Something For Everyone . . .

eBay is a great place to save money on many of the things you buy every day.  Items are often priced far below your local prices.  It’s also much easier than wasting time searching all over the Internet for something you want.

eBay’s range of goods for sale is beyond comprehension.  Anything from top-of-the-line cosmetics to heirloom hot pepper seeds to a ’63 Chevy to a battery for a laptop computer to an antique pay phone (they have hundreds of vintage three-slot payphones).  Some items are new, some are used, and they always specify which.

For cellphone accessories, a $30 item you find in the phone store can cost you $3 or $4 on eBay (with free shipping) and the variety is far greater than you’ll find in any store.  There are a few things they won’t list, like firearms, porn, fake watches, counterfeits, etc.  eBay is where you’ll find items you’ll never find anywhere else.

You don’t need an ID to search and check out the merchandise; all you need is a little curiosity.  Try it — just click this link to go to eBay.com put an item name in the Search Box and noodle around to see what’s there.  You’ll find two ways to buy; some sellers sell to the highest bidder (Auctions) with a firm end time, some just tell you straight out how much the item costs (Buy It Now), and some combine both features.  You can sort the auctions by how soon they end, by price, or distance from your ZIP code (useful if you’re buying a refrigerator, or even a car).

Selling new and used cars is very popular on eBay, since many sellers set up delivery through professional auto transport services to carry your car right to your door.  I know a fellow who lives near Detroit, and bought two (his & hers) used Mercedes-Benz automobiles from a dealer in Vancouver this way; he saved about $5,000 on each one compared to buying them locally.  Florida cars are popular, too.

When you’re ready to join in, sign up for a free eBay ID.  This ID also gives you access to some terrific tools.  For example, if you’re looking for something that’s very difficult to find, and you ask them to do so, eBay will automatically send you an email whenever somebody puts that item up for auction.  They’ll alert you if you’ve been outbid via email or even a text message to your cellphone, if you wish.  And much more — there’s good reason eBay is so popular.

Be aware that just like a live auction, bidding can get fast and furious as the end of the auction draws near.  If you don’t want to wait around until the last possible moment, you can just enter the “maximum bid” that you’re willing to pay.  If no one else bids that high, you get the item, and eBay only uses as much of your bid as is absolutely necessary to just beat the next-highest bidder.  So, if the current bid is $50 on an auction that ends tomorrow morning, and you bid $100 right now, and someone bids $55 later tonight, you’ll automatically win and pay just $56 (even if you’re still asleep when the auction ends).  This is an easy way to make sure you never go over your budget.  If you miss out on this one, just bid on the next one.  Popular items have plenty of auctions.  You usually have 3 to 5 days to get your payment to the seller, but you’re better off handling it right away.  Obviously, they won’t ship your item until you’ve paid for it.

You can check the seller’s history (Feedback) to see what other buyers have to say about this seller.  If a seller has a near-100% Positive Feedback score, and they’ve sold thousands of items, it’s a pretty safe bet you won’t have any problems.  You will also get the chance to file a simple Feedback report on your experience (doing this is quick and easy, and benefits all eBay users).  You can use eBay to send the seller a question so no one knows your email address, and eBay will send a copy of the conversation to your email inbox, if you wish.  All in all, eBay is a very popular, safe way to buy almost anything online.

You may find that the highest bid prices are around 5 PM Eastern time (as folks want to do whatever it takes to win before they leave work) or around 1:30 PM (as they bid on auctions after lunch).  Auctions ending at 3 AM Pacific Time, eBay’s official time (6AM Eastern, 5AM Central) can be lower.  Dinner time, championship sporting events, and holidays also tend to have fewer bids since there’s less competition.

eBay is aligned closely with PayPal.com and many sellers insist you pay them through PayPal. Signing up for a PayPal account is free, too.  eBay details the auction, bidding, communications, shipping, etc., and PayPal is the tool you use to safely transfer your payment to the seller.  You give your payment information (credit card, debit card, or bank account number) to PayPal’s secure site and they handle the money for both parties.  Essentially, you transfer money from your card (or bank) to PayPal, and they transfer the funds to the seller.  The transaction is free for the buyer, the seller pays a small fee.  This way the seller never sees any of your account info, but they still get paid about 98% of the winning bid.  PayPal also offers a guarantee for most auctions — if you get hoodwinked by the seller, PayPal refunds your money.  Check eBay or PayPal for details.

You should never tell anyone your PayPal password.  Period.  There’s not much reason for someone placing fake eBay bids for you, but PayPal handles money.  If they send you a message, they’ll use your actual name, not “deere custumur.”

Be sure and read all the details in an auction before you bid.  For example, sometimes the buyer pays the shipping costs, sometimes the seller pays — it’s all spelled out clearly in the auction.  Some sellers won’t ship to other countries, and some are actually in other countries (Britain, Hong Kong and Australia sellers can be found on eBay, as shown on their “Location” info).  If you have any questions, just send the seller a message, and the Q & A will often get posted right in the auction.  You can see what other people have bid, but not who they are.

If you have something you wish to sell on eBay, they have a simple, detailed training sequence that tells you everything you need to know.  It costs very little to post an item for auction (a few dollars or less).  The chain of UPS Stores around the country is set up to handle shipping your item for you, or even take photos and sell it for you for a portion of the price.  Before you sell something, buy a few items to learn your way around.  This will also give you some Feedback — if you have no Feedback and zero transactions, many people are less willing to bid on your auction, so your bids will tend to be lower (after all, there are other sellers with 100% Positive Feedback and thousands of transactions).  You may consider this when you’re bidding, too.

Enjoy, and Happy Bidding!