Essential eBay: Tips and Tricks for the Online Auction
by Emmalyne Squires Farris
I'm an avid eBay
user, and I have been since the mid 1990's. I've bought everything from
children's clothes to a brand new motorcycle (my husband's purchase, I
might add). I also buy a lot of one-of-a-kind rock and roll memorabilia
and other collectibles. Basically, the things I always look for are:
1) payment
options-I almost always use PayPal because it is so simple and now they protect
your purchases. I've used PayPal for years and have never been
disappointed. I've bought other items on eBay using other methods of
payment (never, ever, ever send cash and be REALLY careful about sending
a personal check), but only if it were something that I absolutely had
to have and I couldn't get it any other way. Fortunately, I've never
been burned, but I have had to email one person continuously and
threaten legal action until I received my purchase.
2) seller feedback-I
always check feedback before I bid on anything. Anyone can have an
irritated customer, so if someone has one or two feedbacks that seem out
of character when compared to the rest of the feedback, I take that with
a grain of salt. If it looks like the feedback is iffy, I don't bid.
3) seller
location-I think this is really important, and it's something
that most people don't check. As a rule, I only buy from the
U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia/New Zealand, or a western European
country. I've gotten some great products from Sweden and
Switzerland, but those are rare. English and Canadian sellers
are wonderful to deal with, but buying from sellers in the U.S.
is your safest bet. It's important to click on the seller's name
when looking at an item because often where the item description
says the seller is located is different from the member
profile's statement of location. You'll find this happen a lot
with sellers in southeast Asia. The item will say the seller is
in the U.S., but really, the seller is in Hong Kong. That's not
a good sign, especially if you're bidding $15 on an "authentic"
Coach bag. The chances are really good that it's not a real
Coach bag, but a cheap knockoff made in Hong Kong. I certainly
have nothing against a cheap knockoff-in fact, I have a Kate
Spade bag that's such a good fake that the salesperson at Saks,
which sold the authentic bag, was fooled and amazed when I told
her it was a fake. As long as the seller comes clean and says
it's a knockoff, I'm all for it. It's when a seller is trying to
defraud you that I'm against it.
4) photos of
items-I don't think I've ever actually bid on anything that
didn't have at least one photo posted with the description.
Digital cameras are not expensive, and if someone is going to go
to the trouble of posting something on eBay, there's really no
excuse of not posting a picture.
5) Finally, do your
homework. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Occasionally,
you'll get a good deal on something, which is the whole point of
eBay,
but know what you're bidding on/buying. For example, there's currently a
videotape being offered on
eBay
of an episode of "The Patty Duke Show" from 1965 that allegedly features
the British singing duo Peter & Gordon. While I have no doubt that the
seller is offering tapes of episodes of "The Patty Duke Show," Peter &
Gordon were never on that show. Instead, it was another British singing
duo, Chad & Jeremy who appeared on the show. While I don't think that
the seller is trying to defraud anyone, I would hate to think that a
Peter & Gordon fan would blindly buy the tape, only to discover that
it's Chad & Jeremy. The same thing definitely goes for sellers who
probably are trying to defraud you. Designer handbags are hot eBay items, and there are a ton of good
copies and bad copies. As long as you know that you're buying a copy,
that's fine, but most of the time, sellers don't 'fess up, so buyers
need to do a little research before sending their hard-earned money (for
example, authentic Louis Vuitton bags never ever have any kind of cuts
through the LV logo, so if you see a picture of a bag with only part of
the LV logo going into a seam, it's a fake). There are a lot of internet
sites that will tell you how to spot fake bags, jeans, etc. In fact, eBay offers forums on spotting fakes.
eBay
has really
improved their member relations. They'll answer email and do everything
possible to resolve conflicts between seller and buyer. Anyone
interested in signing up for
eBay
does need to read the readily-available info that
eBay provides, but once you've signed up and
actually located, bid, and won that adorable top that matches those
pants you found at Gymboree for next to nothing for your little sweetie,
you'll be hooked. eBay is really a lot of fun once you really know what
you're doing. :)
