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Buying Please note that the following is just some advice and guidance to help you around eBay. I shall be updating it from time to time so please be sure to come back.
Getting Started
Even if you haven't decided to buy or sell anything on eBay yet you can still create an account. Then you can then add items to your watching list and generally become more familiar with eBay. Creating an account is quite straight forward although for security reasons you may need to provide financial details by way of credit or debit card. Personally I have a Visa card which I use only for purchasing items online with. I have no overdraft on it so if by slim chance someone was to obtain my details they couldn't really do much with it. This requirement by eBay is a good idea as it lowers the risk of undesirables setting up multiple accounts for illegal purposes.
Do not bid on the first item that you see. Search for similar items and add them to your watch list. Many sellers offer a Buy It Now (BIN) option which could mean you could receive the item quicker. Shop around like you would do normally. Wildcard searches: You can put an asterisk (*) into a search phrase when you want to say ‘anything can go here'. For example, if you wanted to search for a 1950s car, you could search for ‘car 195*'. 195* will show results from any year in the 1970s. In this order: If you put words in quotes ("") then the only results shown will be ones that have all of the words between the quote marks. For example, searching for "Lord of the Rings" won't give you any results that say, for example "Lord Robert Rings". Exclude words: Put a minus, and then put any words in brackets that you don't want to appear in your search results. For example: "Pulp Fiction" –(poster, photo) will find items related to Pulp Fiction but not posters or photos. Either/or: If you want to search for lots of words at once, just put them in brackets: the TV example from earlier could become ‘(TV, television)', which would find items with either word.
It is very important that you read and understand exactly what the seller is selling and their terms and conditions. Do not go by the picture alone. Make sure you read the payment methods fully. Not all sellers accept Paypal or cheques. Check the postage costs and service. Some sellers overcharge on postage to cover their fees or even make a profit. The very first thing I bought on eBay was a Johnny Cash record for my girlfriend. The bidding started at 1p which was the amount I won it for. I naively even contacted the seller to see if they wanted to cancel the transaction as I couldn't see how he was going to make any money from it. The seller agreed to sell me the record for 1p but postage costs were £4.50. When I received the item I noticed that the actual postage cost was, if memory serves me right 63p. He didn't make a fortune from me but if he bought the record from a car boot sale for 20p it is not a bad profit for him if he was to sell say 100 of them. Check the item location. There are many sellers selling items from China and the Far East. The items themselves usually sell quite cheap but the postage costs may be quite high. It is also good to bear in mind that it could also take 7-10 days for you to receive your item. Don't be afraid to ask the seller any questions you may have but ensure you ask them before bidding. Your bid is a contract so it shouldn't be used lightly.
If you see an item that you think you shall bid on, now is the time to check the sellers feedback and I don't mean just a quick glance. Refer to this page for more details on what to look out for. Toolhaus provides a really useful tool for seeing what negative and neutral feedback comments a seller has received. Could provide some very interesting results. Your bid is a contract stating that you accept the terms and conditions as stated by eBay and the seller. Although you can retract your bid if you put in the wrong amount you shouldn't retract your bid just because you have found the same item cheaper somewhere else. This is why it is important to shop around first. Everyone has to start someone so it would be unfair for me to advise not to purchase an item solely because the seller is new. However, proceed with caution. If the seller is, for example, selling a "top of the range, not yet released, all singing and all dancing laptop" for only £800, then walk away. When bidding, common sense is probably the most powerful tool. This may sound daft but it's true, if an item such as a plasma TV is far too cheap, ask yourself why, how can this be true? If it sounds like it's to good too be true then it probably is! Leaving bids to the last minute usually enables you to grab a bargain. Though be careful, there could be someone else out there with the same idea. Bidding in the last minutes or seconds of an auction is called "sniping". The bid increment is the amount by which a bid will be raised each time the current bid is outdone. It is predetermined based on the current high bid. Click here is see how increments are determined. Note: A bidder may be outbid by less than a full increment. This would happen if the winning bidder's maximum bid beats the second highest maximum by an amount less than the full increment. In other words, if you were to bid an un-rounded amount such as £17.01 instead of £17.00. A bid increment will go higher than the standard increment in two situations:
If you were bidding against another bidder's maximum bid, your bid had to meet the other bidder's maximum bid plus one penny to become the current high bidder on the item. Sometimes the listing page for an item will show that there are two bids, yet there is only one bidder. This happens when a member places more then one bid to increase their maximum bid amount. For example, if you are the first bidder on an item and you place a second bid to increase your maximum bid amount, the item page would show the current high bid at the opening bid amount, but would show that two bids have been placed on this item.
So now you have won the item, what should you do now? Do not send off payment until the seller has established contact with you. It is common practice for the seller to send you an invoice confirming the total costs including postage. If you agree with the amounts then you should send payment ASAP. If you pay via Paypal then there isn't much else you need to do as eBay shall automatically confirm to the seller that payment has been sent. You should perhaps read through the confirmation email that the seller may send as this may indicate when the item shall be sent. If you use another payment method then it is good practice to inform the seller what payment method you shall be using. Make sure you read and understand all the emails that the seller sends you. This could reduce any problems further down the road. Please bear in mind that the Royal Mail can be a little slow at times so be patient. Do not send the seller an email two days after the sale asking where your item is.
Paypal - eBay prefer and recommend the use of Paypal. The fact that eBay own Paypal is probably just a coincidence. Paypal, from the buyers perspective as they do not incur any fees, is free, safe and quick. You don't have to fuss around with a cheque book or nip to the post office for postal orders. I would personally recommend using Paypal to pay for items won on eBay. You can sign up for Paypal here. It is a fast, easy, and secure way to pay online. Cheque - Sending a cheque is fairly safe although it could be tricky to get your money back if the item you won is not as described. You also have to wait around five days, once the seller has received the cheque, for it to clear. Always send the item number and your delivery address when sending payment by post. Postal Orders - Similar to sending a cheque but the seller should send the items as soon as he receives the Postal Orders. Always send the item number and your delivery address when sending payment by post. Bank Transfer - This method, I believe, should be used a lot more, especially from the sellers perspective. The seller would send the buyer their bank details and the buyer would then transfer the money directly into the seller's bank account. No fees, no foul - as long as both banks are in the UK. Although it can take a couple of days for the funds to show up on the sellers account, it is still quicker and more convenient than sending a cheque or postal order. Cash - I have been told, on great authority, that this payment method is no longer accepted on eBay. Do not send a seller cash. Western Union - DO NOT USE. Payment method of choice by conmen and other such undesirables. I believe even eBay advise against this payment method now.
Once you have received the item make sure that it is in the condition you expected. Test and examine it fully. You can take your time doing this. There is no real rush. If you are satisfied with the item, now is the time to leave feedback. Feedback should represent an honest appraisal of the service you received. Do not blame the seller for any problems that were beyond their control. Feedback is the basis on which eBay is built on. Feedback reflects how good, or how bad, a buyer or seller is and should be not be used lightly. You see time and time again people miss using feedback. Do not send the seller questions by leaving feedback. If a buyer has a problem with a seller they should first contact the seller by email. If that fails you can request the sellers telephone number. Sometimes a phone call can clear up a problem much quicker than a barrage of emails. If all else fails then you can take up your problems by emailing eBay and going through the complaints procedure. This can be done by selecting the item in question and clicking on "Report an Item Not Received". If you paid by Paypal then you can claim your money back through them otherwise you shall have to do it through eBay. You have up to 90 days to leave feedback for the seller. More and more sellers are insisting that you leave them feedback before they shall leave you feedback. If you are happy with the transaction then there should be no problem to leave the seller positive feedback first.
Never threat a seller with negative feedback if they do not respond to your emails within a certain time period. This shall only get their back up and that is not what you want. Remember, a lot of sellers do not leave feedback until feedback has been received. A good seller can take the punch of the odd negative but you may not. This is not to say that you shouldn't leave negative feedback if you feel you have been treated badly. Ensure that all correspondence from you is polite and to the point. Sellers are only human and mistakes can and do happen. A good seller shall want to keep the customer happy and so are only too willing the assist in solving any problems as quickly as possible. Often a quicker way to get help, than waiting for an automated email from eBay, is to post a question on the eBay discussion boards. There are usually many helpful experts there that can provide you with advice and guidance. A lot of people use another username to post messages on these boards as there are some funny people out there that get their kicks from sabotaging other peoples auctions. You can Register a new username here If the seller becomes abusive towards you or does not respond to your emails then you can report them to eBay.
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