eBay Buying Tricks discussion

[MSE Jenny]

Hi all, we've written a new eBay Buying Tricks guide to help you track down uber-bargains and stay safe.

Do you have any other tricks you'd add? Do you know of any other nifty eBay tools?

Thanks for your help!

MSE Jenny

[scrumper]

Point 16 in eBay Buying Secrets suggests using other sites to find negative feedback. I've not used them so don't know if they do the same thing but when using eBay I click on the sellers name, then on their profile page click on 'see all' at the top right of the scrolling latest feedback box. This brings up a table showing the number of +ve neutral -ve feedback for the last 1, 6 and 12 months. You can then click on the numbers in the table and only these will be listed underneath. ie. click on the number of -ve feedback in the lat 12 months and you don't have to scroll through pages of +ve to find them. I've made it sound very long-winded sorry.

[Obviously the best]

Just want to point out here that it is only purchases costing over £15 get duty charged on them when entering the UK, click here for very useful import duty + tax calculator

[RFW]

Originally Posted by Obviously the best

Just want to point out here that it is only purchases costing over £15 get duty charged on them when entering the UK, click here for very useful import duty + tax calculator

It is all a little over simplified anyway, certain items don't carry VAT, so wouldn't be charged. Where duty and VAT are charged the handling courier will generally charge a handling fee.

For number 9, it may also be an idea to ask the seller what they would accept, or if they would accept £x, before making an offer.

[StaffsSW]

Originally Posted by MSE Jenny

Do you have any other tricks you'd add? Do you know of any other nifty eBay tools?

Thanks for your help!

MSE Jenny

Is this so that MSE can copy them for themselves as well...?!

[priceinjector]

Hi, I have created a website geo-ship.com that simplifies the work with different ebay sites.
Some of the features:
- Multiple ebay sites search at once
- Filter by seller feedback (useful for trick number 15)
- Display of total price in local currency

Maybe it will be helpful for you

[George68]

For #2, typojoe.com is another good eBay misspelling search tool you can try.

For #4, try ebuyersedge.com to set up saved eBay searches. EBay will only send out at most one e-mail per day. The deals could be long gone by the time you get the e-mail. Ebuyersedge will check eBay as often as every 5 min. for a saved search, immediately e-mailing you when a new match is found.

For #8, hidbid.com is a good sniper to use. You get 10 free Snipes per week.

A couple more ideas:

Related to #9, if you see an item that you want listed in either auction or "Buy It Now" format, send the seller a message asking if they will accept $x to and the listing and sell to you now. some sellers are impatient so telling them that they'd not have to wait for the listing to end, you'd send the money right away as soon as they accepted. All they can do is say no, and then you can just bid or "Buy It Now" still.

If you have a question about an item, go to another of the seller's listings and ask the question from there. This will add a bit of work for the seller, if they want to add your question and their answer to the item description page. Maybe other interested buyers will not bother to ask a question, instead just continuing to look for a similar item that already has the question answered in the item description.

[sarahemmm]

I have been a happy user of www.gixen.com for about three years now. Free, or $6 if you want to use the mirror option. I'm happy to pay to support it, as the developer seems very good and responsive

Sarah

[claresm]

if you go to the necter web site and then go to the link for ebay you can collect points too

[Stavros_one]

Hi,
Beware of buying Gillette Mach 3 and Mach 3 Turbo and Fusion blades. Even though I am an experienced seller and buyer (6,300+ feedback) I got caught with fake goods. There are websites available which describe the differences. Try googling "fakeblades".
The recent guide to ebay was very good for buyers. If you are mainly thinking of selling it can be a minefield.
If you are just starting stick to selling to the country you are living in for a few months. Then ease into Europe, then USA and Canada,Australia and New Zealand. Do not send to Italy except by a "signed for" delivery service. I found out the hard way when I lost 50% of my parcels going to this country. Brazil can also be bad. Check,check and check again that the address is correct and spelled correctly. Google can be helpful here. Inform your buyer that their purchase is coming from another country, they often don't realise, especially Americans for some reason.....
If you need to send a message to another country in another language keep it simple and grammatically correct. Then use a translation site to translate to the local language. Send both the original and the translation.
Check with PayPal that the payment has cleared before sending goods to the PayPal registered address only.
Postal charges have been changed recently. Check the dimensions and weight before quoting shipping charges. Thickness can be an issue on domestic UK post!!
Many of the items I sell are relatively inexpensive and I have found out the hard way by "losing " them in the post that not all people are honest. I send expensive items by Recorded Delivery or another "signed for" service. I send random cheaper items by Recorded Delivery without telling the buyer. This has saved me from being possibly defrauded once. It has also made me realise that the Postie does not always leave a red card when you're not there to sign for it.
When buying from overseas you don't always get caught for the VAT or Customs charges. I receive many items without having to pay.

[Talent]

I'm really annoyed that you have published some of these 'tricks' that I worked out and used for some time.... shame on you. It's like some holiday expert blurting out the location of some unspoilt gem.... ggrrrr

[keyser666]

Originally Posted by Stavros_one

Hi,
Beware of buying Gillette Mach 3 and Mach 3 Turbo and Fusion blades. Even though I am an experienced seller and buyer (6,300+ feedback) I got caught with fake goods. There are websites available which describe the differences. Try googling "fakeblades".
The recent guide to ebay was very good for buyers. If you are mainly thinking of selling it can be a minefield.
If you are just starting stick to selling to the country you are living in for a few months. Then ease into Europe, then USA and Canada,Australia and New Zealand. Do not send to Italy except by a "signed for" delivery service. I found out the hard way when I lost 50% of my parcels going to this country. Brazil can also be bad. Check,check and check again that the address is correct and spelled correctly. Google can be helpful here. Inform your buyer that their purchase is coming from another country, they often don't realise, especially Americans for some reason.....
If you need to send a message to another country in another language keep it simple and grammatically correct. Then use a translation site to translate to the local language. Send both the original and the translation.
Check with PayPal that the payment has cleared before sending goods to the PayPal registered address only.
Postal charges have been changed recently. Check the dimensions and weight before quoting shipping charges. Thickness can be an issue on domestic UK post!!
Many of the items I sell are relatively inexpensive and I have found out the hard way by "losing " them in the post that not all people are honest. I send expensive items by Recorded Delivery or another "signed for" service. I send random cheaper items by Recorded Delivery without telling the buyer. This has saved me from being possibly defrauded once. It has also made me realise that the Postie does not always leave a red card when you're not there to sign for it.
When buying from overseas you don't always get caught for the VAT or Customs charges. I receive many items without having to pay.

Great advice

[keyser666]

Originally Posted by sarahemmm

I have been a happy user of www.gixen.com for about three years now. Free, or $6 if you want to use the mirror option. I'm happy to pay to support it, as the developer seems very good and responsive

Sarah

Never had a problem and never lost a ebay auction with this

[sirloin]

One thing you didn't mention was looking to see if the seller has other goods offered for auction. I have found on a number of occasions when looking for specific ITEMS (eg: military autobiographies and electric train set accessories) that they do have similar items for auction. Sometimes these get no bids, in which case you can make an offer, or, if you bid for them and are successful, you can get them combined and pay only one lot of postage.
Conversely, if you are selling items, then I have found that it is advantageous to put in the DESCRIPTION that you have these and invite bidder to look for them.
I found it works for me

[martindow]

Originally Posted by Stavros_one

Many of the items I sell are relatively inexpensive and I have found out the hard way by "losing " them in the post that not all people are honest. I send expensive items by Recorded Delivery or another "signed for" service. I send random cheaper items by Recorded Delivery without telling the buyer. This has saved me from being possibly defrauded once. It has also made me realise that the Postie does not always leave a red card when you're not there to sign for it.

If the items are over £46 you should be using Special Delivery - RD is no good for these. Under £46 RD adds another 95p to the postage. It often does not get a signature and you are covered for the value of the item in exactly the same way with a free Certificate of Posting to claim from Royal Mail. For every 100 items you send RD you are paying £95. Most of us would rather keep the cash!

[haythorp]

My top tip is always going via the nectar eshops site, so you get free points for stuff you were buying anyway...

[LORNZA]

If an item you were watching never sold but it was over your budget then don't be afraid to message the seller if they never relisted the item. Hopefully the seller will be happy to come to another arrangement with you but don't be disheartened if you get no reply at all.
Also few sellers sell items in small job lots. Ask the seller if they would be prepared to sell you only the items you like but at a reduced cost if their auction is unsuccessful.
Good Tip to remember is flattery. Highlight how nice the items are maybe even tell the buyer that you are sure the items will sell no problem but just in the off chance you will be there to help them off load wink wink

[dobbiesloan]

Drugs plane being sold on eBay by Northamptonshire Police.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zenair-Zod...item19d93a9450