yankees
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started the eBay and Used PCs thread on the SFNL Forums about buying via eBay and got several excellent responses and suggestions. I'd like to thank Cluttermagnet, epp_b, greengeek, Ibe98765, Jeber, littlebone, LLfan, Ross549, SonicDragon, Temmu, Volunteer, and zox for their insights, questions, and suggestions. At the end of the rules there are several links to books and website contributed mostly by Ibe98765 that will provide excellent additional information.
#1: Read the Auction Thoroughly (Before You Bid).
Read the auction thoroughly before bidding. Make sure you understand everything you read, and if you don't, take notes on things you're not sure about. You have to attack eBay as a research project. Handling it any other way is a sure way to end up buying something that's less than you wanted. Ignorance is no excuse on eBay. Most sales are final. And there's no true court of appeals.
I recently bought a hard-drive caddy for a notebook computer. The caddy arrived in perfect condition, but it lacked the four teeny-tiny screws required to attach it to the hard drive. Nothing in the auction mentioned the four screws and the picture didn't show them. I should have realized that and asked the seller in advance of bidding whether the four screws were included. It may seem to you that the seller should have been responsible for communicating that. And a good seller would. But with eBay, caveat emptor (which is Latin for buyer beware).
#2. Read Feedback, and Take Negative Feedback Seriously.
Read the Complaints and Neutrals (negative feedback) going back at least six months, and longer if the person is an infrequent seller. And check up on the feedback of the people who leave negative feedback to see whether they've had problems with others and also how experienced they are.
The odds are stacked against the buyer on eBay. Because both buyers and sellers are given feedback, people are afraid to drop a dime because of revenge feedback. That means that you should take any negative feedback seriously -- especially if it was left by an experienced eBayer. Recent negative feedbacks are also more important than older ones, especially if the seller has had many transactions in between.
Don't buy from someone who replies defensively or with a counter-attack. Anything less than 98 percent positive feedback (especially from people with fewer feedbacks) has a strike against them in my book. If the person has 500 or more transactions, 97 percent is okay.
#3: Set a Final Price and Stick to It.
This is easier to say than do. Set a final price and stick to it. If you're not getting a good deal, what's the point? I've been trying to buy a specific notebook PC for six weeks now. I've bid on literally dozens of auctions for this model (this is easy when the item isn't rare, and this one isn't). Other people have gotten my price point on auctions I wasn't around to complete. So I know it's possible. I just have to wait for the stars to line up. It'll happen. Be patient.
#4. Research Your Seller!
Does he or she have an eBay store? Is he an eBay Power Seller? What else is he selling? Send them questions, even if you don't really need the answers. If you get mail from them, you may be able to figure out a website they belong to. Do your homework on the person or company you'll be dealing with.
Don't buy from any seller whose email bounces. Don't buy from any seller who never responds to your questions. Don't buy from any seller who is evasive. I look for ways that sellers can prove their ownership. With computers, I ask for the serial number. Some PC makers provide Web-based warranty look-ups that use the serial number. This is a good way to verify that the person is actually holding the computer they say they are -- and it also gives you some information about the computer in question.
#5. Communicate Effectively and Politely.
Email communication is everything on eBay. It's one of the main things everyone on both sides of the transaction is looking for. Be positive, upbeat, friendly, and honest. If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all. It's not going to help you to get into a bickering match with some seller who just isn't a nice person. Skip that auction and move on.
#6. Beware First-Time or Zero-Feedback Sellers.
Do not bid on an auction when the seller has fewer than 15 sales transactions or who registered on eBay within the last month. Beware of sellers with zero feedback who registered two weeks ago. About half of such sellers (in my personal experience) are running some sort of scam. The other half are honest people who signed up to sell their personal PC. Use email communication to separate wheat from chaff.
#7. Bid Shrewdly.
Every time you bid on the product, you're probably raising the final price. Don't bid early and often. Try as hard as you can to hold off until the final hours or minutes of the auction. Many experienced eBay bidders never bid until the auction is less than 60 seconds from completion. Why? Some people feel compelled to be "winning" the auction all the way through, and they will keep upping the price if someone beats them. It's a stupid game of oneupsmanship, and the only person who wins it is the seller. The more everyone feeds into that, the higher the price goes. Hold off on bidding. The only bid that matters is the last bid.
It is common for prices on popular auctions to rise 25 to 35 percent in the last 45 seconds before the auction closes. You have to factor in that likelihood when considering whether an auction is worth you rearranging your life to be there just when it closes. Also, auctions that close on Saturdays often have more people showing up to bid in the final seconds.
#8. Don't Bid in Predictable Amounts.
It's not uncommon for an auction to come down to only a penny difference in bid price. Old hands routinely bid amounts that are one penny, fifty cents, fifty one cents, $1.01 or $2.51 over the round number. It's also not uncommon for computers to sell for $10 or $10.01 over $500, $600, $1,000 or whatever. If you're making a final bid, tack that extra bit on -- it can be the difference between getting the item you want, and missing it by a few pennies.
#9. Understand Reserves.
A reserve price is a minimum amount the seller will accept for an item. Reserve prices have a way of killing some auctions, and high reserves are often the trademark of inexperienced or under-confident sellers. The only ways you can find out what the reserve is on a given item is to bid it up until it no longer says "reserve not met" or send the seller an email and politely ask them whether they'd be willing to share their reserve price. Some do and some don't. There's nothing wrong with asking.
A better way of creating a minimum price of an item is for the seller to set the opening price fairly high. For example, on an item worth about $1,000, an $800 opening price is like a public reserve. What's ludicrous is an item that opens at $1 with a $900 reserve and is worth $1,000. It's not uncommon for an auction like that to fail to meet its reserve.
#10. Pay with Credit Card or PayPal.
Most eBay auctions accept PayPal. Sign-up for PayPal; it's not the awful service some people believe it to be. Your preferred payment methods should be credit card, PayPal, and personal check. These methods of payment give you some recourse if the seller never sends the item or it arrives in poor condition (when you were led to believe otherwise). You can cancel a personal check, but the charge to do that is only worthwhile on items that cost more than $100, and even then you'll be taking a bath on it. Some money orders apparently offer some sort of cancel policy. Be sure to check into those if you decide to pay this way. My personal rule is not to bid on any auction that doesn't take credit card or PayPal.
You should always insure the shipments of high-ticket items that might be damaged or lost in the mail. Some sellers look at this as a little profit center, and tack on exorbitant fees for shipping insurance. Nevertheless, you'd be crazy not to pay this extra fee for something expensive. And find out how much the seller is insuring the item for.
#11. Pay Promptly.
There's nothing a seller likes better than to be paid right away (but read the instructions first). By paying promptly, you create a positive experience for the seller, and you motivate him or her to give you the same in return. When you drag your feet, are out of touch, or don't pay until the last second, you create animosity on the other side. Keep your end of the bargain; your seller will be more likely to keep his or hers.
#12. How to Leave Feedback.
Always leave positive feedback for a good transaction. But think twice about leaving negative feedback. It will almost always result in a backlash negative feedback from the seller that will usually make you look worse than the seller looks. Especially if you're new to eBay, one negative feedback out of 15 transactions looks far worse than one negative feedback out of 1,000 (for your seller).
If you have a significant problem with a seller or buyer (you didn't get the item or it doesn't work), contact eBay for the person's phone number -- and call them. Work it out. And if that doesn't solve the problem, work with eBay for additional advice and possibly mediation.
Another method is to check the Neutral or Positive feedback option but be honest in a nice way in the text area about what didn't go well with the transaction. This will warn off smarter eBay buyers.
Enjoy shopin
#1: Read the Auction Thoroughly (Before You Bid).
Read the auction thoroughly before bidding. Make sure you understand everything you read, and if you don't, take notes on things you're not sure about. You have to attack eBay as a research project. Handling it any other way is a sure way to end up buying something that's less than you wanted. Ignorance is no excuse on eBay. Most sales are final. And there's no true court of appeals.
I recently bought a hard-drive caddy for a notebook computer. The caddy arrived in perfect condition, but it lacked the four teeny-tiny screws required to attach it to the hard drive. Nothing in the auction mentioned the four screws and the picture didn't show them. I should have realized that and asked the seller in advance of bidding whether the four screws were included. It may seem to you that the seller should have been responsible for communicating that. And a good seller would. But with eBay, caveat emptor (which is Latin for buyer beware).
#2. Read Feedback, and Take Negative Feedback Seriously.
Read the Complaints and Neutrals (negative feedback) going back at least six months, and longer if the person is an infrequent seller. And check up on the feedback of the people who leave negative feedback to see whether they've had problems with others and also how experienced they are.
The odds are stacked against the buyer on eBay. Because both buyers and sellers are given feedback, people are afraid to drop a dime because of revenge feedback. That means that you should take any negative feedback seriously -- especially if it was left by an experienced eBayer. Recent negative feedbacks are also more important than older ones, especially if the seller has had many transactions in between.
Don't buy from someone who replies defensively or with a counter-attack. Anything less than 98 percent positive feedback (especially from people with fewer feedbacks) has a strike against them in my book. If the person has 500 or more transactions, 97 percent is okay.
#3: Set a Final Price and Stick to It.
This is easier to say than do. Set a final price and stick to it. If you're not getting a good deal, what's the point? I've been trying to buy a specific notebook PC for six weeks now. I've bid on literally dozens of auctions for this model (this is easy when the item isn't rare, and this one isn't). Other people have gotten my price point on auctions I wasn't around to complete. So I know it's possible. I just have to wait for the stars to line up. It'll happen. Be patient.
#4. Research Your Seller!
Does he or she have an eBay store? Is he an eBay Power Seller? What else is he selling? Send them questions, even if you don't really need the answers. If you get mail from them, you may be able to figure out a website they belong to. Do your homework on the person or company you'll be dealing with.
Don't buy from any seller whose email bounces. Don't buy from any seller who never responds to your questions. Don't buy from any seller who is evasive. I look for ways that sellers can prove their ownership. With computers, I ask for the serial number. Some PC makers provide Web-based warranty look-ups that use the serial number. This is a good way to verify that the person is actually holding the computer they say they are -- and it also gives you some information about the computer in question.
#5. Communicate Effectively and Politely.
Email communication is everything on eBay. It's one of the main things everyone on both sides of the transaction is looking for. Be positive, upbeat, friendly, and honest. If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all. It's not going to help you to get into a bickering match with some seller who just isn't a nice person. Skip that auction and move on.
#6. Beware First-Time or Zero-Feedback Sellers.
Do not bid on an auction when the seller has fewer than 15 sales transactions or who registered on eBay within the last month. Beware of sellers with zero feedback who registered two weeks ago. About half of such sellers (in my personal experience) are running some sort of scam. The other half are honest people who signed up to sell their personal PC. Use email communication to separate wheat from chaff.
#7. Bid Shrewdly.
Every time you bid on the product, you're probably raising the final price. Don't bid early and often. Try as hard as you can to hold off until the final hours or minutes of the auction. Many experienced eBay bidders never bid until the auction is less than 60 seconds from completion. Why? Some people feel compelled to be "winning" the auction all the way through, and they will keep upping the price if someone beats them. It's a stupid game of oneupsmanship, and the only person who wins it is the seller. The more everyone feeds into that, the higher the price goes. Hold off on bidding. The only bid that matters is the last bid.
It is common for prices on popular auctions to rise 25 to 35 percent in the last 45 seconds before the auction closes. You have to factor in that likelihood when considering whether an auction is worth you rearranging your life to be there just when it closes. Also, auctions that close on Saturdays often have more people showing up to bid in the final seconds.
#8. Don't Bid in Predictable Amounts.
It's not uncommon for an auction to come down to only a penny difference in bid price. Old hands routinely bid amounts that are one penny, fifty cents, fifty one cents, $1.01 or $2.51 over the round number. It's also not uncommon for computers to sell for $10 or $10.01 over $500, $600, $1,000 or whatever. If you're making a final bid, tack that extra bit on -- it can be the difference between getting the item you want, and missing it by a few pennies.
#9. Understand Reserves.
A reserve price is a minimum amount the seller will accept for an item. Reserve prices have a way of killing some auctions, and high reserves are often the trademark of inexperienced or under-confident sellers. The only ways you can find out what the reserve is on a given item is to bid it up until it no longer says "reserve not met" or send the seller an email and politely ask them whether they'd be willing to share their reserve price. Some do and some don't. There's nothing wrong with asking.
A better way of creating a minimum price of an item is for the seller to set the opening price fairly high. For example, on an item worth about $1,000, an $800 opening price is like a public reserve. What's ludicrous is an item that opens at $1 with a $900 reserve and is worth $1,000. It's not uncommon for an auction like that to fail to meet its reserve.
#10. Pay with Credit Card or PayPal.
Most eBay auctions accept PayPal. Sign-up for PayPal; it's not the awful service some people believe it to be. Your preferred payment methods should be credit card, PayPal, and personal check. These methods of payment give you some recourse if the seller never sends the item or it arrives in poor condition (when you were led to believe otherwise). You can cancel a personal check, but the charge to do that is only worthwhile on items that cost more than $100, and even then you'll be taking a bath on it. Some money orders apparently offer some sort of cancel policy. Be sure to check into those if you decide to pay this way. My personal rule is not to bid on any auction that doesn't take credit card or PayPal.
You should always insure the shipments of high-ticket items that might be damaged or lost in the mail. Some sellers look at this as a little profit center, and tack on exorbitant fees for shipping insurance. Nevertheless, you'd be crazy not to pay this extra fee for something expensive. And find out how much the seller is insuring the item for.
#11. Pay Promptly.
There's nothing a seller likes better than to be paid right away (but read the instructions first). By paying promptly, you create a positive experience for the seller, and you motivate him or her to give you the same in return. When you drag your feet, are out of touch, or don't pay until the last second, you create animosity on the other side. Keep your end of the bargain; your seller will be more likely to keep his or hers.
#12. How to Leave Feedback.
Always leave positive feedback for a good transaction. But think twice about leaving negative feedback. It will almost always result in a backlash negative feedback from the seller that will usually make you look worse than the seller looks. Especially if you're new to eBay, one negative feedback out of 15 transactions looks far worse than one negative feedback out of 1,000 (for your seller).
If you have a significant problem with a seller or buyer (you didn't get the item or it doesn't work), contact eBay for the person's phone number -- and call them. Work it out. And if that doesn't solve the problem, work with eBay for additional advice and possibly mediation.
Another method is to check the Neutral or Positive feedback option but be honest in a nice way in the text area about what didn't go well with the transaction. This will warn off smarter eBay buyers.
Enjoy shopin
