Webupon

eBay has become a victim of its own success.  Now with over 135 million registered users worldwide there is even more competition for winning auctions and whilst most prices are still below those which can be found on the high street many auctions close with prices higher than those which can be found elsewhere on-line.

The fast-paced excitement of counting down an auction is encapsulating and addictive.  It brings a game-like competition to the act of purchasing a product whereby you ‘win’ an item as opposed to simply purchasing, even though by all rights ‘winning’ a product simply means you’ve won the right to pay for it.  The frenzied excitement of beating someone across the world to purchase something you must have often blinkers us to the fact that products are available elsewhere simply at the click of a mouse and that we may not necessarily be getting a good offer.

Sellers can create false demand for a product by simply listing products one at a time, especially where massively popular electronic products or media items are concerned.  Take, for example, the Christmas rush on the Nintendo Wii seen in 2007, or any toy of the minute when Christmas time comes around.  Would it make more sense for sellers to list all of their products at once, disappointing only a few customers, or to list only a couple at a time and have everyone fighting over the few which are available, only then (once auctions end) to list the next batch for all of the ‘losers’ from the last run of auctions to fight over?  Who wants a product that is widely available?  We don’t covet what our neighbour has – we covet what our neighbour can’t afford, or can’t obtain.  We want the exclusive, the rare, the individual items and we want them before anyone else.

When shops do sell out of a product eBay is a great place to purchase one above recommended retail price if you’re working within a tight deadline, but what is baffling is the fact that people then go on to purchase other widely available products for more than they can at other on-line stores.

A much calmer on-line shopping experience can often lead to a greater saving when using a traditional on-line seller.  Amazon is a great example of an on-line vendor offering not only a broad range of products, but also boasting a massive number of retailers who list their products through the site.  This potentially increases competition within the site itself, as well as with external sites offering like products, where identical items are listed together for different prices, often with no time limit.

In addition to this benefit many fixed price retailers offer cash-back with their purchases.  If you are a member of a website such as greasypalm.com there are a broad range of cash-back offers for well known on-line & high street stores.  Membership to these sites should be, and in most cases is, free – you simply make your purchase using a link to your chosen shop through the cash-back site – they make money from advertising and you get a portion back too.

In my experience it still pays to shop around using a site like Google shopping or Kelkoo alongside Amazon and eBay.  Generally cheaper prices can be found on any of the former stores, however if you’re prepared to wait you can still get a steal on eBay assuming you’re not looking for the must-have product of the minute that is.

If you enjoyed this please read my articles on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and The Top UK & International Survey Sites.

Please help keep these pages free by visiting our advertisers with no purchase necessary.