Ebay - A Mad Market

I have been using Ebay since 2004, buying all matter of things but over the years it has changed significantly. You can still get purchases for 99p and bargains a plenty but now there are more and more 'snipe' bids and frauds you really have to watch out. I've found this has ruined the fun of Ebay a little but here are a few of my tips for Ebaying.

Sniping: There are many people out there that watch items and wait until the final 30 seconds to outbid a buyer. This might seem fair enough, after all they have as much right to bid as any one else but this can some times be very frustrating. My tip is to always bid an odd number, for example bid £21.72 rather than £21.00. This doesn't always work but some snipers will try and outbid you by the smallest amount.

Fraud Bidding: Some times you'll find an absolute bargain, a hand bag for only 99p. It will have a few bids added but the seller is still unhappy with this amount, thinking they deserve more. They'll make fake accounts or get other users to bid small increments to get you to bid more. This is some times fairly easy to spot, users with small amount of feedback bidding small amounts is an easy sign. If this persists and they make several tiny bids then try to avoid bidding. Set a price you think the item is worth and stick with it.

Buying Times, Grab A Bargain: Are you a night owl? Love shopping for bargains? Try looking at things you're interested in late at night or early hours in the morning. The early bird catches the worm as they say! You will find very few people will be buying then and many auctions end at silly times of day.

Set A Price: Stick to your guns and only bid as much as you feel the item is worth, don't keep bidding up and look at the item from other sellers. Some times several of the same item will be listed, even by the same seller and you could end up paying twice as much for an item as if you bid on the other item.

That's Not My Item!: Be aware of sellers that sell many items at cheap prices with high postage costs or simply the same item several times. Check feedback and ask for physical photos of items and not just model photos as sometimes sellers post photos of items 'similar' to their product you're bidding on. This can result in getting poor quality replicas and paying high postage to return items. I got caught out buying a dress from a seller that was significantly different to the model photo.

Best of luck with bidding :)