I have just recently started using e-bay again and am addicted (yet again) to finding bargains!
Being a very nosey person I love looking around to see what everyone is selling and I love it when I find something cheap!
The two online auctions I use most often are either Yahoo or Ebay. Both have UK only websites so that you know that you are not buying something from someone miles away and have to pay extortionate postage prices.
I prefer to use Ebay rather than Yahoo for several reasons. Because you have to pay to sell things on Ebay I find that the things for sales are of better quality and there’s a much wider variety. Ebay have a lot more to sell than Yahoo! There isn’t a great price difference between the two, if any I would say that Ebay has better bargains!
A good tip to winning auctions online is to wait until the auction has nearly finished. Don’t spend every day bidding higher than someone else, you will end up paying more! Wait until the last day, preferable the last half an hour, then put in a bit. People will have less time to bid over you and you are more likely to win.
Something to remember is that the auction price usually doesn’t include postage and this will be added onto the winning price. Sometimes (helpful people) put the price that they will be charging for postage. It’s annoying when they don’t!
The only thing that I prefer about Yahoo auctions is the question and answer section. For each auction you can see what questions people have asked the seller, you can’t see this with Ebay although you can still e-mail the seller if you need to ask anything!
If you are looking for something in particular, Ebay has a search facility. You can either search from the home page or search in one particular subject.
Ebay has a page called ‘my ebay’ where you can check the progress off all auctions you have bid on. If you are loosing the auction is red and if you are winning the auction in green. All the information you need to know is there, your last bid price, the current price and the date and time the auction finishes. It’s very easy to keep track and make sure you get your bid in right at the last minute. Once the auction has finished you can remove that line.
Ebay has a feedback section which everyone can read so that you can see if you are sending your cheque to someone who never sends the goods! This has never happened to me and I have always had good experiences from all sellers on all auctions, maybe I am just lucky!
I have never actually sold anything on Ebay, I use Yahoo because it’s free. With Ebay you have to pay a listing fee. Perhaps I will try one day though???
Even if you don’t want to buy anything I would recommend having a look around an online auction site. You may find something that you never knew you needed and now Xmas is coming up you may find some bargain presents!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
sorry for the 'helpful', but I just thought that a little more detail on pricing for selling could have been included. As could the total number of catagories (and examples of the more obscure ones) and total average listings ? Also maybe a little bit of personal experience ?
again apologies for the rating, seems to be only me !
maybe I am wrong, please feel free to tell me if you think I am.
regards
wilsam00 09.12.2001 20:59
Good opinion im also a ebay'a'holic!!
brianlfc 27.09.2001 17:13
You wanna know something Annette? Despite being an Internet Addictee, I have yet to try any of these Auctions, I'll have to give them a try, good op, well done...Brian
Sep 27th, 2001
very helpful by (96%):
helpful by (4%):
