Tips for Buyers and Sellers (Tips for Buying and Selling at Auctions)

Member Name: president_gringo

Product:	Tips for Buying and Selling at Auctions
Date:	12/02/01 (198 review reads)
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I have had many experience in using auction sites on the internet. The main one i use is ebay, but have also used QXL, Aukland and yahoo.

Out of the above, i'd have to say that ebay is the best. Its a nice fresh looking site and easy to use. It pobably has a bigger audience than the others which is what you want.

I'd avoid QXL. I'm not going to repeat what i have said in other post, but basically its the worse company out there. to find out why, read my post in the QXL section od dooyoo.

Tips for buyers:
(1) ALWAYS READ THE DESCRIPTION CAREFULLY!!! There was one woman who didn't read the description carefully and ended up paying $425 for a empty Playstation 2 box....i'm not joking. If the description is unclear, always ask the buyer more. There should be a "Ask buyer question" button there on all sites. If your unsure, don't bid.

(2) Check to see if the bid includes postage. If not don't forget to take it into account with your bid. Some people overcharge big time on postage, so you might want to ask the seller how much it will be.

(3) Find out what the item is worth, decide how much your willing to bid and stick to it. Your not in a competition and your not playing with monopoly money.

(4) Check to see how the auction your bidding on is doing in the last 1/2 hour or so. Alot of people do something called snipering, which is coming in at the last second to outbid other people. This way they get it for a cheaper price. Ebay has a feautre where you enter your maximum bid and your actual bid will only be £x more than the previous bid (the amount will depend on the item.....lower values means lower x). If you can, try to sniper yourself, but don't leave it to the last second or the auto bid thing might outbid you.

(5) Try and leave feedback on the seller after the transaction is over. They might return the favour and it will help you in the future. Rememb
er, if you mess people about you will get negative feedback which will mean no one will want to trade with you again.

Tips for sellers:
(1) Try to give an accurate description, including any postage costs. This will avoid people e-mail you questions later. Word your description well, if it sounds dull no one will want it. Its got to have a punch to it.

(2) To maximise the money you get, don't include postage with the bid. Alot of people don't take this into account when bidding so you will gget more overal. But do be reasonable with what you charge.

(3) Try to arrange it so your auction runs over a weekend. This is when most people sit down and check out the site.

(4) You might want to consider going for extra options. This will depend on what you are selling and how many. Extra features range from 15p to £20. Check these out with each site.

(5) If your having problems selling on a site, try using another site. From what i have heard, QXL is good for selling games and movies (although i wouldn't use them).

(6) Try to leave feedback on buyers. Hopefully they will return the favour and will leave feedback for you which will give people more confidence when dealing with you. Remember, if you mess people about you will get negative feedback which will mean no one will want to trade with you again.


I'm sure i have missed out a few things, but if i remember anything important i will post an updated version, so keep your eyes open.

Hope you have great success at using the sites, and always remember to be careful.

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