Webupon

Are you getting into the EBay craze? Maybe you’re sucked in by the need to bid just “once more, or feel the need to check your regular searches every couple of hours?

How about this, are you finding that, after shipping, you are actually spending more to buy something on EBay than if you had just gone and bought it new?

EBay is a wonderful thing! Don”t get me wrong, I love the stuff. I love bidding and winning. I’m just an advocate of EBay-ing smart. Sometimes it takes a while to figure out the ins and outs of getting a great deal on the site. Sometimes people find they just aren’t able to stop bidding, like gambling in casinos, because of the rush of the win.

So what are some of the great deals on EBay? Listed here are great deals that should definitely be purchased on that lovable auction site.

1. Beauty and Health items: Many sellers purchase these products in bulk for the purpose of selling them in auction. You can get some fabulous deals on these products that both profit the seller and make you money. Just conduct your search for make-up etc. to include the word “lot”. This will bring up auctions for bulk piles of make-up of up to 100 items. Sometimes after shipping, you’ll end up paying less than a quarter a piece for your make-up. Now that IS a bargain!
2. Sports Cards: If you are a big sports fan and into collecting, or just into collecting as an investment, this is the place to find your cards. Many cards that are listed on EBay sell for well below the book price. I admit that I don’t know much about the hobby, but I do know that below book value is a deal.
3. Automobiles: That’s right, if you’re not in a hurry to find a car, keep your eyes peeled for a good deal in auction. You never know when one of those puppies is going to sell for less than it is worth. While writing this article, I see one car that is going to sell for less than you could get for it from a scrap yard. Now there’s a deal!
4. Music: Heck Ya! Why spend a dollar a song to purchase your music on itunes when you can get the whole stinking CD for five dollars? (That includes shipping) For example, the 2005 Natasha Bedingfield album is selling for 4.50. That’s the final price with shipping. Compare that to the cost of the album itunes store at 9.99 to see the savings. Buy your CD’s on EBay instead, and rip them.
5. Movies: Why wait for the summer yard sale season when you can have bargain basement movie prices all year long delivered right to your door. Sometimes sellers will sell off their entire personal collection which you can then get dirt cheap. Then, again, you can then pull them from the disc to your personal video player if you want to.

And there you have it. Five great buys you can find on EBay with a little smarts and patience. A few other things that help you along quite nicely are.

1. Seller ratings: Pay attention to the seller ratings. A seller with a bad rating is likely to mean a bad transaction or poor quality product for you. Look at the ratings and read the feedback to see what buyers had to say about your seller.
2. Favorite search and Favorite sellers: After you have been cruising EBay land for a while, you’re bound to find that you search for the same things repeatedly or bid on auctions of the same seller frequently. When you utilize this function, you will get emails updating you on auctions that may interest you.
3. How to win your item: Now that you’ve found that special item that you just have to have, the only thing left is to win it. But what fun is winning it if you don’t get a good deal on your item? How can you brag to your friends if you’ve spent just as much as the retail price of the same thing brand-new. So here is how you win it for that great price.

1. Wait until the last few minutes of the auction have arrived. Then open EBay in your browser and pull up your item.
2. Open a second page in your browser (ctrl + T in most browsers) and pull the same page up.
3. On the second page, go to the bid page (make sure you are already logged in) enter the bid amount (your max bid) and click through till the confirmation screen.
4. On the first page, refresh the page to track how long until bidding is about to close. Once there is 15-30 seconds left in the auction, toggle back to the second page and confirm your bid.

This is the best way I’ve found to win auctions for the best price. Bidding early only drives up the price of the item, and who wants to do that? I hope this little article helps to improve your EBay experience.