Give Ebay a go, you never know you might find a bargain!!! (ebay.co.uk)

Member Name: cuteygirl

Product:	ebay.co.uk
Date:	30/07/02 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: TOP BRAND stuff going cheap, Ace feedback system to help you buy, Some sellers offer freebies/refunds

Disadvantages: Non-paying bidders, Final value fees (which can be quite high), Bad bidders who push up the price/people not leaving you feedback

Ebay... what can I say??? I am totally addicted. I have been Ebaying for over a year and am so amazed at the amount of money I have made and have saved on all sorts of TOP BRAND products!!! I was at first pretty sceptical. I mean, some of the stuff on Ebay starts off cheap and ends up more expensive than the shops. But I found that perserverance is the key. TIP: If you are lucky there are usually more than one of the same item on offer and the same time. You bid low, and keep tracking them all till eventually one either rockets in price, in which case you go for the cheaper one.

Also, I have found the sellers to be great and friendly and have never received anything damaged or different from the description. It's a great place where a lot of genuine honest sellers are, a lot of them offering refunds, etc. if the product is not to your satisfaction. What more could you wish for?

Just some of my bargains I have found. Maybelline Moisture Whip lipstick, free when I bought an Almay eye shadow for £2 (yep, this particular seller throws in stuff free). Moisture Whip lipsticks retail at least £4.99. I bought a DVD retailing at £12.99 for a fiver, books that I have been scouring the charity shops for for less than £3... the list is endless.

The only annoying thing is if you are bidding on something you really want and there is another bidder who is competing with you for the same item. It's so frustrating when they have a terrible rating and they are just pushing up the price and the seller refuses to cancel their bid. Grrrrr!!!

As a buyer there are no fees to pay. However as a seller you have to pay an insertion fee and you can get stung by the final value fee. Also there is the pitfall of non-paying bidders and all the malarkey of filing non-paying bidder alerts and then getting final value fee credits. But that is quite rare. It has only happened to me once as a seller. It can make you cry.

One thing I do wish Ebay
would do, and that is to make the leaving of feedback compulsory. I don't know how they can do this, but when you have left someone a nice comment, it's only fair for you to receive a nice comment back from them (which also improves your rating) and you just don't get from it them. You feel like you are harassing these people for feedback by constant emailing and you also run the risk of them leaving you nasty comments in return, even if you are the perfect seller/buyer!!! It's happened to me only once or twice. I hate boosting someone else's ratings and receive nothing back for my efforts.

Another thing I love is their feedback system, I only ever buy from people with top ratings and it really instills a sense of security when you are buying from Ebay that the seller is genuine and not about to rip you off!!! Well done Ebay!!!

In conclusion, Ebay is all in all a great place to find some brilliant bargains on top name goods. But beware, you can end up in a bidding war and pay dearly for something you could get cheaper in the shops. Keep calm when bidding and have fun!!!

cuteygirl :)

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