Evaluating What And Where To Buy

Deciding whether or not to purchase an item on eBay depends on two things; number one, do you want to buy it and number two, do you want to buy it from the seller who has it listed. This article can't help you with your personal preferences of what you like and can afford, but it can help you with determining if you are making a "safe" purchase. So, how safe are you using eBay to buy items? Actually, probably pretty safe. Most of the eBay transactions, that I am aware of, have been successfully completed. Not all transactions are to the perfect satisfaction of everyone, but generally an item was paid for and delivered as arranged. If the eBay system was not working, it would already be defunct. What you need are some pointers to help make your buying a satisfactory experience.

The first rule is the same rule that has existed probably since man learned to communicate with words, "If it is too good to be true, it is probably a scam." There are many times that items listed for sell on eBay sell for way less than they should and the buyer gets a real bargain; that is not the same as being promised something for free or an unbelievably cheap price. Don't bite on those tidbits; they won't turn out to be very tasty. However, if you must indulge yourself in such rash promises, if you don't spend too much of your hard earned cash then you won't get hurt too badly. There is more information on the serious scams later in this article, "Avoiding The Serious Scam", this part is mostly about how to avoid sloppy, lazy sellers.

That leads to the second rule of on line buying, don't send off more cash than you can afford to lose to some unknown cyber name without at least taking a close look at the seller. Thousands upon thousands of people are buying stuff every day on eBay, from tools to toys, and quite honestly I rarely hear of someone not receiving what they ordered from an eBay seller; but it does sometimes happen. If you are buying an expensive item you might consider using an on line escrow service.

So how do you check out the seller? Well, you probably won't be able to get a Dunn and Brad rating, but there are a few simple things that could keep you from wasting your money. First, consider the seller; eBay did some screening of you as a buyer, and to be a seller requires additionally information; therefore, eBay has already done some of the verification of a seller for you, but (and this is a big but) it is possible to set up an eBay account for the purpose of fraud, thieves can be pretty ingenious.

Next, consider whether or not the seller is signed up with a payment service such as Pay Pal or BidPay; these companies require information to become a merchant and an eBay seller won't last long with them if they get very many complaints. Additionally, some services, like PayPal, offer buyer protection (if the seller is approved - look for the buyer protection notation on auction listings). But remember this, there are many eBay sellers who are just plain Joes and and just want to have a good time and earn some spare cash by selling things on eBay. These fun seekers might never sign up with a payment type service and will probably only accept money orders. With money order only sellers, it might be wise to check the seller out pretty good before sending any large amounts of money. The tips offered here are geared more for helping you protect yourself on large purchases. The risks with small purchases are similar to buying at a flea market, you have a lot of fun, buy some neat stuff and occasionally you make a bad purchase; it's just all a part of the game.

Another insight into any seller you might be dealing with is to look and think about the listing and the content of the item they have up for sale. Listings are often a reflection of the seller, a sloppy listing was probably created by a sloppy person. That doesn't mean they won't ship, but they might be lazy about it. Is the listing coherent? If not, you may have trouble communicating with the seller. Is there a picture of the item listed for sell. While many people can not upload pictures, if there is no picture then perhaps you should be a little more cautious if, in addition, there are other shortcomings to the listing ad. Is the listing bare-bones or nicely done? Generally, someone with a rip-off plan is not going to put much work into their listing. Please remember that there can be honest reasons for brief listings, there are plenty of people who can just barely type that love to sell on eBay, there are Power Sellers who list so many items that their listings are very basic and brief, and some items just don't require much description, but combine the overall effect and content of the ad with the number of feedbacks (discussed next) the seller has and then decide if the monetary risk is worth it. Don't hesitate to e-mail the seller and ask any questions that you might have, before you bid, this is also another check on the seller; do they answer their e-mail?

This is important, look at the seller's feedback, do not skip this step. Feedback is a system that eBay provides that allows buyers and sellers to rate their mutual transactions. When an auction is completed (a buyer has agreed to buy what a seller is selling at the agreed price) then both the buyer and seller have access to the link to a feedback page where they can give their opinion of the transaction, both parties usually wait to leave feedback until the money and item exchange portion of the sell are completed. Many sellers consistently leave feedback because they want feedback in return, but buyers often miss this opportunity to help future buyers by leaving feedback. I wonder if maybe new buyers think "feedback" is just a nice thank you letter.

Feedback is a valuable tool for telling what kind of a person is on the other end of a transaction, but it is not perfect so you have to do a little reading between the lines. There is a weakness to the system, though it is definitely better than no feedback system at all. The weakness is that a buyer or seller might be concerned that if they leave negative feedback about someone, that someone with leave unwarranted bad feedback about them and it will turn into a hate battle and so they do not leave warranted negative feedback. Once you have left feedback, you can not normally retract what you have written, only add to it (there are some exceptions).

Look at how many feedbacks the seller has, a lot or only a few verses how many negative feedbacks they have. If a seller has ten feedbacks and nine are negative, well that might be someone to avoid. If, on the other hand, the seller has several hundred feedbacks with just a few negatives, well you can't please all the people all the time. A seller with a lot of feedback is probably in it for the long haul and would have to start all over again with a new ID to eradicate a bunch of bad feedback. Then there are new sellers joining eBay everyday and these new sellers may only have a few feedbacks as buyers, but everyone new has to start somewhere. You will have to interpret a seller's feedback.

The eBay feedback count figure indicates what number are unique feedbacks. Unique feedbacks are from a single person, feedback is not "unique" if the same person buys or sells addition items to the same person. If a buyer buys five items from the same seller, they can leave five different feedback, but the buyer will only be counted once - as a unique buyer. How does this help? While this system was probably intended to prevent someone from having a friend leave fifty good feedbacks to build up their feedback count, it still tells you how many different people were happy in their transaction with a seller.

The best way to look at feedback is to read what buyers have to say. Are the feedbacks just the basic "good transaction" or do the buyers specify that the seller shipped quickly, that the item was as described, and so on; that is what you want to hear. That in no way means that every transaction will go perfectly, an items condition may look one way to a seller and a totally different way to a buyer. One person might think that receiving an item in a couple of weeks is fine, while another thinks a few days is a long time. Also, remember you are dealing with something very much like an on line flea market and may of the items are used so you are often buying items "as is" from individuals (even if they have a store type name) not from a department store with a return policy. Even "new" items can be defective and the seller might not even know it. That is not to say that some eBay sellers don't offer return guarantees, some do, but, it can be difficult to actually get an exchange or refund from several hundred miles away so read the feedback - have people been happy with their return transactions?

So, with these draw backs, can you buy safely on line. There is no "safe" to anything in life, but eBay is so much fun that people are willing to take a little risk to join in on the bidding game, just as they are willing to take a little risk in buying merchandise at their local flea market or auction.

A couple of other important considerations when buying on eBay are the items condition and the shipping arrangements.

Check out the condition of the item from both the pictures and the sellers description, don't skip reading the description. A picture might look good, but upon reading the description you might discover the item does not work and is for sale for parts only. The main complaint that I hear from eBay sellers is that buyers don't read. It should go without saying that before leaving a seller negative feedback you should take the time to communicate with them; you might discover the error was yours in not reading the auction listing.

One of the biggest complaints that I hear from buyers is that the shipping was too high. Be sure to read the shipping information in a listing before bidding. Shipping fees can vary a great deal depending on location and distance. Out of necessity, many sellers pad their fees a little to off-set boxes and packaging material and errors in weight calculations, but some get carried away with their padding so check the shipping costs. There can be good reasons for not giving shipping costs in a listing, but it is not unheard of for a tricky seller to not disclose the shipping cost until the auction closes and then demands an outrageous shipping fee. If a seller doesn't have their shipping costs listed, don't hesitate to e-mail and ask for an estimation, be sure to provide the seller with your zip code.

Most people must be reasonably happy with the items that they buy on eBay or the system would not work. Still, if you do very much buying, sooner or later you will probably be disappointed. I know that I can go to a flea market and buy several items and when I get home I will be happy with most of my purchases, but there is a good chance that one of the items will not be what I had hoped, perhaps I bought what looked like a new item (and the seller thought so too), and it turned out to be a refurbished item. On eBay, you don't get to inspect an item until you have already paid your money; this feature is actually very much like a live auction. Live auctions generally have an inspection time, but chances are good that you will bid on and buy items you did not actually get around to inspecting. However, unlike a live auction, with eBay you usually have some time to think about your purchases as listings often last several days.

A Buy It Now (a bidding option that ends an auction) on a listing might cause your heart to pound and your typing fingers to twitch a bit. Take the time to study the listing ad, the picture and the seller's feedback as discussed. Where most people go wrong with an auction purchase is they let the frenzy of the bidding pressure them, but the biggest mistake they make is that they want an item to be exactly what they want so they subconsciously only read and get out of an ad what they want to see; often missing some details. You can retract a bid, so if you feel pressured to make a bid, don't stop there, go back and study the listing ad with the pressure off and be sure the item is what you wanted. A word of caution here; sellers must pay listing fees and a settlement fee when an auction closes whether or not the buyer completes the transaction and pays for the item. Like most businesses, eBay has a fee for this and a fee for that and those fees add up, even on inexpensive items. Do not bid on an item unless you intend to complete the transaction and if you must retract a bid, do it quickly so as not to further damage the seller's auction.

Should you risk buying items on eBay? The point here is simple, buying at a flea market or auction, including an on line auction is an exciting game, and people play for many reasons: they like to gamble, they've got money just burning a hole in their pocket, they love to buy mail order, they love bargains, they find unique, hard-to-find items, and on and on. If you've got the money and want to play, jump right in, just be prepared that you may someday get burned; hopefully it will never happen, but if it does, it is part of the game - accept it.

You are now ready to swim with the big fishes in the deep water, you are ready to learn to do some serious shopping and buying on eBay.