Tips on Buying from Online Auction Sites. (Tips for Buying and Selling at Auctions)

Member Name: bingo

Product:	Tips for Buying and Selling at Auctions
Date:	24/04/01 (245 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap prices, choice of items

Disadvantages: Can be risky

I have been buying items from websites for a number of months now. I mainly use Yahoo Auctions and EBay, and have compiled a list of general buying tips that I think may be useful. Online Auctions are a great way of buying specific items you want, and finding new and interesting things. The only problem can be that there are too many things to buy! While there is a certain amount of risk with online auctions, as long as you're careful when you buy, I think the risks are minimal. I've had no problems at all, apart from being outbid on things I wanted!

Buying Tips
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1/ Check Sellers Rating. While not a perfect method of checking someone's reliability, its a good start. If you have the time, read a few of the comments left for the seller. This is a good way to find out extra positive information, speed of delivery, quality of items, etc.
For some sellers you may not even need to check any comments (Some people on EBay have ratings in the 000's!). Do not necessarily be put off by a couple of negative comments, as they can generally be explained by reply comments, and may not be the sellers fault. If theres no explanation, however, proceed with caution, if at all. Also do not necessarily be put off by new sellers, after all everyone starts with a 0 rating. If in doubt, mail the seller.

2/ Set your price. This is the sort of advice you will see in the Help files contained within online auction sites, for the reason that its very true. Admittedly for that must-have item you *will* go above your set price if necessary. However, for everything else, set a price and stick to it. Auctions are not necessarily the cheapest way of buying and you may get a better price from a specialist shop or another auction site. Chances are, if its not particularly rare, someone else will put one up for sale within a week!

3/ Don't bid your full price. This goes hand in hand with the previous advice,
and mainly applies to auctions with quite a lot of time remaining before they close. If you stay under your set price, you have a certain amount of flexibility if you are outbid. If outbid you can rebid for an item, and stand a fair chance of winning without exceeding your set price. If you were to bid your full price in one go, you would be the current winner, although perhaps not the winner at the auction close. Once you have bid your full price, you may have to exceed it or risk losing the auction (Although this depends on whether many other people want the item).

4/ Avoid Snipers. A 'sniper' is someone who outbids the current winner on an auction a short amount of time before it closes. This allows them to win the auction whilst keeping the price down and avoid 'bidding wars' which can push prices up a lot. The auction sites I use feature a system called 'proxy bidding', which is in effect all the time the auction is open. It allows you to place a bid thats higher then the current price. This way you can be the current winner whilst still having a bid higher than the price. This will beat snipers who place a bid higher then the current price if its lower than your proxy bid. The system will accept their winning bid, then will automatically place your higher bid. This is quite ironic as the sniper will place a bid at the close of the auction, so no-one will have time to place another bid, including themselves when they lose to your proxy bid! If you can, you should stay under your set price with your proxy bid, and monitor the last 5 minutes of the auction. This allows you to place another bid if someone beats your proxy bid late in the auction. Alternatively you could simply use your set price as the proxy bid.

5/ If you're not sure, don't buy it. The Auction sites I use have a built in feature that allows you to ask a question for any individual item. If the seller isn't prepared to answer
a reasonable question about the item, theres probably a reason! If the question isn't mailed directly to the seller, they will receive an email about it, so there are no real excuses for not answering. Unless you ask the question 5 minutes before the end of an auction! If you're not sure about the seller, mail them or look at their feedback comments. If you're still unsure about the item, walk away (Virtually!). If you really want the item, but you're not sure, search the site for other examples of the same thing.

6/ Check Sellers Website. EBay in particular seems to be used by a lot of people as promotion for their websites, which they advertise in item descriptions. These websites are often excellent ways of finding a larger selection of related items, all at fixed prices. Often the sellers will be selling the same items as they are auctioning but for the same price or less (Due to people bidding on the auction item) which can definitely save you some money. You also have the benefit of being able to check the sellers auction feedback before buying. While this does not remove the element of risk, it does reduce it somewhat. If the seller did rip you off, the auction site would not help you directly, although you are not without comeback. Some people leave warning messages about individuals as auction items, which is a good way of getting a point across, although the seller will not be happy!

7/ Postage costs. As a buyer, you have absolutely no control over the postage cost set by the seller. Some sellers choose to add extra to the postage to maximise profits. The only real way around this is to buy only the items that feature a fixed postage cost as part of the description, or to mail the seller before bidding and ask the P&P cost.

8/ Leave feedback, Negative or Positive. The strength of online auctions has always been in the feedback systems which allow the users to identify the trustworthy buyers and se
llers. The higher the value, the more unique trades they have participated in. Its important to maintain this system by leaving honest feedback about both buyers and sellers. Its particularly important for newbies and people with low ratings. You may find that people (buyers and sellers) sometimes forget, in which case I recommend 'nudging' their memory with a polite email.

9/ Don't buy the first one! When looking for a particular item, you'll probably find it easiest to use the built-in search engines (If available). When you do this you should make the search as simple as possible to allow for all the different item description permutations. When you do find the item you want, don't bid on the first example, as chances are there will be more, of similar quality and differing costs. There are many factors to consider, such as sellers reputation, postage costs, and item condition.

10/ If you have the time, think about it. This particularly applies to the more expensive items. Add the item to a watchlist and have a think!
You may be able to find a better price, from the same auction site, another auction site, or even a specialist shop. You may even be able to find a better example.

11/ Communicate. The key to a successful auction is communication. If you won an auction yesterday, but haven't received an email from the seller, send them a polite email about winning their auction. If you're expecting an item and it hasn't turned up, mail the seller and ask when it was despatched. It may be that they are waiting for your cheque to clear before sending you the item, but have neglected to tell you. Resorting to negative feedback and notifying the website should be a last resort only. Most problems can be sorted out with a couple of emails.

Good luck, and happy bidding!

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