Want to start using EBay. Any tips?

Sipex

Alright, my wife has become crazy addicted to Star Trek Voyageur and looking around the internet she found some nicely priced box sets for bid on EBay (we're talking $30 here).

Seeing as this is very low compared to the amazon price we were quoted ($300) I was initially suspicious so my wife checked the sellers reputation which turns out is all good (lots and lots of good reviews).

Is there anything I should be wary about or know when it comes to Ebay?

- How bad is bid sniping? Should she be watching her product in the final hours no matter what?

- If this does turn out to be something different than what we were promised can we get our money back? If so, how long? I'm willing to take the risk since the price is low enough.

- I've told her to lookout for anyone trying to start a bidding war with her as it could be an alt account from the same person trying to up their price.

- We've asked about Shipping & Handling as the seller has said we'll have to pay it.

Any other tips?

Richard M. Nixon

Get and use a paypal account. Don't check out through outside sites. With the voyageur boxset, it probably still has a week or two left in the bid time and it'll probably come up to the $250 range by the time the auction is over. If it's super-important to her to get that specific thing, then yeah, she ought to watch it pretty closely.

Sipex

Oddly enough it's the last few days and she's found quite a few like it.

Leads me to think people are willing to settle for less on this particular item.

RMS Oceanic

Decide on the absolute maximum price you're willing to pay for it, and enter in that bid at the start. I've fallen victim once or twice to making a small bid, then I'm outbid and have to enter a larger bid, and a back-and-forth session gets underway in the final minutes and I end up paying more than I planned. Naturally, take shipping into account.

Sipex

I'm happy if we can get it at half the amazon quoted price.

One thing I didn't consider is we haven't confirmed that the DvDs are legit and simply not burned copies. If she sends a message to the seller asking them to clarify and they tell us the disks are legitimate copies, will that be binding? Ie: If they send us burnt discs afterwards can we raise hell?

I'm a heavy believer in it's too good to be true so I'm expecting everything to be wrong.

Djeet

Just sign up for an Ebay account and ask your questions (e.g. "is this a retail box set?"); if the seller is dodgy about answering the question then move to another listing. Once you have an Ebay account you can search by "completed listing" which shows auctions that are over. That way you get a better idea what things are going for. A lot of things get bidded up but don't hit reserve and thus don't sell. Voyager Seasons 1-7 complete boxed sets (seemingly legitmate) have been moving in the $110-$150 range recently.

I haven't ever received pirated media in an auction, but I'd think if it was advertised (in the listing) as being the retail box set and if you received something different (burned copies) that would be grounds for filing a clain with Ebay/Paypal. As to whether answers to question posed to the seller are binding, I dunno; check the listing carefully.

I've gotten legit media significantly cheaper on Ebay then retail.

EggyToast

Is she checking current auctions, or completed listings? Completed listings tell you what previous items have actually sold for -- typically the prices go up only on the last day, as people commit to buying things. This is especially true for semi-popular items as there are typically enough available that there's no sense committing to buy something that doesn't end for 5 days when one is ending in 5 hours.

I buy and sell on eBay regularly and you always want to check the completed listings. Then, you want to check where it's being shipped from -- if it's a DVD and it's coming from anywhere in Asia, or it's Region 0 or Region Free, it's a bootleg. If it's from the US and is just up for auction, then yeah, feel free to ask the seller a question. They're selling it as authentic anyway so if you get a bootleg you can complain to eBay (eBay does not tolerate bootlegs) and likely get your money back.

Richard M. Nixon

The shipper should be able to quote you a price on shipping (if you're in the US or Canada, they can use the USPS shipping calculator, or UPS or FedEx or similar) that should be, if not firm, at least pretty close to what you're going to end up paying.

If the shipper was in the habit of sending burnt copies, it would show up in feedback. That said, I suspect eBay has policies that cover such things. You might end up out the cost of shipping but you should get your actual money back.

Sipex

Alright, thanks for the feed back!

The current one she was looking at is from the UK and we're not sure if it's region free so I'll tell her not to bid on it, we'll stick to US auctions.

Wezoin

In the last 10 - 15 minutes of an auction is when bidsniping tends to occur, the only real defence against it is to put a bid a few dollars above what its at now so that if in the last few seconds someone tries to just slightly outbid you you will still win it.

matt has a problem

RMS Oceanic wrote: »

Decide on the absolute maximum price you're willing to pay for it, and enter in that bid at the start. I've fallen victim once or twice to making a small bid, then I'm outbid and have to enter a larger bid, and a back-and-forth session gets underway in the final minutes and I end up paying more than I planned. Naturally, take shipping into account.

Do this, but not at the beginning. Do it within the last 20 seconds. Putting your maximum at the start just means people get a chance to chip away at it and potentially outbid you. Every single eBay auction I've won, I've won by entering my max (if it was higher than the current bid, of course) with about 20 seconds left on the clock.

EggyToast

Patience is the name of the game. If it's a particularly rare thing, like a limited edition vinyl that never shows up, yes, bid your heart out. If it's DVDs, just see what the average going price is and think "am I willing to pay a little more than that, or do I want to pay exactly that," and bid accordingly.

I've won auctions by putting in my max bid early on, and I've also won by sniping. It all depends on if someone else is out there willing to pay more or has less patience.

iglidante

Yeah, I would definitely recommend not placing a bid as soon as you find an item you like. Sit on it. Watch it until it's got an hour left, maybe a little less. You want to avoid a bidding war if at all possible, and that means not showing your interest until the last minute. Don't "watch" the auction through eBay, either - just bookmark it, so that only you know you're interested. If you get lucky, everyone else interested in the item will forget to check back at the last minute, and never got a chance to place their bids. You win.

MrDelish

matthasaproblem wrote: »

RMS Oceanic wrote: »

Decide on the absolute maximum price you're willing to pay for it, and enter in that bid at the start. I've fallen victim once or twice to making a small bid, then I'm outbid and have to enter a larger bid, and a back-and-forth session gets underway in the final minutes and I end up paying more than I planned. Naturally, take shipping into account.

Do this, but not at the beginning. Do it within the last 20 seconds. Putting your maximum at the start just means people get a chance to chip away at it and potentially outbid you. Every single eBay auction I've won, I've won by entering my max (if it was higher than the current bid, of course) with about 20 seconds left on the clock.

yeah, sniping is definitely the way to go with eBay auctions.

Wezoin

I typically put one low bid in early on in an auction so that I get the reminders - I think most people tend to think you forgot about the auction after a while and forget you're a competitor.

iglidante

Wezoin wrote: »

I typically put one low bid in early on in an auction so that I get the reminders - I think most people tend to think you forgot about the auction after a while and forget you're a competitor.

It's really easy to forget about an auction, especially if time zone differences come into play. Auction ends at 3:30 am? I'm not staying up for it.

The Crowing One

MrDelish wrote: »

matthasaproblem wrote: »

RMS Oceanic wrote: »

Decide on the absolute maximum price you're willing to pay for it, and enter in that bid at the start. I've fallen victim once or twice to making a small bid, then I'm outbid and have to enter a larger bid, and a back-and-forth session gets underway in the final minutes and I end up paying more than I planned. Naturally, take shipping into account.

Do this, but not at the beginning. Do it within the last 20 seconds. Putting your maximum at the start just means people get a chance to chip away at it and potentially outbid you. Every single eBay auction I've won, I've won by entering my max (if it was higher than the current bid, of course) with about 20 seconds left on the clock.

yeah, sniping is definitely the way to go with eBay auctions.

Agreed. Wait until that last minute and put in your maximum. Everyone else is doing the same.

Casual

Ebay tips are as follows,

1) Only buy stuff on it never sell.

2) Seriously, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SELL THINGS ON EBAY.

It doesn't matter if you say "no refunds" in the auction when you sell some guy your 3 year old TV. If it breaks 6 months down the line he's coming for you and will be mailing you bottles of pee until he gets his $70 back. Paypal will side with him.

Other stuff is common sense and you already seem to know it, watch out for people who have change their account name (there is a symbol to tell you this) and only deal with people who have a established good rep.

saltiness

I've sold a lot of shit on eBay over the years. No bottles of piss yet.

Figgy

It doesn't matter if you see 30 auctions of the same product for $2. Within minutes of the auction's close, it will shoot up.

Your best bet is to watch similar auctions that close in a few hours and then check later to see what they sold for. Chances are that box set isn't going for much less than what other stores charge. Also, check shipping prices. Sellers will often entice buyers with low priced auctions and then gouge them on shipping. They can charge whatever they want, so check before you bid.

iglidante

If you want to sell things on eBay, you'll be fine. Just make sure they're:

- Light.
- Valuable.
- Clearly described in the auction.

Heavy things will royally fuck you over. Anything over 13 oz (in the US) has to go Priority Mail, and that starts at around $5. Keep it light, and you'll be good to go.

Inexpensive things will never be worth your time. Have a random DVD to sell? You're better off just giving it to a friend. Unless you've got a box set, something foreign, or something rare, you'll be getting $1 for your movie, maybe $2. Add in shipping, and most bidders will just ignore your auction. The market is saturated. Basically, if you don't think you can get $10-20 or more for it, don't sell it on eBay. Your time is better spent elsewhere.

And of course, clear descriptions are very important. Just be honest. If there's a crack in the front of something because you dropped it, fess up. That way, the people bidding will be people who don't care. They'll actually want what you have.

One more thing I usually do: no foreign bidders, and Paypal only. That way, you don't get stuck shipping anime to Brazil and waiting for a check to clear. Too risky. Foreign shipping is expensive, more complicated, and usually not worth it. But that's just me taking the easy way out.

Sipex

No, thankfully I'm not into selling so I don't have to deal with that mess.

We have asked about shipping though, waiting on a reply.

Thanks a load.

DarkWarrior

Don't bid until the last minutes. Don't. People bid early on long-duration items then someone else pops in, bids and by the time its coming to a close the price is already much higher than it was originally and you were never going to win placing a bid on Day 1 of a 7 Day posting so all you've done is driven the price up and made it harder for yourself. It also gives other people an idea of how popular an item may be and they will set their max bid accordingly.

EggyToast

Shipping prices: eBay is really reigning this in. I know because I'm selling books and DVDs on eBay right now and I have a maximum shipping price I can enter. I can use "Actual Shipping Price" or a $3 maximum fee for shipping DVDs. This is true for a LOT of media items now, so you really shouldn't worry too much about it.

As for sniping and bidding at the last minute, I personally don't snipe unless I get outbid on shit I want a lot. If I want to buy Star Trek Voyager DVDs and I personally am outbid at the last minute twice, then I will try to snipe the 3rd one. But I don't snipe as a default -- plenty of stuff sells with few bids, or with a bunch of low bids.

For example, I'm selling the Lord of the Rings Extended trilogy right now, and I've got like 6 bids. Each one is 50¢ more than the last, but it doesn't end for 3 more days. While someone might snipe it, it might also get bid up normally and then whoever would snipe it simply snipes the next one. Sniping only works if you're getting a deal. I've sold plenty of things that got an early couple bids and then coasted through to the end of the auction. It's all about supply & demand.

onceling

The location of the seller will give you a good indication of whether the item is bootleg or not. PayPal will give you your money back in counterfeit cases though. Just read up on it by searching for bootleg or counterfeit in their help syste,.

Most of the time I haven't had problems with even the stuff I receive that isn't real. eBay has decent deals, especially when its second hand, but it's not magic. If its new, and its "magically" priced, it probably isn't real. You may not even be able to tell though, they do a decent job a lot of the time.

Wezoin

onceling wrote: »

The location of the seller will give you a good indication of whether the item is bootleg or not. PayPal will give you your money back in counterfeit cases though. Just read up on it by searching for bootleg or counterfeit in their help syste,.

Most of the time I haven't had problems with even the stuff I receive that isn't real. eBay has decent deals, especially when its second hand, but it's not magic. If its new, and its "magically" priced, it probably isn't real. You may not even be able to tell though, they do a decent job a lot of the time.

Should be mentioned - its still buying pirated software/movies/whatever if you didn't know it was pirated. I'd have less of an ethical issue in terms of it not being "my fault" if I bought it thinking it was legit, but I would still report it to eBay so that it can be dealt with because it is still fraud.