an eBay staff member who posts a message on a Discussion Board. Messages from eBay staff have a pink header.

PM: Priority Mail

PP: Parcel Post

SB: Softbound (books)

S/H: Shipping and Handling

S/H/I: Shipping, Handling and Insurance

S/O: Sold out

Sig: Signature

TM: Trademark

TOS: Terms of Sale

UPI: Unpaid Item

URL: Uniform Resource Locator

USPS: United States Postal Service

VF: Very Fine

VGC: Very Good Condition

VHTF: Very hard to find

XC: Excellent Condition



This article is copyrighted 2005 by Robert Meeks

[12noon]

That was well worth reading.
 
I've just had a few days worth of buying and selling on Ebay and noticed how things can go wrong. I've just sold a JVC camcorder for £12 and i think that's well under valued. I've also had items on Ebay that didn't sell and only got looked at the odd 20 or so times. Selling things on Ebay isnt as easy as it sounds.

It is the time when an auction ends, particularly the last five minutes, when the most bidding often takes place. A technique often used during this time by many eBay bidders is called sniping, which involves waiting till the last possible moment to enter a bid in which to outbid an opponent, before they get a chance to place another bid. Although this does work for many, and can be very effective to take an item at a low price if only one or two bids have been placed on it just before it ends, it can also lead to nickel and diming the bid price past what either bidder would have originally intended to pay. In sniping, we need to set a limit on an item and keep it. If the other bidder is aggressive, and so are we, we may end up with an auction which ended higher than the item normally averages. Sniping must be used judiciously.

I've also noticed that when i buy something, it's better to do what it says above. Don't just bang a big bid in and then wait to see if you manage to stay ahead. It's better to watch an item, wait until the last few seconds and then put your bid in. If you know other items are also listed that are the same as the one you want, then it doesn't matter if you put a small bid in because you can always try again on the next item. It's just when you want a one off item that someone else (a few people) wants when things start looking tricky.

[rosie]

Things to avoid on eBay

Sellers to avoid are easy to spot with practice. Any seller who only accepts payment through Paypal is a poor choice as they are only interested is fast payment. On average, the Paypal only sellers have a lower rating than other sellers on eBay.

Hi Mernard...I am off to bed and this is a lengthy read so will tackle it tomorrow,but I got as far as the PayPal thing have to say it is ridiculous.

I personally also except money order and no checks ,but prefer Paypal. Any seller that does NOT except PayPal is to be questioned in my opinion-something wrong there and sends a red FLAG. Any lonGtime Ebayer has been through the ranks on not getting paid at all or it taking forever and there is nothing wrong with wanting payment for sold items in a QUIK MANNER. BUYERS EXPECT SHIPMENT FAST!  IF I(COULD AFFORD TO LIMIT MY SALES I would also choose to only except Paypal or electronic payment ONLY  as the other methods are very seldom "timely" and can just be a pain because of the unclosed deal long after the deal is over.People who regularly sell on Ebay need to have those payments to shop for new merchandise and to have items sold and lengthy pay times interferes with the cash flow.

[Andy]

For small items I would expect PayPal payment or perhaps Greenzap unless the buyer turned up at my door with cash.

[rosie]

This is actually a pretty informative article. The only thing that really screamed at me was the PayPal thing. I would not be surprised if the author had some problem with PayPal and is now disqualified to use it.

To add to it...

I would not bid on any item I wanted without putting a snipe on it. Sniper programs are cheap and used by many bidders and you can bet if you do not have a snipe on the item that someone else does and will win get their bid entered before you can do it manually.

I liked what the author had to say about misspelled words and how by typing in a misspellled word you may come across an overlooked auction. Misspelled a few myself before and wondered why they were not being hit! Using simple terms too can yield that undernoticed auction. For instance typing in "old pot" when you are looking for vintage pottery.

To Nooner-I have really noticed a difference in the last year or so how easy it is to undersell an item. I used to be less afraid to start a bid out attractively low to attract bidders and do not take the chance anymore because it could very well like sell without being bid up as you might expect.  I price things for the smallest I am willing to accept and figure they could sell for just that, hoping that they will sell for higher.

People do not like reserve auctions, but sometimes a reserve  is a good way to have your item looked at because you can have the low start bid and if the thing is desirable enough people will bid even with a reserve, but you are not risking giving the thing away.

[12noon]

The only thing wrong with PayPal is that it costs the seller when someone pays via PayPal. It's only a small charge though and i can live with that.
 

I would not bid on any item I wanted without putting a snipe on it. Sniper programs are cheap and used by many bidders and you can bet if you do not have a snipe on the item that someone else does and will win get their bid entered before you can do it manually.

I don't know what a snipe is, but if it's one of those programs that puts a last second bid in, then i've out last second bid them before without any help from a computer program. I got my drum machine with a bid in the last 12 seconds of the auction.
 

[rosie]

 Congrats on the drum machine, but if you bid within the last twelve seconds, there was probably no snipe on the auction A snipe can get in with only a second or 2 to go. I have not used my sniper for a while because it's been about 6 months since I bought anything, so I am not sure of the name of it-I think it is "snipe it". I've moved some files off my pc so it's not at my fingertips.

How it works is you pay I think $5.00  and that is kept in your account. You download a button that sits in your browser bar and hit it when you want to bid and the auction details are automatically entered into a form -You decide your maximum bid and how many seconds you wnat to wait till the end-they recommend about 5 seconds to avoid being shut out-Each snipe cost about a quarter and is taken off your balance.

[rosie]

Another HUGE benefit to using a sniper is that you have your guaranteed bid in there-which you can place at the start of the auction without it showing up on the auction page. Nothing attracts other bidders more than items with bids already. So to the person looking at the auction who may be interested in also bidding, any interest in the auction is not visible so they may not place their proxy bid as high, thinking they do not have to compete for the bid which means, you the sniper get it for cheaper! .

[Menard]

There are a few reasons for the PayPal only mention.

1) Do keep in mind that this is a reference to sellers who only accept payment by PayPal, and through no other source.

When a seller is unwilling to accept payments from a customer through whatever means the customer can pay, this is a lack of service and commitment.

If you had a local shop which only accepted one type of payment, which may well be inconvenient for some people, you may well not shop there. Why should eBay sellers be treated any differently?

You will also notice in the defense of PayPal only sellers that you often hear, 'it is convenient for me'. If I have the option of buying from a seller who is more concerned about their convenience than offering customer service and one who is willing to work with me, the PayPal only seller loses.

2) PayPal has higher risks.

Here in the states, if an accidental keystroke is made in an account debit (say, somebody was suppose to take out 50 and accidentally took out 500), any fees accrued due to the absence of funds are the liability of the account holder and not the bank which holds said funds.

There is always a risk when attaching automatic payments of any kind to your checking account. As PayPal is not a financial institution with years of experience at this, I would personally be uncomfortable with trusting them with my bank account. That being said, PayPal has generally held a pretty good reputation, but less of a reputation when compared to credit card companies and banks; which means PayPal makes more mistakes than the afforementioned.


This is just a red flag against PayPal only sellers, not sellers who accept PayPal. Sellers who take payment by PayPal only average a lower feedback than sellers who take other forms of payment, or other forms of payment in addition to PayPal. That fact alone should raise a red flag.


It comes down to customer service. A seller who is primarily concerned about their convenience and getting their money, and puts the customer on a back burner, is not much of a seller. We hold local shops we frequent to a higher standard than that. Why should eBay sellers be treated any differently?


Again, these are not exacts, just red flags, which may or may not mean anything. You have to do your own research about a seller beyond just one red flag, because one red flag alone could just be a red herring. 

[Menard]

This is actually a pretty informative article. The only thing that really screamed at me was the PayPal thing. I would not be surprised if the author had some problem with PayPal and is now disqualified to use it.

And no, I am not disqualified to use PayPal.

[rosie]

When a seller is unwilling to accept payments from a customer through whatever means the customer can pay, this is a lack of service and commitment.

If you had a local shop which only accepted one type of payment, which may well be inconvenient for some people, you may well not shop there. Why should eBay sellers be treated any differently?

On the contrary, local shops all have different policies...

Many do not accept checks, certain credit cards, 100 dolar bills etc...

PayPal has higher risks.

Here in the states, if an accidental keystroke is made in an account debit (say, somebody was suppose to take out 50 and accidentally took out 500), any fees accrued due to the absence of funds are the liability of the account holder and not the bank which holds said funds.

I have made mistakes with PayPal entries as have my customers and they have been easily straightened out. Any bank would also hold you accountable for an overdraft of $450.00

[rosie]

And no, I am not disqualified to use PayPal.

I was not aware that you were the author of the article...just thought you posted an informative article...or I would have kept that thought to myself!

[rosie]

Thanks for the post seriously though, Menard. It does really have a lot of info (even though...it may be peppered with some opinion .

[Menard]

Any article, regardless how objective the intent, is going to be peppered with opinion; such is human nature.

With regard to fees accrued due to mistakes, I was referring to the banks, not PayPal. Banks, at least in the states, are not required by law to refund any fees they have charged which came about due to an accidental overdraft, nor will they refund any fees.

[Andy]

Thanks for the interesting article.

As a seller I don't like snipers since the final price may well be lower than if natural bidding takes place. But I think sniping only works when there are few or no bids on an item so you are the only sniper in town  Also, I don't like it since it is going against the spirit of eBay. Plus I think many people must be annoyed and saddened by the actions of snipers.

p.s. does anyone make lots of money from eBay? I'm thinking about getting more serious with it to add another significant income stream to my portfolio. I can't do normal jobs anymore after moving abroad. 

What I'm not clear on is if I buy a wholesale quantity of a product and want to sell them all on ebay, it seems like I have to sell one at a time, relist and offer to other bidders via email that failed to win the bid. Is this correct, or can I list batches at once? I'm not a power seller yet so any advice appreciated.