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eBay has quite an intricate and long-winded dispute resolution procedure. In this article, I'll try to break each step down for you, so you can see what's involved and how long it takes.

As an example, let's go through what you would do if you paid for an item but didn't receive it from the seller.

Before you open a dispute: Give the seller a chance to send the item before you get ahead of yourself and open a dispute. If you're concerned about how long the item is taking to arrive, the first thing you should do is send a polite email to the seller saying that you haven't received it and asking whether they have posted it. You should also check your own email address in eBay's options, to make sure that the seller can reply to you. As a last resort before opening a dispute, you should try to call the seller on the number eBay has for them. You might have to pay long-distance charges for the call, but that's better than dragging the auction through mediation for months.

Step 1 - You open an Item Not Received dispute: You can do this here: http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?InrCreateDispute.

All you need to do is enter the item number and say that you did not receive the item.

Step 2 - eBay contacts the seller: eBay sends the seller an email that tells them that you've said you didn't receive the item. Then can then choose to tell you one of three things: that your payment hasn't cleared yet, that the item is in the post, or that they'll give you your money back. The seller can also tell eBay that they would like to send you a message.

Step 3 - You talk to the seller: You try to work out what's happened directly with the seller, sending messages back and forward. Hopefully they'll agree to give you a refund for the sake of their feedback, or your item will turn up in the post during this time.

Step 4 - Closing the dispute: After 30 days (or 10 days if the seller didn't respond), you have two options to close the dispute: either you were satisfied or you weren't. If you weren't satisfied, then you can claim under eBay's purchase protection program for up to $200.

Independent Dispute Mediation.

If you don't want to go through eBay's own process, and especially if the auction was for a high-value item, then you can use a third-party mediator. eBay recommend SquareTrade, at www.squaretrade.com, who provide mediation to many websites where there are buyers and sellers. They will contact the seller on your behalf and then mediate as you negotiate what to do from there.

Sellers who are committed to going through SquareTrade's mediation for any disputes can sign up to display the 'SquareTrade seal' on their auctions. This gives their buyers $250 fraud protection, and shows that their identity has been independently verified so they are who they say they are.

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Resources Box:

Claim your FREE 14 Day "Learn How to Sell on eBay" e-Course Here:
http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 per month on eBay. His proven step-by-step system shows even users with little or no business experience how they too can make huge profits selling products at online auctions.

Posted by ralph at 09:23 PM | Permalink

If you bid for a few things on eBay, the chances are that sooner or later you'll end up getting your bid beaten at the very last second by a 'sniper'. This can be a frustrating experience, and while in theory sniping is against the rules and you can report it to eBay, in practice they never do anything about it.

The bad news is that there's only one way to beat the sniper - and that's to become the sniper. The good news, though, is that once you understand sniping you can use it to win auctions at a far lower price than you would otherwise.

Manual Sniping.

Manual sniping isn't that hard, if you have a lot of time to spare and a reasonably fast Internet connection. Write down when each auction that are bidding on ends, and then make sure that you're sitting there in front of the page for that vital last minute. You can then outbid the current winning bidder, or defend your own winning bid.

The only tip you really need to remember for manual sniping is to make sure that you set your maximum bid quite high - otherwise you might be automatically outbid, and the auction will have ended before you can bid again.

Also, it's not worth your time to compete against someone who is using an automated sniping service - if it's any good, then they will always manage to outbid you. In the sniping arms race, you need to find a sniper of your own.

Automatic Sniping.

If you type 'ebay sniping' into your favourite search engine, you'll come up with plenty of online services that will snipe on your behalf for a small fee. They usually let you have a free trial, so give it a go.

If you don't want to pay each time for an online service, then you might be better off getting a piece of software like Power Snipe. You can pay for these once and use them for as long as you want. Once you've installed the software on your computer, you tell it which auctions you want sniped and the maximum amount you're willing to pay. The software will then place the bid with only a few seconds left. The only disadvantage is that you need to be able to leave your computer on nearly all the time, or you might miss the end of some auctions.

A Sniping Alternative.

If this all sounds a bit too much like playing dirty for you, then is another, more low-tech way to get around sniping. You can just email the seller and say that you were sniped at the last minute but would really like the item. If they have another to sell, the chances are they'll agree to sell it to you for the price the auction closed at.

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Resources Box:

Claim your FREE 14 Day "Learn How to Sell on eBay" e-Course Here:
http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 per month on eBay. His proven step-by-step system shows even users with little or no business experience how they too can make huge profits selling products at online auctions.

Posted by ralph at 06:32 AM | Permalink

eBay offers quite a few simple tools to help make your buying easier, so you don't lose track of what you're doing. Most of them are on the 'My eBay' screen - if you're logged in, you can go there just by clicking 'My eBay' on the toolbar at the top of any eBay page.

My Summary.

Your summary screen shows what you're currently buying or selling, as well as any announcements eBay want to make that day. It is set up as a list of reminders, so it will tell you if there are items you need to pay for or if you have been outbid - it's like your eBay 'to do' list.

You can make this screen show what you want it to by clicking 'Customise Summary' in the top-right corner. To go to any of the other buying tools pages from here, use the menu on the left of the screen, under 'All Buying'.

Watching: This is your watchlist - the auctions you have decided are worth keeping an eye on but don't want to bid on yet. To add an auction to this page, click 'Watch this item' in the top-right corner of its description page. To delete an item, just put a tick in its box on the Watching page and then click the Delete button.

Bidding: This is a list of all the items you're currently bidding on. Items that you're currently the winning bidder on are highlighted in green, while items that you've been outbid on are shown in red, with an option to bid again.

Best Offers: You can see here all of the best offers you've made on Buy it Now items, and whether or not the seller accepted them.

Won and Didn't Win: This is where the items from the Bidding page go when the auction is over. If you won the item, then you will be able to choose an action depending on how far along you are in the buying process. From here, you can pay, tell the seller you've sent payment, or leave feedback once you've got the item. You should keep going through these steps until you've done them all. There are small blue icons to show you which of these steps you have completed so far, and whether the seller has left any feedback for you.

Don't worry if you don't often get the chance to check back at My eBay. If anything important happens, eBay will email you, and the email should contain a button or link to let you do whatever you need to do. If you want real control all the time, though, then the tools available on the My eBay page can work well for you.

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Resources Box:

Claim your FREE 14 Day "Learn How to Sell on eBay" e-Course Here:
http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 per month on eBay. His proven step-by-step system shows even users with little or no business experience how they too can make huge profits selling products at online auctions.

Posted by ralph at 09:33 PM | Permalink

The Case For.

Whatever you want to buy, whether it's large or small, cheap or expensive, everyday or just plain weird, the chances are you can find it on eBay. It's the largest auction site in the world, and when it comes to the variety of what's on sale, size is vital. When was the last time you heard of someone getting a great deal on a weird and wonderful item at uBid or Yahoo Auctions?

People who've got used to eBay don't often stop to think how amazing it is - an online marketplace where you can buy things from all over the world, without leaving your home. You can get things that you would never think anyone would bother to sell, and you can get them cheaply. The powerful search engine means that you can find things you'll like without even knowing exactly what you're looking for.

Not only that, but you can send money quickly and electronically to almost all of these sellers, without worrying about currency conversion or exchange rates or anything else.

If you're looking for rarities or bargains, eBay is an ideal place to buy.

The Case Against.

However much you might dream of a truly international marketplace, international postage costs will always bring you back down to reality with a thud. Do you have any idea how much it costs to send even the smallest thing to the other side of the world?

Then there's the fact that eBay is packed with fraudsters and scammers, preying on the innocent users who've heard that eBay is a great place to buy stuff but don't know the risks. People can lose thousands of dollars, and eBay do nothing. Is that fair? It is hard to even leave negative feedback for the very worst sellers, for fear that they will retaliate and leave a black mark against your own account.

eBay is unfair to buyers when other buyers don't play fair, and unfair to sellers who end up selling things for a very low price, only to have eBay's fees take away the last part of their profit margin.

The Verdict.

Those are the arguments for and against. So is eBay good, or bad? I'll leave it up to you to decide. For me, though, the answer is this: as long as you're aware of the downsides, and you know how to protect yourself from scammers and fraudsters and how to get ahead of the competition, eBay is one of the best places in the world to shop. Having followed us this far, of course, you now know all these things, which means that for you, eBay is a great place!

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Resources Box:

Claim your FREE 14 Day "Learn How to Sell on eBay" e-Course Here:
http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 per month on eBay. His proven step-by-step system shows even users with little or no business experience how they too can make huge profits selling products at online auctions.

Posted by ralph at 09:34 PM | Permalink

Most people do far more shopping in the holiday season than they do for the rest of the year - and now you know how to use eBay, why not do it there? If you know what kind of thing your friends and family like then eBay's categories are ideal places to get ideas. Plus, you won't have to fight your way through the holiday rush when you're getting everything posted to you at home!

Buying Presents for People.

Here's how I do it: think of the last thing the person you're buying a present for bought for themselves. Type it into eBay's search engine. Now take a look at which category it's in, and click the link to look at everything in the category. Straight away, you have a huge list of things that they're probably be happy to receive - and if you know them well, you should have no trouble picking through to find something really special.

Look at Their eBay Histories.

If the people you're buying presents for use eBay, and you know their eBay usernames, then you can take a look at what they've been buying to see what they might want. To look at a user's history, just click 'Advanced Search' on the main page, then Find a Member on the left-hand menu. Type in their username and you should reach their user page, complete with all the item numbers of things they have bought. Just paste any item number into the eBay search box to see what the item was. That should give you a few ideas!

Shop in Advance.

It's a bad idea to use eBay for your holiday shopping at the very last minute - prices will be high, and items might not turn up in time. Every year there's a present that children want so much that all the shops sell out, and it starts appearing on eBay at a premium. Parents then pay hundreds of dollars and still don't get one in time for the big day. Don't fall into this trap.

Remember You're in Silly Season.

The holiday season is peak time at eBay - loads of people are there, and they're often inexperienced, bidding things up far higher than they should. Try not to end up paying far too much for an item just because it's the last one that would turn up in time, or because everyone else is bidding too high. You should always know when to cut your losses, stop bidding and just go get something from the shop instead.

Have Fun!

Don't take eBay too seriously - treat it like a game, and don't be too disappointed if you lose. It can sometimes feel like gambling, but when you get that really rare and special thing in the post, it's all worth it.
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Resources Box:

Claim your FREE 14 Day "Learn How to Sell on eBay" e-Course Here:
http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 per month on eBay. His proven step-by-step system shows even users with little or no business experience how they too can make huge profits selling products at online auctions.

Posted by ralph at 07:35 AM | Permalink

Buying collectibles is one of the most enjoyable things to do on eBay, simply because you can find so many things that you just can't get anywhere else. Here are a few tips to help you on your way.

Find your Category.

You'll probably find that all the items you're after are listed in a single category. Add this category to your browser's Favorites, and keep coming back.

Look for Mistakes.

If you collect something, the chances are you know a lot about it. This can be your opportunity to make a mint from a seller's mistake. They might not realise that they have a rare version of an item, or they might have left off the key information that makes it valuable. If you're willing to email the seller and ask them a few questions about the item to confirm that it is what you think it is, then you should be able to buy items like these. You can then resell them at a big profit, if that's what you want to do.

Don't Always Believe Descriptions.

If you find something you haven't heard of, and the description calls it 'rare', don't assume that it actually is. Far too many sellers just put 'rare' into all of their descriptions - the chances are that the item is common and has just been described wrongly. Don't bid unless you know what you're buying.

Stalk Other Users.

When you collect something, you'll probably notice that there are four or five sellers who seem to come up with consistently good items - and the same buyers buying them. Add their user pages to your Favorites, and check back often to see what they've got - or what they're bidding on - that you might be interested in.

Don't Get Too Attached to an Auction.

There are millions of items being listed every day on eBay - whatever you want, it'll come around again, and if you don't get it there are plenty more things to buy. This is similar to the golden rule of negotiating: always be prepared to walk away. If you can't walk away, then expect to pay over the odds. There are few things so rare that another seller won't have one to sell. Go and bid in a lower-priced auction, instead of getting into a bidding war in one that is already expensive.

Beware of the Postage.

If you collect lots of small things with a relatively low value, you might end up paying as much for postage as you do for each item. You should take these costs into consideration when you make your bid. Another good strategy is to always buy a few things at once from the same buyer, as they will almost always offer you a discount on the postage.
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Resources Box:

Claim your FREE 14 Day "Learn How to Sell on eBay" e-Course Here:
http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 per month on eBay. His proven step-by-step system shows even users with little or no business experience how they too can make huge profits selling products at online auctions.

Posted by ralph at 08:27 AM | Permalink

Some auctions get hundreds of bids, but some go much more slowly, getting only a few bids or even none at all for days. Auctions are generally much slower during the summer months than they are in the winter - and sales on eBay are slowing each year, as more sellers than buyers sign up, hoping to get rich quick. There are a number of ways that you can take advantage of slower auctions to get the best price.

Wait to Bid.

If you bid, then everyone can see you're interested - and that might make them interested too. Leaving the item alone for as long as you can bear will make it look less popular, and keep the price down so you can come in at the last minute and get a bargain.

Make an Offer.

If the seller is selling an item using 'Buy it Now' and it still hasn't sold when the auction is about to end, use eBay's 'Best Offer' service to make them an offer on it. The chances are they've listed the item two or three times before, and they'll be so annoyed at the prospect of re-listing it yet again that they'll accept your offer just to get rid of the thing.

Conspire with Other Buyers.

You might not have thought of this, but if there are two auctions for the same item and only you and one other buyer are bidding, why not get together and work out a 'you take this one and I'll take that one' deal? This avoids you raising the price on both auctions just to get one each. If you make a few friends, you can even work together on auctions long-term, taking it in turns to bid.

Be Snobbish.

Send the seller emails asking questions about the condition of the item, and making it very clear that you are a discerning buyer and will only accept things of the highest quality. This will make them feel better about selling you their item for less.

Don't Feel Guilty.

There really are too many sellers on eBay now, to the point where you can get common items at very low prices. Long-term, this will probably force those sellers out of business, but that's the way a market works - it's supply and demand.

Buy in Bulk.

When auctions are slow, many sellers will have had the same stock for a long time. If you offer to take ten things off their hands all at once then you can almost name your price - the chances are that they'll fall over themselves to give you a good deal. If you come back again and buy another ten items then they'll love you even more.
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Resources Box:

Claim your FREE 14 Day "Learn How to Sell on eBay" e-Course Here:
http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 per month on eBay. His proven step-by-step system shows even users with little or no business experience how they too can make huge profits selling products at online auctions.

Posted by ralph at 09:28 PM | Permalink

It really is inevitable that any website that helps buyers and sellers exchange $14 billion dollars a year in merchandise is bound to be targeted by scammers. Although the vast majority of people on the site are perfectly legitimate and only there to buy or sell products legally, the site still has its fair share of scams going on at any one time. Here are some tips for avoiding most of the Ebay scams seen so far.

Bidding Scams

If you have already placed a bid for an item but the seller decides to end the bidding early, be very wary if that same person then contacts you and still tries to bargain with you. Once the bidding ends, you are no longer under the Ebay umbrella and this person is more than likely trying to scam you.

Should you be contacted by someone that has seen that you have bid on another item and tries to convince you that they have the same product or one better for a much lower price, walk away. In this Ebay scam, you will be told that the seller doesn't have enough time to list on Ebay and that the two of you can conduct your transaction through an escrow company. Walk away.

Escrow Scams

By far, the vast majority of Ebay scams involve an escrow company. Officially, Ebay only recommends using Escrow.com. Sellers who try to get you to send your money to some other escrow company should be regarded with skepticism at best, and walked away from in most circumstances.

If you are a seller and using an escrow service to send an expensive item to the buyer, then make sure that you require a signature upon receipt. Not doing so is just asking for problems.

Do not, under any circumstances, use some escrow company that has been recommended by the other person. Especially avoid these people if they tell you that they use this or that escrow company all the time. Unless they are an Ebay business machine with a very well established history, why would they ever need to use an escrow account "all the time"?

If you do decide to use an escrow company other than Escrow.com, then proceed with caution. Log onto their site and check two things: do they have a URL with http://companyaddress.com and does the little padlock appear at the bottom of the web page telling you that it is a secure site? If you are not on a secure site with a standard URL address, don't be a fool. Conduct your Ebay business with someone else.

A good idea to try when attempting to determine if an escrow company is legitimate is to go to Register.com. Run a "whois" on the company domain name. If it was only registered a short time ago, you are being scammed.

One of the favorites used by scammers to make an escrow account seem secure and legitimate is to paste the "Verisign Secure Site, Click Here" tab onto a fake site. Take the time to click on it and if it just takes you to the Verisign home page, it is a fake.

A way of checking the legitimacy of an escrow company is use Google and type in their web address. A real escrow company will have a lot of Google results while fake ones will have but one and in some cases no search results.

Basically, there are just a lot of Ebay scams out there involving escrow companies. This is because each scam has the potential to make crooks decent money because an escrow company is only used to safeguard larger transactions. If you want to play it safe, use Escrow.com or no one at all.

Of course there are a lot of other scams out there but we have touched base on the ones used most often thus far. Look, if someone is offering you something that is too good to be true or is trying to go around the normal procedures established by Ebay to help safeguard their online auctions, then be very cautious. If you want to avoid the Ebay scams, avoid these situations and don't let greed tempt you to do something that your gut is telling you is wrong.
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Resources Box:

Claim your FREE 14 Day "Learn How to Sell on eBay" e-Course Here:
http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 per month on eBay. His proven step-by-step system shows even users with little or no business experience how they too can make huge profits selling products at online auctions.

Posted by ralph at 09:37 PM | Permalink

There aren't that many scammers on eBay - but the ones there are tend to be greedy. This means that they will always try to pull their scams on high-value items like cars and computers, so that they can make a lot of money quickly. Since buyers generally buy these items very rarely, they may not know about the various scams out there.

Automobile Scams.

With cars, you will generally find that scammers try to get you to send them money in advance, for whatever reason. For some reason, some people aren't all that reluctant to pay 50% or 25% of the money before delivery using a relatively insecure payment method, especially on a car. They reason that the seller will obviously deliver it, as they'll want the other half of the money.

But there never was a car! Pictures of cars aren't hard to find, and the experienced scammers will have a whole library of pictures of different cars. The seller just got your $5,000 for nothing, and you can leave them all the negative feedback you like. They'll just go and open another eBay account and find their next sucker.

While it's not an outright scam, what you might find is that the car does turn up, but simply doesn't live up to the description - it has been oversold, in the tradition of used car dealers through the ages. If this happens to you then you should open an eBay dispute and say your item was not as described - you might get a partial refund.

Computer Scams.

If you bid in a computer auction but don't win, the seller might email you to ask whether you would like to buy a computer the same as the one they just sold through their own website.

This is a bad idea! You have no guarantee that the item will ever arrive, and you haven't just given them your money - you've given them your credit card details too.

There are sellers with nothing but positive feedback who use this scam often - and since you won't be able to leave them any feedback on the transaction, their reputation will stay that way. If you complain to eBay that you bought an item outside the site and got scammed, they will tell you to get lost and not do it again.

How to Beat the Scams.

There are lots of ways to beat the scams. First, whenever you buy anything expensive, be sure to check your seller's reputation thoroughly. Make sure they have sold items of a similar high value before, and haven't just sold a string of $10 items to get their feedback rating artificially high. If you want to be even more cautious, insist that the money is placed in an escrow service (eBay recommends escrow.com - don't use any other service unless you're sure of it).
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Resources Box:

Claim your FREE 14 Day "Learn How to Sell on eBay" e-Course Here:
http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 per month on eBay. His proven step-by-step system shows even users with little or no business experience how they too can make huge profits selling products at online auctions.

Posted by ralph at 08:26 AM | Permalink

eBay can be a very odd place, given that you can sell almost anything you want. Here are the auctions we've picked as being the strangest ever.

#10 - Girlfriends: Some girls auctioned their services as 'imaginary girlfriends', who would send the winning bidder pictures of themselves and loving letters, which they could use to pretend they had a girlfriend.

#9 - Wedding dress: Nothing strange about selling a wedding dress, you might think - but this was the guy's ex-wife's wedding dress. And he modelled it, as well as writing a long screed about his ex-wife in the description.

#8 - TV part: Producers on the TV show Ally McBeal once used eBay to auction off a walk-on part on the show.

#7 - Kidney: One man tried to sell his kidney on eBay - after all, you only need one, right? Unfortunately it's illegal to buy or sell human organs. Good thinking, though.

#6 - Toenail clippings: A girl once sold her toenail clippings on eBay, one clipping from each toe. She got a $1 for the set - a low price for the years of joy they no doubt provided to the buyer.

#5 - Britney's gum: Someone picked up Britney Spears' chewed gum at a London hotel and decided it'd be a great thing to sell on eBay. Oddly enough, they were right - they got $263 for it. A Britney fan probably has it framed in their house.

#4 - Ghost: Yes, a ghost. In a jar. Well, why not? The ghost was, apparently, 'terrorising' the man who owned it, and so he decided to capture it and sell it on eBay to someone who might be able to give it a better home.

#3 - Virgin Mary sandwich: A seller offered a grilled cheese sandwich upon which the Virgin Mary had appeared to her - and the strange thing is, she genuinely seemed to believe it. This item, unbelievably, sold for $28,000. Some people just have too much money to waste, don't they?

#2 - Virginity: An 18-year-old British girl sold her virginity on eBay - but it was bought by a businessman who kindly agreed to give her the money without actually taking the 'service'.

And at #1 - Fighter jet: A state brokerage in Virginia sold a U.S. Navy F/A-18A Hornet jet fighter on eBay for just over a million dollars. It was, unfortunately, in pieces and so unusable, but they offered to put it back together and make it ready to fly for the low, low price of just another $9 million.
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Resources Box:

Claim your FREE 14 Day "Learn How to Sell on eBay" e-Course Here:
http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 per month on eBay. His proven step-by-step system shows even users with little or no business experience how they too can make huge profits selling products at online auctions.

Posted by ralph at 07:29 AM | Permalink

Shopping on Ebay is perhaps one of the most exciting ways to find deals. When that auction time is winding down and you are in position to be the winning bidder, the pulse quickens and the excitement builds. Only five more minutes….you can almost picture the item in your home and the thrill you will get when you show it off to friends and family. And then, as the last minute winds down, a bid comes in that beats yours and you are crushed. Someone knew some Ebay secrets that you have yet to learn!

Actually, they are known as snipers and they hover like vultures during the final few minutes of online auctions to swoop in for the kill and steal away an item that others have been fighting over for days. But, snipers are part of Ebay auctions and you just have to beat them at their own game. Still, there are other Ebay secrets that buyers can use to find the best deals on items without acting like vultures and swooping in at the last minute to make off with a great bargain.

No Picture

There are a lot of people that simply will not consider an auction unless it comes with a picture. Honestly, this is a good idea but some really great bargains can be had for people willing to dig a little deeper.

If the product description is excellent and the buyer has a great feedback rating, it might very well be worthwhile to place a bid on that item because you will not have much competition. The fewer people you compete with during Ebay auctions, the better the deal you are likely to get.

Bad Ending Times

Online auctions with lousy ending times are far less likely to be stalked by snipers. Any sellers that end bidding on major holidays or during major events on television such as the Superbowl-well, they are asking for someone (just like yourself!) to make off with their item for a great bargain. Shopping during off-peak times and hours is one of those Ebay secrets that will help you land some truly great deals and avoid most of those sneaky sniper types!

Poor Descriptions

Let's face it, some Ebay auctions are hosted by people that just cannot spell or who provide very little information in the description. Many of the Ebay elite will not even bother with such listings and move on to other targets. But, like the really great Ebay secrets, there may be a treasure waiting for you if you are willing to ask some questions and get some additional information. So long as you get what you want at a great price, what do you care if the person can't spell?

You are always going to contend with the snipers and millions of your closest friends when bidding in Ebay auctions. Missing photos, misspelled words, and horrible ending times may just scare enough of the competition away to allow you the chance to net a great deal. Just do your homework and ask the buyer enough questions until you are either satisfied that the product is legitimate or decide to move on.

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Resources Box:

Claim your FREE 14 Day "Learn How to Sell on eBay" e-Course Here:
http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 per month on eBay. His proven step-by-step system shows even users with little or no business experience how they too can make huge profits selling products at online auctions.

Posted by ralph at 09:39 PM | Permalink

Ebay auctions can be somewhat intimidating for people new to the world of online bidding. There are several different approaches, techniques, and options to choose from when trying to outbid the competition. Ebay shopping takes some practice and time before beginners become savvy bidders who get the best deals possible for the items they really want. Here are some tips to keep in mind to help you do battle with other bidders.

Bidding Options

Ebay auctions offer buyers several tools from which to choose when trying to navigate through their site and win bids. But, if you are not really into bidding and the time and effort it takes to stay on top of the process, you can still find good deals offered by sellers who use the "Buy Now" option. This means that the buyer has set a predetermined price for an item and anyone can have it for that amount.

But, if you like the challenge of dueling with other bidders for the best price possible on an item, then you definitely have some options. If you are new to Ebay and still a little nervous about the bidding process then you may want to execute the "pre-determined limit" bidding option.

This allows you to set a maximum price that you are willing to pay for an item and once it is reached you are out of the bidding process. But, it keeps you in the process and prevents you from paying more than you are willing to spend.

Now if you don't really have time to monitor the bidding process too closely, you may want to use what is known as "proxy bidding". Again, you will set a limit as to what you are willing to pay for the item and then Ebay will automatically keep you in bidding process until you either win or are outbid.

Proxy bidding is not the most exciting way to do your Ebay shopping but if it gets you what you want at a great price then you will still walk away happy. Just remember that Ebay will automatically set your bid a dollar higher than the highest bidder until you reach your limit or win.

Ebay Shopping Pitfalls

It is called schilling and it happens to some extent in all auction selling, no matter the website. Schilling is when a seller has a secret partner who comes into the bidding process and sets a high bid to raise the selling price of the item. The only real way to protect yourself against this kind of fraud is to set a predetermined limit so that you are not stuck with an item at a price you were not willing to pay.

Also in Ebay shopping or in any online auctions, you have to watch out for snipers. These sneaky devils creep in at the very last second to outbid the highest bidder by just a hair and end up getting the item you have so patiently been bidding on for the past few days. There just is not too much you can do about these people other than study them and become one yourself. Sad, but that is the world of Ebay shopping!

While it will take you awhile to learn the ins and outs of the bidding process, the basics that have been provided here should be enough to get you started. Just remember that Ebay and all online auctions have a few bad apples but so long as you remember to set a predetermined limit, you should be fine. Just remember to have some fun at it and don't worry if you lose out the first couple of times to those wily sniper characters!
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Resources Box:

Claim your FREE 14 Day "Learn How to Sell on eBay" e-Course Here:
http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 per month on eBay. His proven step-by-step system shows even users with little or no business experience how they too can make huge profits selling products at online auctions.

Posted by ralph at 07:40 AM | Permalink

One of the truly great things about Ebay auctions is that each and every one of them is different. You must be willing to adapt your bidding style to counter the strategies used by the other bidders in the auction. Plus, depending on how badly you want a particular item, you may have to use a strategy that you normally would avoid. Here are some of the more popular Ebay online auction bidding strategies to help you win more auctions.

Low Balling

Now this is a strategy that really gets under the skin of a lot of Ebay "newbies" who are new to the world of online auctions. In fact, they all have a name for people using this strategy to win auctions: snipers.

Snipers hold off until the last possible moment to place a bid so no one else can come in and make a higher bid and win the auction. By using this strategy you never have to worry about paying more than you wanted for an item. If the bid amount is too high for you at the end, then move on to the next item. But, if you play your cards right and the competition is snoozing, you can swoop in at the end and make off with a great deal!

Win At All Costs

Now there are definitely some radicals participating in Ebay auctions that will do whatever it takes to win an auction-including paying more than there competition. Now everybody who wins an Ebay online auction must outbid the competition but these "win at all cost" people will place a relatively high bid in the beginning of an auction to scare off vultures trying to find the super deals on Ebay. Then, they simply defend their bid by outbidding anyone that actually claims to want the item more than they do.

You see this a lot in collectibles or other keepsakes that may have sentimental value. Maybe it is a toy from their childhood or something that reminds them of a loved one who died a long time ago. If you get this feeling when you see an item while browsing through an Ebay online auction, just be careful and try to set a reasonable but steep maximum dollar amount that you are willing to pay for the item.

Stickler

A stickler is someone that sees an item while looking through the online auctions and decides to place bid-only they always have a preset limit to what they will spend. If the bid exceeds that number by even a dollar, a stickler will walk away and take their business elsewhere.

Frankly, this is a great strategy to use-especially in the beginning. By doing your homework and knowing what a good price is for an item, you can set a predetermined limit that is reasonable enough to possibly win the bid while still being a bargain in the process. Plus, the stickler strategy keeps you out of trouble during Ebay auctions.

Schilling is an underhanded technique used by a very small number of sellers to artificially raise the bid amount. This is done by having a partner with their own Ebay account come into the auction and place bids that continually raise the selling price. If you do not have a predetermined limit, then you may get stuck with something at a price that far exceeded what you originally intended to pay.

You never want to become involved in an Ebay online auction without some sort of strategy in mind. In the end, however, most pros of online auctions opt for the low balling route and become a sniper. But if you are just starting out in the world of Ebay auctions, stay with the stickler approach until you either come across one of those "must have" items or become a seasoned pro-sniping the "newbies" with the best of them!

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Resources Box:

Claim your FREE 14 Day "Learn How to Sell on eBay" e-Course Here:
http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 per month on eBay. His proven step-by-step system shows even users with little or no business experience how they too can make huge profits selling products at online auctions.

Posted by ralph at 05:36 AM | Permalink