Bindusar

Many of us are very familiar with Ebay...it has been the place for many a gem and many a headache. A common mantra with Ebay (or any other purchase anywhere really) is "Let the buyer beware!” however this should not scare us from good old consumption.

Just a few steps can go a long way in making your Ebay experiences pleasant.

1. When thinking about buying something, make sure to go to somewhere like Pricewatch.com to make sure the price you are willing to spend on Ebay is in line with regular suppliers.
For example, I watched a LAN party UT NF3 Ultra motherboard go for $95, not including shipping.
If you used Ebay as the reference for what the board normally costs, you see Buy It Now prices of $120-$130, making $95 seem like a deal...but you can get a NEW one shipped with free 2-3 day FedEx for $105. Ten more dollars and you have the security that if anything goes wrong your warranty is intact and you can RMA it.

2. Make sure the item is new! When listings are posted sellers have the option to have Ebay automatically show "NEW" at the beginning of their title...at least that is the answer I got when I asked for clarification on the above example.

• You can ask the sellers any questions you may have and they will be listed in the auction when they respond.
• If something seems off, ASK! Even if you're not sure you are going to bid on it, you may help out some poor newbie who doesn't know better.
• Be clear when asking, it may be that the seller means they used that MODEL and had good results but the actual item for sale has never been used.

The motherboard up for auction in fact had 2 months of use on it.

3. Consider the source. Ebay has a rating system for all the members showing the number of transactions and feedback ratings. Spending a few extra dollars to buy from a power seller with a long, solid history may prove to be a much better idea than saving $5 and getting it from someone who barely knows what day it is, let alone what they are selling.

4. Note the pictures. Sometimes a seller legitimately does not have access to a digital camera and has to resort to borrowing sales pics from product listings. If so, ask if images of the actual item being sold are available. If you get an answer that doesn't ring true, it is possible it has seen some damage.

5. Pick a maximum price and stick with it! There is nothing like a good old bidding war in the final moments to blur your common sense. This tip goes hand in hand with #1. An Ebay auction item may or may not be returnable. If it is the time limit is probably very narrow unless it is an online vendor using Ebay for exposure. When that bidding war starts you may find yourself in very near proximity to a guaranteed brand new unit with a factory warranty and RMA'ing available. These are priceless when something doesn't work but get forgotten when the urge to be the "winner" overrides clear thinking.

6. Be patient...wait until the end of the auction to bid, although "sniping" (not posting a bid till the last seconds of an auction) is frowned upon, the simple truth is that many people do it.
One nice feature is that Ebay will proxy bid for you. Let's say you see something and are willing to spend $75 for it. Proxy bidding means that if the item is currently listed for $50 and minimum bids are $1, you can "bid" your top dollar amount of $75 but Ebay will only register the minimum increase of $1. This helps guard your bid from snipers as Ebay will automatically increase your bid as needed up to the maximum during those crazy last seconds.
Another perk is that it can save you money. If there is little demand for the item you will only pay what is necessary to secure it. However, if you bid with several hours or days left to the auction, you will likely add to the supply/demand pressure increasing the chances of being out bid.

As long as you make sure to educate yourself before buying...not just on Ebay, but everywhere, you should be ok. Yeah, it seems obvious but sometimes it is good to state the obvious...sometimes the nose on our face gets in the way! Happy shopping!!

manutdfan

Brilliant guide well structured and good information

Inspire

Nice FAQ, Good future advice for me when I use it. Thanks :)

slantedeyez

u didnt mention to bid at the last moment only. don't bid right away (i hate when people do that). lets say u see an item for 100$ but it costs, lets say... 250$. Great deal right....make sure you dont got and bid 200$ when theres like 5 days left. that way when the auction is always over you're going to end up paying ALOT more then you want to. BUT if u WAIT til theres about 1 minute left go on a bidding frenzy, i almost garentee you will be happy with the price, plus you feel proud that you won the item. thats how i for my fx53 for 300$ :P, but i wait til the last seconds though like 10 to 15 seconds and with my incredibly faster finger and cheap school mouse that i "borrowed" i usually win :).

+Rep if i Helped. Thanks!

Bindusar

I thought about adding that but I didn't feel publicly supporting sniping would be a feature we would want in a FAQ. I'll add something about it with a disclaimer...thanks for the input.

PS...I did not give you reps because you asked, I did so because it was a good tip. In truth I almost did not give you reps because you asked. Try to refrain from it...it is tacky.

bentrinh

I'm going to need this

Emmanuel

ALLRIGHT GUYS, MY ADVICE IS DON'T BUY ELECTRONICS FROM EBAY. Ordering a DVD may be fine, even a book, but when it comes to computers don't. You never know when your "new" CPU will let you out, and one beautiful sunny day, you will press the power button, and you will hear your motherboard ringing a code of death, which means that the BIOS did not detect all the hardware. So you don't want the Seller's 7 day warranty, but the 3 years warranty. And why would people sell computer electronics from Ebay? Because they got it in a cheap place and sell it for more, how can you gurantee quality with this? Maybe you can trust stores selling on Ebay but the best is:
www.newegg.com
I built my full rig from there, same config= 2500$ Dell.com I payed 1800$ NO TAX there two, every components came perfectly working!
My dad once ordered a GPU, it was broken, he got a new one from Newegg one week later, and t'was working.

bloodeLf

Most important use your common sense! Oh yea beware of the email scams that ask for you to update your credit card info, or another user posing to ask questions about your item( althought youre not even selling anything).


Just becareful and always log in from www.ebay.com not from your email account. My friend got scammed out of $600 because he did just that.

GOOD FAQ! reppy for you!

emberix

great faq! REP+!
Im a big ebayer, and I know that there are lots of stuff to watch out for.
Another safety thing is spoof emails. Many ppl are sent emails that appear to be from ebay, but are really from hackers and scammers, and when you update your password or bank info, it will be sent directly to the people who sent you the fake email!

~emberix

Johnny Quest

Good start on a FAQ that could be very useful. You might want to talk about "sniping".

Plus I have heard that there are professional buyers that have software programs set up to constantly monitor items and "snipe" auctions that are within certain parameters. Meaning that if the price of an item 10 seconds before the end the auction is below a predetermined amount, the buyers software program can snipe it automatically without the buyer even being present at the auction.

Imagine some big-shot buyer with his computer program running 24/7 monitoring hundreds of items at the same time, sniping only those that are "steals". Point is: THAT may be your competition. That's also something to think about if you are Selling. Having a Reserve is a necessary protection.

Also, there are some "red flags" that should cause concern. A professional "Power Seller" should meet a higher standard than most, so if you see an item that is poorly described by someone that ought to know better, it would be a good idea to read their reviews. One way I have seen this done is on the issue of CPU stepping. If they are selling an Opteron and don't mention the stepping, chances are it is because they know it is not good and want to sell it to somone that doesn't know any better.

Shipping Costs are also a red-flag. I absolutely refuse to do business with somone that inflates their shipping to something unreasonable, like $25.00 to ship a CPU. If they are dishonest enough to do that, who knows what else they might be capable of ?

I don't trust any Seller that "updates" the description of an item for any reason, nor will I trust a seller that "removes" an item in the middle of an auction, like say if the price isn't moving like the seller would like, they pull the item to put it back later.

Also reading the review is a skill. You can often "read betwen the lines" in certain disputes and see who is at fault. Honest people behave honestly, even in the middle of a dispute. I've seen disputes where the Seller accuses the Buyer of some outrageous thing and the Buyer simply admits that he or she made a mistake. I don't do business with Sellers that would rather believe a Buyer is trying to scam them instead of having made a simple mistake. (In general, I think that overly-suspicious people are untrustworthy. They judge the world by the standard they themselves live down to.)