I recently ran across Auction Bloopers, a cool site that looks for misspelled items which will have less competition and therefore lower prices. Only really works on high volume, highly liquid items though.
But now that I'm thinking about eBay and auctions, here are some pointers that no doubt are a small subset of other eBay guides. But I'm too lazy to do the research now, plus I need a post for today, so...
When bidding, always add a few cents to your whole dollar bid. I often use the last two digits of the dollar amount for the cents, so If I'm bidding $17, I'll bid $17.17. If anyone else bids the round number, or even just a few cents over, you'll win the auction. And really, a few more cents won't make that much difference. I've won maybe a third of my auctions this way. It works especially well on those highly liquid items like popular CDs, DVDs, and video games.
I always post items for sale in multiple forums: CraigsList, Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji, and sometimes even Amazon Marketplace (though they have pretty steep fees) at the same time I put it on eBay. Or put it up on these free services for a week first before going to eBay. That way if you can sell it locally with no transaction fee, it's a lot more convenient and profitable.
To sell an item in these free forums, you have to know how much it is worth. I always use the eBay Completed Items search. It's a great way to see what the market will pay. Unfortunately it only goes back a month, and it doesn't help too much for rare items. Still, a useful tool more often than not.
Last tip before buying on eBay is to always check the price and availability of items in regular online retailers to make sure you're getting a great deal. I check Yahoo! Shopping, Google Products, and Amazon and occasionally DealNews and other assorted smaller shopping meta-sites. Sometimes it's better to go with the pros, even if it might be slightly more expensive. And by searching for coupon codes for the retailer site, you can often get an even better deal.
But now that I'm thinking about eBay and auctions, here are some pointers that no doubt are a small subset of other eBay guides. But I'm too lazy to do the research now, plus I need a post for today, so...
When bidding, always add a few cents to your whole dollar bid. I often use the last two digits of the dollar amount for the cents, so If I'm bidding $17, I'll bid $17.17. If anyone else bids the round number, or even just a few cents over, you'll win the auction. And really, a few more cents won't make that much difference. I've won maybe a third of my auctions this way. It works especially well on those highly liquid items like popular CDs, DVDs, and video games.
I always post items for sale in multiple forums: CraigsList, Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji, and sometimes even Amazon Marketplace (though they have pretty steep fees) at the same time I put it on eBay. Or put it up on these free services for a week first before going to eBay. That way if you can sell it locally with no transaction fee, it's a lot more convenient and profitable.
To sell an item in these free forums, you have to know how much it is worth. I always use the eBay Completed Items search. It's a great way to see what the market will pay. Unfortunately it only goes back a month, and it doesn't help too much for rare items. Still, a useful tool more often than not.
Last tip before buying on eBay is to always check the price and availability of items in regular online retailers to make sure you're getting a great deal. I check Yahoo! Shopping, Google Products, and Amazon and occasionally DealNews and other assorted smaller shopping meta-sites. Sometimes it's better to go with the pros, even if it might be slightly more expensive. And by searching for coupon codes for the retailer site, you can often get an even better deal.
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